From the workbench of the esteemed Horati0nosebl0wer

Decoupling the mind of want from need is not easy. If I entertain my brain on wants then they appear as needs. These wonderful toys we play with are wants and we see new ones all the time. Do we need new things? Did the old toys which came before get gifted or were they lost to time and/should they be replaced? I think that there might be more to be said for “legacy toys”.

As we now see Ticket to Ride join the ranks of other games with legacy editions can there be a place for minis? I think that with the historicals Gerry has shown on his trips to Scandinavia and those Lloyd has noted in photos (not to forget that huge table of flats at Salute) figures have a place to be legacy items. Applemak and others have shown that gaming with kids is a means of keeping the hobby alive and our collections relevant. The usefulness of wargaming and the figure painting is a pass time, but what happens with the figures after we pass on? I believe Warren has addressed this as a good project with his own dungeon build. The static nature isn’t to my taste as title can only be a display but that is its purpose. I am too mobile in life to have such things but I might do something like board/terrain build if I weren’t.

We hobbyists have an interest and its something that may not be for future generations. If we don’t gain the attention of others to inspire them to be curious about what we do our hobby lies as lifeless as our tiny fighting men.

Having the chance to grab some figures at the paint and take from a recent con I now have some figures to throw at my friend who I’ve not been diligent on finishing commission work for. It’ll be an apology gift that I know he’ll use in his D&D campaign since some of the models are dragon related.

A long overdue piece I thought would be fun to base for display. I haven’t gotten the black paint to stick so well around the bottom but that’s an issue with working with Black 2.0 from Culture Hustle.

To make stuff that looks cool for the new year is my goal. I’ll be tackling old projects before the Spring Clean gets underway because I know myself and how much I am liable to procrastinate. That being said I’ll dig into some one shot pieces and smaller model count stuff to get it off the desk. I know that I have models I’ll never paint so this will help me to confront the fact and make it easier to part with them as they just aren’t worth keeping.

I think I’ll reasonably have enough breathing room to finish some work on my Arabian Knights. Yes, I will finish them this year… likely before some Pagan Rus or Slavs that Lloyd has been sitting on for a while. ?

I found a nugget of wisdom at random and it makes sense as to why I hobby like I do. I am not ok with being bored and I want to be good at something.

Miniatures isn’t an outgoing and spotlight grabbing hobby. It makes for literal small victories against being lost in the doldrums. I’m not great at many other things, but dammit, I can shine here. I put time into this craft to produce better results. There is art in the creation and process of making tangible the abstract ideas which I have. I want to get my ideas out and sharing a vision makes me happiest when others enjoy the un-sane and non banal with similar wonder.

Its a small and perhaps minor thing to think but pithy poignancy produces profound results if allowed to flourish in the tilled fecund furrows of the mind. Upgrade your grey matter cus’ one day it may matter.

Dopamine, a blessing and a bane. The addictive chemical in our heads that lead us to rise or ruin. I call it all this as I take my break from hobby and do some self relfection and general life analysis. I think about the ebb and flow of hobby and all the other stuff I do that are fun. I got to thinking about this after a video on YouTube got me curious as it mentioned high energy lifestyles and adrenaline junkies. My housemate fit the bill, as what they described, in trying to always be on the move doing something but with diminishing dopamine return on the pleasurableand ending up with no free time.

I turned this on its head and got to thinking of the pleasure principle in painting and building. Collecting has been fun but rather useless other than making moving difficult in the past. Gaming might be fun as time spent with others and making memories over battles which haven’t been fought like I play out.

Putting things into overdrive for projects has seemed like a means of dealing with the crap of the world. Finding a little corner of solace with a warm blanket, hot mug of tea and some well worked minis to show off is my ideal spot and really best practice. It beats flailing about in attempts to try and find the next thing to work on badly with poor results. Trying to get the easy return doesn’t make the models any better. Time, patience and some self discipline to say its ok to set down a project (and then follow through to pick it back up again) is good. We deal with our heads and hearts with this stuff. Its good to take a breather and set the models aside for a few to analyze our selves and how we hobby.

An ent and the goblin from the Shadowrun blister for a commission lot. All sorts of pleasure to see more things done and even better to get cash for them.

I had some fun with tufts today and went into another material I didn’t think I had much use for. My local hobby shop had Woodland Scenics light green bushes (SKU: FC145) on offer and I took a chance seeing how it would work. Its honestly been months since I bought them and only now think that this is a good time to use them. I think it came out pretty well.

The figure is Persephone from Reaper (SKU: 03919) and its been given the love of a display piece I wanted to show it. I probably could have obsessed mord and lamented my effort but I’ve gotten it done and now set it into my Case of Completion; its a collective of finished pieces I’m setting into large Chessex dice boxes until I have a proper case again.

The Case of Completion has been an idea I started a few years ago for dispay pieces and things I’ve done as an answer to my Hoard of Shame. Seeing my progress as I continue painting is helpful and it sometimes gives me that pick-me-up to keep going on. With moving so much I’ve not been able to do this and I get my dopamine rush from seeing my regular customer display the items in his own cases. Now, onto more stuff.

I feel rejuvenated. I went to the monthly meeting of a local painting group and I found myself at home among painting nerds. The joy of slapping small people (and other assorted creatures) with paint came back to me as I watched others do the same. I think the lack of physical community was really the dearest thing I’ve been missing for the longest time. This group will give me the extra push to paint better as well as most of them regularly go to Reapercon and some have placed in competition (a couple actually have painted for the company I think).

My general brush control seems to be on par with my fellows who were there and I don’t believe that my technical skills of dexterity were any different. The idea of some of the freehand still seems daunting. The general assortment of gadgets wasn’t any different in minimal variety of figure holders/brushes/travel cases for stuff. I did see that there was a gentleman who was using a pair of small daylight LED panels used for photography which were on tripods. I believe I have a few things now for my Giftmas list in future (I already caved yesterday and got a vortex paint mixer).

Beyond all this I found myself with a realization of what I consider my next step forward (really a step I think I forgot/glossed over) to progress from where I am. I will be utilizing my wet palette much more for my high end painting. I’ve also seen Kimera paint in person today and I believe I possess a hobby hard-on right now. I’ll potentially drop all my current paints to that end for what I want to press toward competition. I will be brutally honest with my self assessment in the thought that my layering has been shit for a while. I can and will do better with it. This fact should be evident with upcoming photos as I implement this consideration. I’m curious to dabble in the use of inks through my airbrush again but more often. I’ve only done it a couple of times but without concerted effort to test the medium and my tool.

All in all this has been a good day as I also sealed the figures I’m shipping to one of my nephews this Christmas. I’m not pushing the envelope with effort. Last year I gave one of his brothers other stuff I painted so I themed this batch for the little guy’s love of dinosaurs. I also made sure to cover it with a little extra varnish in order to protect to paint. I don’t know if it’ll help, as I remember my own toys, but it should last a bit better than the regular spray. Now its time to get on to the next bit of stuff.