Is It Worth It?

This one is all about money. We all like money don't we? So if anyone has any thoughts I would really appreciate you giving me the benefit of them.

Usually the only currency I am interested in is two pence pieces

So the times are a changing and I am about to go into business for myself. Laser cutting anything game related seems to be my first course of action. The name of the game in business is making money.  So I am a bit torn. This blog has always been about doing something to amuse myself. Why I want to do this I am not sure. Painting figures used to be enough but I have found that blogging about it seems to make me a better painter.

Or to put it another way, HELP.

And no I am not asking for a handout.

I am thinking maybe I should put AdSense on the blog. I am almost at the stage where five or ten pounds a month might suddenly be important. I guess there are other ways to make some money to. Has anybody done it? Did it make any money? Did it naff of the readers? How much of a pain was it? Are there any things I might need to know?

Hell I am even at the stage where I am considering putting up a YouTube channel seems worthwhile even if it's going to take a while to make money. I spent six months toing a desktop video editing course so I might as well put those skills to use.

On a wider scale than this, if anyone has any insights or tips about setting up a business I would really appreciate it.

Bases, Washes And A Need to Clean Up The Workbench

This is going to be a quick post. I am coming down with a bug the kids have given me. Yey.

The FabLab went okay. I was bounced out a little early so I didn't get all that I was hoping to do. Hopefully the staff will finish off my stuff for me and I will be able to pick it up on Thursday. I still managed to get fifteen plus bases cut and all have been glued, most have been flocked and some have been painted. I should have just about enough to run a game when these are done and there will be enough for multiple options when the rest get finished.

After doing that I finished off a few more details on the figures.The Gripping Beast Romano-British are coming along nicely but I am struggling to bring out some of the details of the Northstar Frostgrave figure. Then I moved onto doing the washes. There are still a few details that need to be attended to as well as the highlighting. Hopefully I should get this done for close of play tomorrow.

Zomtober is on the Horizon. Although I have missed out for a couple of years, I have a plan that means that I should be taking part, I got a few minis today just for the purpose of running the game. These are perhaps the most expensive minis (in 28mm anyway) I have purchased in a while.I have primed them today but they should be being started in earnest in the next week or so.

Back To FabLab

With the kids being back in school FabLab is back on. I went down there yesterday with little expectations of even getting access to the machine let alone the thing working properly. So I was surprised when there was no one there wanting to use it and the machine working properly. Apparently I had done a better job at diagnosing the problems with the machine that the staff had.

The trouble was that I didn't have much of an idea what to do. Over the last week or so I had an idea for a stick to paint figures on. Something I could slot in bases so that I could secure the figures with whilst priming and varnishing. As I have done a lot of that lately, I thought it might come in useful. Seems like it worked out well, hopefully not too well. This is a product I think I am going to produce.

This wasn't going to take too long so I thought i would cut up some bases. For years I have been using two 2p coins glued together as cavalry bases. This works well but us time consuming and messy. So I cut a few appropriately sized bases. I don't do too much cavalry (I have a thing about hating painting horses) but there are plenty of monster minis (I am thinking about the dozen or so dire wolves I did a few years ago). Then onto a few larger monster sized bases. My stocks of 30mm, 40mm and 50mm were running low so I thought I'd top these up.

There was a little bit of space left on the board so I thought I'd do some template sized circles for Savage Worlds. Sadly the Medium Burst Template didn't come out how I would of liked it.

For a while I have been working on a Savage Worlds wargame. I think I might give the sabot bases for that atrial during the week.

Escher Lizards

Today has seen me do a lot of yawning. Mostly on the couch in front of YouTube. Spike has been round in the evening, testing my plans to destruction, well almost. Somehow most of my recent negativity seemed to have blown away. Perhaps this is down to me realising that I actually want to make a go of it. My resolve has come back a bit. So then I have gone back to doing some stuff with CorelDraw.

