The Zen of Lead pile

Winter is the perfect time for spring cleaning, and there is nothing like digging down through your miniatures workspace and finally seeing what color the table is underneath.

Brown.  Apparently.  Who'da thunk it?

I read an thread recently about a poor soul desparing about how big his backlog of miniatures is, and some guy... get this... said the best thing to do is sell a bunch of them and paint one a day.  Sell them?  I am having a hard time getting through my pile, but its my pile.  I sifted through ebay and lovingly grabbed each damn one.
So, if I do the maths how many years will it take to paint them all?

Who cares.  If your collect miniatures, your a collector.  This... shelf full of little baggies is my lead pile... is my collection, and every little chunk of lead is a beautiful thing.  Yeah, even the Asgard stuff.

Each one represents, at best, a little slice of fantasy- a work of imagination and creativity.  A mini is no less an artful thing- painted or not.
Having dipped my toe into sculpting, I know how much work goes into the original- the mould and the whole damned process.  The models in my collection have been drooled over, bought, painted, played games, lived in boxes (whilst its owner got a life), hit boot sales and finally travelled 12000 miles around the world to get to me.

So if your lead pile is getting you down, don't let it.  Think of your collection as something enhanced by painting- don't think of it as a huge to-do list.  Its still going to be there when you do get some time.  Think of it, perhaps as a menu for your next painting project.

Mind you, if you do take the advice and want to sell them, gimme a look first yeah?