Highlander Studios is Moving

     At long last my wife and I have hound a house we can afford in a neighborhood we like. Highlander Studios will be moving in 6-8 weeks. Sculpting and painting will be at a minimum while we take care of the remodeling projects we want done before we move in.

     The property is just over an acre. Half of that is a steep wooded hill down to a creek. I'm looking forward to many landscaping and terracing projects over the next few years.

     The property also came with a bamboo grove. Yes, I know it's invasive stuff, but it's also one of my favorite plants. I have my work cut out for me in keeping it from spreading too far. On the other hand, I have a readily available, renewable source of building material for all sorts of projects.

     The basement has two rooms of particular interest to me. The smaller one is mostly underground due to the slope of the land. So it stays a consistent 60-65 F degrees.  This gets turned into the cold room for aging cheese, beer and mead. It will also serve as storage for root vegetables and bulk foods.

     The second room was a ceramics workshop. I'll be setting up resin casting there. With any luck, I can start spin casting in house as well.

     The bedroom on the first floor is to be my studio and office for sculpting and painting.

     You can see from the photos there is a good deal of work to do to get things ready. I've managed to put at least a couple of hours of work in every day this week and most days the week before when we closed. I'm excited by the prospect of new dedicated spaces for work and to finally be moving out of the hood.

     Susan is pretty stoked as well. She's wanted to move for several years. She likes the house, the yard, the back porch and the deck. There is also a third bedroom complete with a walk in closet on the second floor for her own private office. AND she gets two of the three walk in closets in the master bedroom.

VSF Ruth

     I'm still a good deal pissed about Ruth being hanged on Hell on Wheels. But some of the imagery from that series of episodes will remain burned upon my retina for years to come. I absolutely loved the look of scorn and disgust on her face when she shot Sydney.

     Recently a friend wanted a test sculpt for a 28mm VSF project he is planning. It was time to try my hand a a character loosely based on Ruth.

     Now I'm not up to capturing that visage and it may not play well with many who want to use the figure in their games, so I softened the face a good bot. But she still has a attitude... and a big gun.

The Ape Man Cometh, Part II

     As I get back into the swing of work this year, the first new release at Highlander Studios, Inc. Is the new Ape Man set.

     The previous set was well received and is still available.

VIC-01     Ape Man Set     $5.00

     There were several requests for a set including standing versions of the humans. A simple conversion of the existing ape and new male and female sculpts were all that was needed.

     This set was included as a stretch goal in Two Hour Wargames' Larger Than Life Kickstarter and is now available for purchase separately at Highlander Studios.

VIC-02     Ape Man Set 2     $5.00

     Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

In Memorium

     Our friends are never perfect, but sometimes they are the perfect friend.

     I've been out of touch with a lot of things for several months, this blog being one of them. My best friend, Deane Goodwin, was diagnosed with cancer about two and a half years ago. His health started to noticeably decline this past year, dramatically so since Thanksgiving. During that time most of my painting and sculpting fell by the wayside as I made as many trips to visit, sort and move things as I could. He died last month.

     I could write volumes of our dreams and exploits, successes and failures. I'd rather hold tight to those memories and share them with those close to me or Deane as the spirit moves or maybe on days when I can examine them without breaking down in tears. I will share that I can't remember exactly how we became friends, but in typical Deane fashion, we hit the ground running. We had dreams and big plans and actually achieved many of them. Life was faced full on and there was no falseness between us. I could always count on the kick in the ass when I needed it and also the sharing of the joy of our successes. We were friends with no regrets.

     As I start to settle back into work and things become a bit more normal, I have one wish... That everyone could experience a friendship like that between Deane and me at least once in their life.