A lot can change in 11 years. It was about 11 years ago my mother bought this
Visible Woman science kit made by Skilcraft for her granddaughter.
Now that baby granddaughter is in the 5th grade. For a school biology project she put together the Visible Woman. For the most part, the project went well. There was one mishap. When it came to painting the pieces we misinterpreted the instructions and painted the uterus the wrong color.
It was my (less than) brilliant idea to try removing the paint with nail polish remover. Bad idea. The acetone did remove most of the paint. It also etched a cloudy haze into the plastic. It apparently also weakened the plastic so that it cracked.
Since 11 years had passes since the purchase of this product I didn't have much hope, but I tried calling the company anyway. I wanted to see if I could buy a replacement uterus.
Hope dwindled as I searched on line and learned the company that makes Visible Woman,
Skilcraft, a division of Craft House, had been bought by another company called Chartpak.
But by then I had invested so much time on line looking for a phone number I could not give up without trying. I called and learned from the customer service representative that I was calling Chartpak.
I asked if they were the company that made the Visible Woman.
They had acquired the company that made it.
I explained my problem and desire to order a replacement part.
The representative told me the parts did not come separately, but he would see what he could do. He took my information and told me to expect something in the mail by the end of the week.
I was so very impressed when a box containing a new Visible Woman kit was delivered! My daughter's science project was saved and her satisfaction with the project greatly increased, as you can see here.
Thank you, thank you, Chartpak! We will most definitely be ordering a
Visible Man for our son when he is ready to do a fifth grade biology project.
Already impressed with Chartpak's customer service, I think we will be buying more of their products in the future. It just so happens we have an Artist here who would love to
replace her watercolor set with these when it is used up. She also has an interest in calligraphy that has been thwarted by a difficult fountain pen. She will benefit from one of these
fountain pens.
After folding over the other half and squishing the paint around, or rolling it with the rolling pin we slowly peeled open the paper.
When my aunt was in town for my dad's retirement celebrations she was able to spend some time visiting at my house. One day, she took the Artist shopping. They brought home several paint supplies and my Aunt spent the day teaching the Artist how to paint various things.
The Engineer received some new watercolors from his great aunt. He didn't want to be left out of the painting action! 
The next day, the Artist continued practicing her painting. She also painted a wall mount sailboat for her brother. He chose the name Waterbird on his own. Until Mom or Dad gets around to mounting it on the wall, it will remain asail on the dresser top. 
From the moment it arrived, the Artist was captivated. Earlier this week she began the first few lessons in the book, making a lemon, an apple and a dolphin.
I could tell she was pleased with the dolphin. This is her first work with both a base and armature. She used colored Scupley for the base, some large nails for armature and white Sculpey for the dolphin. She shaped the animal beautifully, and adorned her base with some small pebbles and a seashell. 
After the work cooled, the Artist brought out her paints. Here, he has only a first coat, so there are still some white spots showing through, but you get the idea. 
Another thing I love about the book is that is gives the baking times and temperatures to use if you are working with Sculpey.
Girl with Life Jacket & Inner Tube, 
Girl at the Beach, 
and Desert Snake. 
My favorite of all these modeling foam sculptures is the snake at the desert oasis. Unfortunately, the cactus he is curling around suffered a major injury and was lost.
When I realized Amazon had the lowest price, I was a little disappointed. My experience with them has been that it takes absolutely forever for books to ship to me. I usually get a couple of emails asking me if I still want the book I ordered or if I would prefer to cancel the order. This has made them a last resort vendor for me. So I was truly surprised when a big padded envelope from Amazon was in my mailbox yesterday.
Have you noticed how quickly prices can change on the internet? If this book looks good to you it is available both at Amazon and Alibris. And this morning when I was looking around I saw that some seller listed new copies with Alibris for under $5. Maybe you can get a better deal than I did!
Thank you, thank you, Chartpak! We will most definitely be ordering a Visible Man for our son when he is ready to do a fifth grade biology project.
