I didn't mention it yesterday, but the bases are being made of air dry clay yet again. I didn't have the cracking issue that I had before. At least, not until I tried to cut out the slots. Now, the monkey's round one popped out as two pieces. Simple fix, and I'm okay with it. The robot's nearly shattered. Largish pieces, but still several. However, I'd been wondering how to get the effect I was looking for it anyway. I really liked the way it looked, as it appeared to be concrete. But just a flat pad wouldn't do. Well, now that it is all glued back in, it
really looked like concrete. And I could have left it, but there was something missing. So I glued all the bits that were the slot squeezin's onto it to look like chunks of concrete. I may paint them to look like bricks instead but I worry that it'll detract from the robot, who's going to be nearly monotone except for what rust stains I manage on it. So I really like it now.
Oh, and if you haven't
voted on my Wolfen diorama, please go to the
voting page for it and
vote. I'd really like it to not be stuck in the
49 vote hell that seems to be so prevalent lately. And I'm doing my part by voting on others as much as I can get time for. Even found a new favorite today (
link here, and I swear it doesn't go to those previous four links).
Now, feel free skip down to the picture for today's update, or you can read the wall of text that I've got going on below. It's the ideas that I mentioned yesterday.
Idea #1: I'd really like to get into a little side business on minis. Nothing spectacular, as I can't sculpt much of anything. The bananas for the monkey are going to be very interesting to say the least! But, I could do some simple shapes, and I'd thought about doing some base and terrain pieces. Maybe a tori gate for Asian miniatures, and some other very specific Asiatic items. Lanterns, cobblestone, that sort of thing. I'm probably much too lazy to actually get anything sculpted or pushed hard for it to be very successful, but it might be fun as a as-requested basis. Nothing in the works yet, however.
Idea #2: Similarly to #1, I'm looking at combining two interests: metal working and minis. My latest design work, at work amazingly enough, are all machined parts, so I started looking in a milling machines and lathes. Just to get some ideas on what could or couldn't be done. And I was hooked so badly. Started watching machine demos on YouTube. Called it engineer porn. Absolutely fascinated with Swiss lathes. Now if only I had the bank account to get one of those ($30K to $300k was the range I saw). But, there are a couple of hobby sized machines out there, so I'm debating which way to go. I'll be able to fairly quickly save up for a lathe from Harbor Freight which has gotten several good reviews, and then a 3 axis machine later. Not sure which one would be more useful to me right away, but it did occur to me that getting the lathe first would let me cut out brass bases and sell them online. They'd be pricey for sure, but an honest and real brass base might be something marketable. One thought there is that the little flat generic bases would be heavy enough that there's no need to add weights. Even thought about making longer display bases that were actually threaded, and possibly geared, which would be good for steam punk figures.
Idea #3: And this I toss out there for anybody to use, but I was brainstorming up what other genres of minis might be possible. You've got fantasy, historic, sci-fi, alternate history, and steampunk. Just as a brain exercise, you see. And here's something interesting that I came up with: soul punk. Which, I suppose is alternate history, but so's fantasy and steampunk if you analyze deep enough. So, for soul punk, scientists figured out how to extract and contain souls rather than advances in electricity. What soul you extract, and how, determines its actions. Extract a horse's soul and put it in a construct, and it will continue to act like a horse. Do the extraction peacefully, and you've got a replacement for a horse that'll last until the containment wears out. Do it violently, and you get something insane and crazed. Other facets of this that Ive thought of is people getting their souls extracted near death, and as capital punishment, slaves, and other various roles. It lends itself to opposing factions, one whose outlawed the violent extractions and one who uses it extensively. Biggest issue I've had was how to depict it in a mini, other than a bunch of steampunk like figures with glowing spheres powering things rather than wood and water.
Anyway, wanted to share those three things with everybody for really no reason at all. I'm not looking at trying to solicit orders, or measure interest. Just had to dump it out of my mind for my preserving my own sanity.
So now it's picture time, especially for those who skipped the WOT.
+2 pts, 53 pts total.
