Wondering if anyone can help me locate and get in touch with either of these guys, Martin Ontiveros was quick enough to take my payment and toys to customize, but never got back to me, and will not return my PMs or emails, been so long I dont even remember exactly how long, its been way over a year. mabey this is common for him to take this long, Im sure he is a busy guy, but I would think he would at least keep in touch and return my messages eventually, I am not being impatient at all, Ive waited many months for him to get back to me and have almost given up hope at this point. this is my first dealing with him, not sure what to think and dont want to jump to conclusions. he seemed like a good guy when we first talked about the project, and I doubt he needs or wants to burn me for a few hundred and some toys. very disapointing and unprofessional to say the least
Kelvin has always been really nice in every way, has done quite a few customs for me, and sold, bought, and traded with me many times, last I spoke with him he mentioned he was taking a break and would be away for a while, but its been forever at this point and he also wont return my emails or PMs, hope he is OK, getting worried at this point, he currently has quite a few toys I sent him to do customs, some items that were quite important to me.
if anyone can contact either of these guys for me I would really apreciate the help, sorry to ask here, dont know what else to try at this point.

Martin O is a stand up guy. he is a bit slow with customs simple because they take a lot of time to complete but i had them within 2 or 3 months time. i haven't seen him on here for awhile so pm on here might not be the best way, i would try sending an email again.

Yeah, I can vouch for Martin. He doesn't come on to SB much--his handle is "gairalike". So, I understand your frustration. In fact, he might not even respond to PMs frequently. I just spoke with him last week, and he's busy as hell. He had his show last month at Rotofugi, pieces for the Grass Hut show last week, and he has a solo show at Schmancy next week. He'll be the first to tell you that prior to a show, he is in the pressure cooker to get things done in time.

From my own experience, he was working a custom for me too. We met in late-September to discuss and give a deposit. He told me his customs are on the back-burner until January. Don't fret. He is a really good person. Just keep hounding him with (courteous) messages.

Yeah, I comissioned a custom from Martin a year ago and still nothing. He usually responds to my emails quickly, but he has ignored my last three (sent a couple of months ago, usually a week or two apart). Plus he still has some stuff I bought directly from him July 2008.

I'm not calling him out or anything, but it would be nice to get some sort of communication.

This is my second dealing with him and he took a long time to come through on my first deal, but he did make up for the delay the first time (and never cut contact like he did this second time).

I also commissioned a custom from Martin well over a year ago, and he has stopped responding to my emails as well.
At this point I don't know if it will ever happen.
Maybe the new year will bring us all some good news from him.
In his defense he did warn me that it would take awhile.
I can be a patient man, but this is getting extreme.

Try to reach him by phone by calling Bwana Spoons at Grass Hut in Portland.

Martin is pretty active on Facebook.