So I have (had) a black pearlescent ficcare with silver border. Now I have a thing of black enamel in one hand and a silver matte border ficcare in the other. :rolleyes:

This can't be repaired, can it?

Bummer! I have read about that happening but don't have any advice. Maybe get creative and paint the metal? Or complain to ficarre - for a clip that good they should offer some sort of recompense or at least a discount on a new one...

I am interested in what recommendations people do make on fixing it. It can probably be done!

Bummer! I have read about that happening but don't have any advice. Maybe get creative and paint the metal? Or complain to ficarre - for a clip that good they should offer some sort of recompense or at least a discount on a new one...

I am interested in what recommendations people do make on fixing it. It can probably be done!

Oh, this is an old, used ficcare I got secondhand. It's at least a year old, and I knew it wasn't in the best of condition when I got it. I'm quite amused now, and curious as to what could be done.

I think that happened to Snowymoon. You could PM her and ask her if she was able to repair hers.

Try a glue that's recommended for jewelry making. Fire Mountain Gems has some.

The same thing happened to the purple ficcarissimo I got last fall. My daughter was using it when it broke. I glued the enamel on with superglue. It seems to be ok now, but I haven't worn it since fixing it.

Ouch :(
Either glue the enamel back on, or look at it as an opportunity to create the colour ficcare that you have always wanted. If it was me, I'd get out all my nail polishes (and practice first) and choose if I wanted to make a plain coloured ficcare, or be creative and make a multicoloured one.
I can't remember who, but I can remember somone repainting thier ficcare

Given the price ficcares retail for - presumably as did yours initially, even though you acquired it second hand - I would be pretty much ticked off if it came apart in my hands. It seems to me that this happening is in all likelihood due to a poor standard of manufacturing (poorly glued, defective kind of glue, not enough pressure, whatever), and since you are in the US, so you're not facing international postage and customs, I would recommend to send the clip back to ficcare asking them to fix it (hoping for a replacement one). Of course, if the clip was otherwise in visibly poor condition, you may not want to go down that path, but even if it has some wear and tear, it is still a high price item of which one can expect a certain quality. (The fact that you may not have prove of purchase is neither here nor there in a case like this one, in my opinion, since you are not trying to take it back to the shop it was bought from, but are dealing with the manufacturer, and it is easily recognisable as having been produced by this particular manufacturer.

I hope you'll find a solution that works for you

katharine

In all fairness, I was fussing with where the clearcoat had come off on the edges covering the silver, in an attempt to get it to flake off evenly so that when I went to spray a fresh layer of clearcoat on it, it wouldn't look funny.

Of course, now that it's popped off, I just sanded the edges of the enamel, so now I just need to figure out how to glue it back, then I can spray the clearcoat on it and I suspect when I'm done it'll look better than it did when I got it.

I emailed Ficcare asking what kind of glue I could use to glue it back. I have some superglue about, but I don't want to make a bigger mess accidentally, so I'll wait till I hear from them.

I'd recommend a glue called BeadFix (http://www.jewelrysupply.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5147), which is what I use on my sticks, and I know has repaired a Ficcare or two on the boards, though I don't remember whose they were. You can get it at Hobby Lobby. I'd be wary of Superglue as it can leave a white film on metals. If not BeadFix, then some other clear craft epoxy should do the trick. :)

ETA: You know, if there was a remotely reliable way to get that to happen I could Frankenstein together my silver jade Ficcare!! So do tell, what exactly were you doing to get that enamel to pop off?

I'd recommend a glue called BeadFix (http://www.jewelrysupply.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5147), which is what I use on my sticks, and I know has repaired a Ficcare or two on the boards, though I don't remember whose they were. You can get it at Hobby Lobby. I'd be wary of Superglue as it can leave a white film on metals. If not BeadFix, then some other clear craft epoxy should do the trick. :)

ETA: You know, if there was a remotely reliable way to get that to happen I could Frankenstein together my silver jade Ficcare!! So do tell, what exactly were you doing to get that enamel to pop off?

Well, the original Ficcare in question is the black Ficcare here: http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3512

The clearcoat had flaked off on the edges, so me, being a dingbat, decided to shove my fingernails underneath the clearcoat. Whole freaking thing popped off (when I was only expecting a clear layer to pop off, not the color too, haha!).

I imagine if you get the clearcoat to come off the edges of a Ficcare, you could reasonably pop off the enamel with no real damage to the enamel. You could then sand off the edges of the clearcoat from the enamel to make it smooth and pretty, then glue it to whatever other Ficcare you might want to, then top it off with some spray-on clearcoat of your own.

here's my repair job, woot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/akurah/P5230015.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/akurah/P5230014.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/akurah/P5230013.jpg

Still drying, but I think it looks nicer now than it did before the enamel popped off.

Haha, I was confused for a second and had to go and check - I was thinking, I'm sure it wasn't akurah who bought mine...?! lol

Glad to hear the repair job went well, though.

ETA: What glue did you end up using?

Nope! I got yours in a swap for another clip. :)

It was all my fault. It didn't fit so I swapped it again, then it broke! D:

Aha! lol, now I understand. Sorry - I probably should have been able to work that out myself. :o

akurah, my edit above wasn't quick enough, but I was wondering what glue you used?

I've got that same color/size ficcare, and the same thing happened to my enamel. However, it came off on its own, without me trying to mess with the chipping clear enamel at all! I also want to mention that mine looks pretty much exactly the same underneath - starting to crack at teeth (not catching on hair, though) and discoloration.

I haven't attempted to put it back together yet, but I will look out for that bead glue that was posted. :)

I'd recommend a glue called BeadFix (http://www.jewelrysupply.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5147), which is what I use on my sticks, and I know has repaired a Ficcare or two on the boards, though I don't remember whose they were. You can get it at Hobby Lobby. I'd be wary of Superglue as it can leave a white film on metals. If not BeadFix, then some other clear craft epoxy should do the trick. :)

ETA: You know, if there was a remotely reliable way to get that to happen I could Frankenstein together my silver jade Ficcare!! So do tell, what exactly were you doing to get that enamel to pop off?

If it were me, the enamel would not come off in a nice, smooth piece, but in chips and swirls and be totally trashed. :o(

Thanks for this link, Nightshade!

I've got that same color/size ficcare, and the same thing happened to my enamel. However, it came off on its own, without me trying to mess with the chipping clear enamel at all! I also want to mention that mine looks pretty much exactly the same underneath - starting to crack at teeth (not catching on hair, though) and discoloration.

I haven't attempted to put it back together yet, but I will look out for that bead glue that was posted. :)

Huh. The same thing happened to my large black border maxima. I think maybe we should complain as a group to ficcare, there's obviously a flaw somewhere...

Nice repair job!

Peggy, you're welcome!