I have always had a liking for Escher prints. I think this largely down the the amount of time I spent staring at them in an ex-girlfriend's house. The tessellating images were particularly inspiring and the lizards especially so. Now that I am using the laser cutter I need some way to test how the designs I am doing work out when the hit the cutter. So far, the couple that I have done have come out okay.

Heat, eBay, And FabLab (And Stuff)

I did my best to get an early night. I was asleep just before midnight and had till about half seven this morning. The cat decide that she wanted to go out at around 5a.m. and I just couldn't get back to sleep. So I am hoping for a better night tonight, after locking the cat outside.

Another day of training. Being shut in a room with no aircon, a tiny amount of open window, with ten people has to be a form of torture on a day like today. Still the last training, for a little while at least, We have had some rain as well so the temperature has dropped just a bit and tomorrow the temperature should drop just a bit more. No almighty thunderstorm yet although that might still happen. So things are on the up.

Having played Spike's quick WW2 game over the weekend I saw something about the One Hour Wargame rules on YouTube early this morning. This seems like a nice idea and I keep thinking I should give them a go. I was thinking I could use some Spanish Civil war figures id did years ago buT I just can't find them. The garage is now fuller than ever and whilst I think I know where they are, there is just no practical way to get to them, unless I want to spend a day clearing out the garage.

Having waited the week that eBay gave me to resolve the problems I have had to ask for them to get involved. Now I have to wait another five days before either the company will give me the money to pay for postage (which despite being a purchased from within the UK, the new return address is now in California). When you want to start something, like a business, you really want to get it going. This is not helping.

Since last Thursday I have been putting off looking at what I did in the FabLab last week. It turned out really badly and I was very disappointed with myself. Obviously I hadn't done it right. Different materials lead to massively different results. Now that I have had a look at them I have come to a different conclusion. The machine seems to have cut a lot of it on a diagonal rather than a straight line. I can only assume this is something to do with the power used but I will have to ask when I get there tomorrow,

End Of The Week And Tokaido

It was about ten years ago whilst reading a book about Japan that I first heard about people walking along the Tokaido. I am not sure if the word pilgrimage is the right one but it has a status in Japan a little like a spiritual version of the Pennine Way or the Inca Trail. These have become three walks that I want to do. When I heard that there was a board game about it, it was a certainty that I was going to buy it. Then I couldn't find the damn thing in the shops or online (well not at a price i was going to pay).

Then the day after my mum's funeral I was in Liverpool and there it was. the deluxe version with plastic figures. So I got it and kind of hid the receipt for a bit. It is a thing of beauty. having always like Japanese woodcut prints, the artwork was just perfect. The figures have the same artistic licence of the artwork and will sooner or later join the paint queue. hell, it even came with metal coins and the build quality is just fantastic.

Having watched it played online a few times (I am sad enough to watch people play board games online but only because there is very little I can watch because of the kids) so had a handle on the rules. It is easily what I call a round-robin-shaftathon. It is all about getting points but it is better to get points in a way that most infuriates the other players. This is therefore a game most of my mates should like.

So I got a chance to play it today. As a two player game I was a little disappointed. There is a mechanic to add a non player character to the game but it does not facilitate the shaftathon element as much as I would like. Next weekend there is going to be at least one more player so hopefully should be a better game.

Anyway, the end of the week is here. I got to the FabLab yesterday and have nearly sorted out all my problems with the laser cutter so should hopefully get my money back and get another one soon. I have had another play about with the bits I got cut yesterday and developed a few more ideas in CoralDRAW today to follow on from what I learnt yesterday.

Whilst it seems that I done nothing but laser cutter stuff this week, that would be a lie. I spent a bit of time playing Witcher III which is a game I play for a bit and then leave but I always want to return back to it. Having thought about it I am not sure what the allure is but it is similar to other games that I like, these all seem to revolve around collecting bits to craft other things. As a lot of it involves plants I have been using the phrase Combat Floristry a lot. Even though I have been playing awhile, I seem to be levelling up quite slowly and this means I am not really capable of taking on the bigger, badder monsters and that I die a lot.

