Packing positives

On March 17, 2010 I took my first steps into the world of blogging.

It's only been five years, people!

I have amassed a huge collection and painted a fair whack of them.  This week I have been hand wrapping and packing every single treasure I have, ready to go into storage for an indefinite period. his is bittersweet, but let's talk about the sweet.

The Sweet

In five years I have achieved a lot and a lot has happened.

• I have managed to assemble a collection that makes people cry.  It is making me cry right now, as I have to lift the bloody thing.  I have enough unpainted citadel minis in one box to act as a weight for a trebuchet.
• I have gone from dull, quite rudimentary painting to a punchy, vibrant, smooth style that I was always aiming for.  Fraser Gray, thanks for being a fantastic inspiration.

• I have amassed literally* all the paint.
  
  *figuratively speaking.

• I have learned to convert and scratch build miniatures- to the point where I started a business selling them, and have made minis professionally for other companies.

• I have made many friends, all who have helped me immensely through my dark days.  Just one example of many examples, Frank Mentzer messaged me because I was having a particularly dark day on FaceBook one day.  That day happened to be the 30th anniversary of Red Box.  Teenage me would have exploded if I told her that.  <3.
  
• I now own this very model from Ratspike...

I know right?  Mine.  Allll mine.  Thanks Steve.

• I have three quarters of The Undead Assault project done.  As a child I could never have imagined this would be possible!
  
• I had a beautiful baby boy! We named him Tobias after both Labyrinth and the Tim & Tobias books.
   
• And of course, The Mumak in the room, I was finally diagnosed as intersex and transgender, and decided to go public with my transition, despite the openly transphobic nature of the miniature community at the time.  This took a lot of guts to do, but ultimately was for the best.  Again, your support was astounding and heartwarming.  This of course caused major disruptions in my life and resulted in Skulldred and Darkling miniatures being put on hold.

What now?

Going forward, I am very much looking forward to setting up a new studio, getting these boxes shipped and unwrapping them.  It is going to be the most epic Christmas ever.

I am going to enjoy finishing some of the projects I have been looking forward to, but have not had the strength.