Wear Purple Day

Today is Wear Purple day in Australia- to show gender variant and intersex youth we care.
And we should... among the transgender community alone youth suicide rates are around 45% according to some accounts- with many cases unreported.  This is a direct result of how society treats these kids.  People should not have to suffer for how they where born.

The wargaming community should be much more aware.  Its quite common to use the term transexual as a slur on a poorly sculpted female figure for example- and I already mentioned GWs sins in this department regarding Slaanesh.

Take a moment to visit wikipedia and look up transgender and intersex if you have never heard of these conditions or you still think they are mental disorders.  Then perhaps show your support next year with yer paint brush like I have here.

Its a silly little gesture,  but the more people know, the better this world will become.

Purple!

Ahh strip bucket Christmas and Wear Purple Day

I got in an hour of miniature stripping to take my mind of how darn crappy things have been of late.  A bit of mindless scrubbidy dubbin with a tooth brush seemed restful.

Its always like Christmas whenever the strip jar comes out.  I usually forget what I have in mine,  so invariably there is a pleasant surprise or two lurking in the dettolly mire.
For my hour of effort I had most of my c11 giants appear, paranoia troubleshooters, c100 marines, ten original edition skaven ratmen, a dracolich and a couple of rare chaos Champions I never knew I had.  Bonus!

This also cleared enough space to finally get the last remaining members of my Undead Assault project in to soak.  I am sure you all cannot wait to see that one taking shape!

I got a big hobby session in tonight and feel much better.
All my chaos familliars had been rebased on 1 inch rounds but have been laying around incomplete.  So I got those bases painted up, which gave me a nice feeling of completion.  I have had these figs since I started this blog and they where a constant niggle in the back of my collection.
Oh, and I got all my washer mounted dwarf and chaos dwarf warbands rebased onto 30mm rounds, as well as rebasing my old Ral Partha large monsters.   I feel like some progress has been made.  Yay me.

I also kicked off a small mini project by painting up a bunch of figures to celebrate 'wear purple day' tomorrow (in support of gender variant, transgender and intersex youth).  My wife, who helps communicate such things in a big company, told me about it tonight and I love the idea.  But, as I dont have any purple clothes to wear to work (or at all), I decided to dress my lead instead.

So tonight was all about da purps.  I slapped rich, opulent purples on a host of minis.

I avoided Slaanesh figs though... after all, it wouldnt be fitting for tomorrow as GW demonise hermaphrodites in that range (as if the sexism wasnt enough- female marines now!).  Not to mention use purple as the main colors of daemonettes these days- not very PC when you consider it really.   Still- I am a huge Slaanesh fan- and currently have about three boxes of Slaanesh goodies awaiting assembly - but thats for another time. 

Tomorrow is about letting kids know its okay to be born outside the binary... not pink or blue but a shade of purple!

Pics once I finish up.  I forgot just how striking purple can be- and vow to do a few purple warbands soon.  Hmmm... purple orcs?

Heres a random pic... you know... coz its not a post without a pic.

Cultist conversion, flamer

I have been passing time in canberra painting stuff with my nephew.
Here's a quick snap of the nurgle cultist I converted a little bit with spare putty, and a flamer my brother in law got me.  My hearts not really in it,  but it is  therapeutic.

For retail therapy I grabbed a molly squidgepidge boxed set, a pathfinder gnome Wizard and some more Greystuff to turn into old school style minis for you all.
Matt primed them up for me,  along with his Vicktorias boxed set.  He is done on the skins. .. gotta go get a move on to catch up!

Further kickstarter thoughts

So I was browsing kickstarter and indigogo the other night and thinking about how I could use it to help focus my efforts once I am back.

What I am thinking is that it's a fantastic way to go big and do some really polished,  high production cost things that I always dreamed of doing.

First though, I think I will use it to fund a small miniature production or two just to get used to the kickstarter process and do something I can deliver without effort.

So when I say big,  I am talking things like modular plastic kits in full color printed boxes.  Boxed set rules with dice,  tokens,  figures, cards, measuring gizmos and full color glossy handbooks.  Commissioning artists we love to do wot dey do.   Game apps.
Big stuff.  Stuff that requires me to hire hirelings and actually pay them money.

This kinda thing is all possible now.  It's daunting but amazing too.

In the near future I want to do some digital prints now that my caster has low temp silicon.  It seems silly not to use my decade plus years experience modeling digital characters. This could be a good opportunity to experiment with modular models with a goal of resin or plastic production.  That's the beauty of kick starter.  No risk production.

I have made a few posts about how I would run d&d and warhammer to both better fans and profits... The response is positive.   Shall I put my money where my mouth is and get serious?  Shall I kick start a business that goes beyond one guy pushing putty around in his spare time?

Is tantalizing stuff.   The idea of having money enough to make something special.   Something you know folk actually want because they paid in advance.

Tempting.

Thanks all

Well Canberra is bloody cold, but I am pleased to spend some time with my family.   My nephew is assembling a formidable necron force and I am sitting sculpting Hawkmoon figures next to him.  Nice to both have the same hobby. He is no slouch with a paint brush either!   I am very proud of him.  He is probably sick of my tutorials by now.   I do have a lot to say about minis... a looooooot.

Besides I have to beat the fanboy out of him before gw milk him any more.   He buys GW hobby sand and shite cast clean up brush fur christ sakes.  Summit has ta be dunn 'bout dat.

A big thank-you for your comments and links- cheered me up no end.  I am coping well. I sculpted a pig faced orc for myself to cheer me up in between HM figs.

I am off to the hobby store in civic to grab a little retail therapy tomorrow- not sure what.  I am certain I do not have enough miniatures. That's lead addiction for you.

Please post comments about kickstarter thoughts a couple of pages back!

Dad passed away

Soooo....  just recovered from being ill and eager to dive back in to work and then....
I just got the news my dad passed away today of a sudden heart attack.  No warning.  Done.  Thats yer lot.

So I wont be posting for a bit or kickstarting stuff as I will be off making arrangements for my dear ol' dad and hanging with my family for a bit.

I am doing fine- surprised,  sad, but well supported and strong.  So signing off for a bit.

Thanks to all my readers- If you want to cheer me up pop a link in the comments to the coolest damn mini thing you have seen on the net... distract my little mind!

Its been a funny sort of year....

Wippity do dah

A quickie wip to mark progress on my hobby fix- I had a few hours free tonight as my missus was out at work drinks.  I just pushed a few things on my pile further along without much focus- I am rather tired tonight.

Starring in this pic are works in progress of a classic winged cat from Ral Partha's golden ad&d era, and citadel lead aplenty:  a kniggit of dol amaroth, a chaos sorcerer, The orcish limited edition of the Brothers Grimm (Fraser Gray style) and a chaos centaur from slaves to darkness.  Oh and one of my new unreleased dwerg for Darkling Games!

In my last post I kicked off a kickstarter discussion- please pop back there and share your thoughts!