I did do some work on my Underground post apocalyptic background for Savage Worlds this week. As time goes by, I get a torrent of ideas and start to work on them. What I should really be doing is finishing one idea off and starting on the next thing. There is the scope for about half a dozen to maybe as many as a dozen PDFs which I am going to see if I can get published online. When they are done.

Anyway, the week ahead is looking good. I have a mate due at mine for a long weekend so I should get some gaming done. My local show is on over the weekend so I will be out spending money there, but not too much. I should get to the FabLab on Thursday and hopefully try out my latest ideas.

FabLab And Modular Buildings

I have spent a fair bit of time developing my skills on CorelDRAW just lately. The aim of this is to develop some ideas for laser cut buildings. I am quite pleased with the results. Using the laser cutter properly for the first time in the lab was great. I feel a bit more confidant about my skills and the results were a lot better.

From there I have a few moe ideas to work on. My mind keeps thinking back to Fallout 4. Modular walls and fencing were a big part of that game and I am sure I can use that as some form of inspiration. I worked a on a few ideas which seem to work out on paper. Next week I might give these a whirl if I don't get too much time taken up with fidget spinners.

Frustration & Laser Cutting

I have had the new toy for about a day and a half now. So far I have not been able to turn it on. Let alone get anything printed out. I need to add a water supply to keep the laser cool enough that it does not explode. Finding something that I can use as a container is currently defeating me. I need a closed container that will admit a submersible pump. So far, having done a tour round town, I have drawn a blank. I am currently think that maybe a fish tank or a home brew barrel might be the answer but these are not cheap. It would be almost cheaper to buy a ten litre paint can and throw the paint away and even then it's not got a seal around the cable.

There are no end of things wrong with it. This is apparently the way they are built. I still see it as better to buy a £400 laser that will require a little work than a £2400 laser that will work out of the box (but will still require a water container).

Missed It Again But There was A Reason In A Very Big Box

My laser cutter arrived yesterday. I was so busy farting around with it that I dozed off early. Then when I woke up in the early early hours (the magpies were screeching for hours) the internet was off.
So, time to catch up.

When the delivery arrived, I got two boxes. The smaller box is a free pink makeup case that came with it. There are some odd things bundle with them. The bigger box is a lot larger than I was expecting as when I have opened it up I found that the dimensions were also a bit off which came as a bit of a surprise. There first problem I encountered was that there was no way that the machine was going to fit on the workbench with the fan attached to the back. It has casters on the bottom of it with a wheel lock on them half of them just don't work and the other two casters require so much effort to get the, to close that I am sure that they won't last. I am currently in two minds as to whether to replace them with something better of just take them off and replace them with some wooden runners. There is a gap in the bottom which I assume is an air intake so I am guessing that blocking that would be bad.

The biggest issue I think I am going to face is the manual. Back in the day I remember seeing shows which featured Chinese people talking in  a way that always sounded like propaganda. That was just propaganda right? Chinese businesses have this idea that the best way to make money is to save money in the first place. So rather than getting someone to translate the paperwork then run it through google translate. This may give a very literal translation (I am not qualified to comment, just to take the p**s) but it doesn't read like English.

Anyway, I am back in the garage now and hopefully I'll have something up and running and more importantly in production by the end of next week.

My Excuse Is

For the first time this year a day has gone by without a blog post. I wanted to do this every day for a year at least so I am a little disappointed in myself. That said, I worked hard yesterday and I fell asleep rather than opting not to post. It has been a busy week for me and I guess that I have spent well over forty hours working ion ideas and doing online courses to help me set up a business. This is on top of all the other stuff I have. Thursday was a forteen hour day for me and I haven't worked those kind of hours in ten years.  So excused over with and time to get on with some (more) work.

With a bit of luck I will be off to the local FabLab in a biot and see what I can learn from there.

Starting A Business - Fun And Games

Today more than any other day I can feel that I am going to start up a business making laser cut stuff for gamers.Today more than ever I know how much fun this is going to be, i.e. not a huge amount of fun. My working day has been about eleven hours long, much like yesterday, All this and I haven't even started the real work yet.

I have spoken to two people about money today. Having done that, I kind of wish I hadn't. The money that I had been assured that would be available is likely to cut off other access to money so I don't end up any better off. This sucks.

The money also comes with support which would be useful. If I don't take the money then I don't get the support. I have gone looking for a grant and the only one that seems to cover my area actually misses where I live by about ten metres. This also sucks.

However, I have had some good news. I can find at least three and maybe four sources of support. This involves doing some business training and doing some training in the use of laser cutting. I have another lead to chase up to see about the first lot of money I thought I would get but we will see.

I've Found My Painting Gear Again

My other half had hidden all my painting gear. Having put them in the linen basket, I was surprised when they weren't they. My other half thought that she had done me a favour by putting them in the wash. after two weeks of looking they appeared in somewhere that I had been told they weren't.

Life is going through one of those busy phases. this is a shame as I have the urge to do stuff but not the time. Even my posting has dropped off a little. So I thought I should get something online before the month is out. I am starting in a new RPG this week. I've played this guys games in the past so I will expect the French and possibly the Germans to get it in the neck. This game is 2300, a game in whch the French are mre of the bad guys than the Chinese or Russians. The other was Space 1889. Which is a great game made easy by racial stereotyping.

I have been taking pictures of the dog. So I thought I would post a picture of Leelu in the hope that my other half will miss what I said earlier. She is a Hungarian Vizla, don't ask, I hadn't heard of them either. She is not a dachshund with long legs. She is a little bit ginger but I don't hold it against her.

I was bidding on a few laser cutters last week but they got beyond what I wanted to pay for something that was second hand. The price was getting on to what people are asking for some of the imports. I am still trying to find out how easy it is to get spares for them.

Anyway, I hope I'll post a bit more in the next week. I doubt I will get to the post a day, but we will see how I do.

A Few More Things

 I've had a few ideas on top of what I was doing earlier. The lab idea comes out in the the form of the flask. The mug is another idea I have been playing around with. It was originally more to do with the blog. Born out of my love of a cup of brown joy. Watch the video, it's very funny. You Americans will love it. I was going to use the mug as a project rating, as in a "three brew project" meaning it will take a little time. Thought I could use it for rating the level of complication of laser cut kit projects.

Any thoughts?

More Business Ideas

Well I have settled on a name for the business which is "CraftLAB," I have just about worked out a logo as well. The colours are going to stay the same not sure about the layout. Something with less ink is likely to win out.

At least I seem to have something more of a purpose over the last couple of days. I have done a fair bit of painting but haven't really focused on any one thing. My situation at home looks like it's about to change. Not drastically but enough that I might have a bit more time and some money available to put into setting up a business.

The painting is difficult because I am still business focused and keep thinking of ideas to set up something in the gaming line, I thought I might put some thoughts into action. Much as I would love to get into miniature casting I don't have the kind of money to set this up. As well as the laser cutting I have been thinking about what else I can do. I've had a go and making some flock today. It all seemed to turn out okay and I managed to create two sample colours. Not the hardest job in the world but it would be quite hard work to make a living at it. I've also had a go at making some basing compound. This was a bit more complex. I was hoping for something like basetex only a bit thinner so it might flow onto the base a but better. I got what I wanted but It's not as quick drying as I might of liked.

I've also ordered the software I intend to use. It should arrive in the next day or so. I have some time set aside to learn it and develop some products. By the time I have finished with this I should have enough money to buy the laser cutter.