Back in the system.

 Hello again and welcome to Inso's World. 

I have a bit of an announcement... after about two-and-a-half years away from paid work, I am finally employed again. I have a job at a local day-centre for elderly people and I've been there for just over a month. I am working part-time and can still volunteer at my local Air Ambulance shop so it's a win-win all round.

As a result of the rather abrupt change in my circumstances, I have not been as pro-active with my sculpting as I could have been... due to training, extra workload and trying to get into the rhythm of fitting work around other "life stuff"... but I'm starting to get back into the routine and expect to be sculpting more, very soon.

So... YAY! GO ME!

From a sculpting perspective, I have finished the mourning soldier diorama:

Click the Pic!

All I've done since last time is texture the top, sand the edges and make sure that the two soldiers have the right amount of contact. 

In other sculpting news, I have finished another critter:

Click the Pic!

It's the one on the right and it's called a Grinning Creeper. It is a peaceful creature that has a vegetarian diet but is feared due to it's creepy appearance. When confronted, it makes itself as large as possible and grins out of fear... this is often seen as a threat and many Grinning Creepers have been dispatched out of ignorance.

Finally, I have finished the first member of a hunting party for Macrocosm Miniatures... This one is the commander:

Click the Pic!

There are another six planned to join him and they are all in a state of being started, with feet but not much further than that. I am hoping that when I can start getting regular sleep and get back into the way of things, I can throw effort into the team and make better progress. I am also continuing with the "waste-putty" critters and have one that is WIP but I'll show it off once it's finished.

So... new job, getting used to things, a few finished sculpts and lots of WIP.

See you from the bottom of the ladder!

The times, they are a changin'

 Hello and welcome to Inso's world. 

I know it's been a short while but the world continued to turn so it's all good.

What news? Well... after just over two years of volunteering at my local Cornwall Air Ambulance shop, I am having to think about getting paid work again. I was hoping to get an opportunity to try for the shop manager's job but circumstances have stopped the job coming up so, after giving it six months to appear and with no clear picture of when the job might turn up... I am having to think about looking elsewhere for paid work.

The question has been asked... "why not sculpt for a living?". There's a simple answer to that; it's my hobby and if I turned it into a job then I'd not have a hobby. The other reason is that I don't sculpt well with too many restrictions and deadlines kill my sculpting mojo... so it's not an option.

I am thinking that a return to care-work may be on the cards.

That aside, I'm happy with my lot... although a few issues with sleeping and other little illnesses have really slowed down my hobby work but things are picking up and I currently have eight finished sculpts on the table, with seven more WIP ones. 

Here's what's finished (I posted a couple in the last post that are still on the table so I won't repost them):

First, I have the adventurer I mentioned was nearly finished... it's now finished:

Click the Pic!

He was loosely based on the old GW "Colt Stoner" Squat. I think he turned out well, even if I swapped a few things (the original had a flamer with an axe head attachment...). Next up, we have the first of a small group of miniatures for Macrocosm Miniatures... this one is a stealthy Chaos Squat who like to hunt down anyone foolish enough to enter into his zone of operations:

Click the pic!

There are WIP sculpts for a small team that may be out to get the Chaos Squat... but they're not ready to have pix yet. 

Next up, there's a pair of human snipers that have flown to the USA to join another company:

Click the Pix!

Away from commissions, I decided to finally get my head around sculpting something that I've wanted to do for ages... a small diorama that I want to turn into a charity thing for the Royal British Legion (RBL)... it's early days and it isn't completely finished yet (I still need to finish the base) but here's where I am at:

Click the Pix!

As you can see, it's a distraught soldier being comforted by one of his comrades, at a grave site. The final pic shows the base prepared for texturing and leveling things out so that the comforting chap's hand rests properly on the sitting chap's shoulder. Ideally, I want to get this cast up and have profits go to the RBL... but like I mentioned, it's early days yet :) .

Finally, I have tried to use up waste putty on random sculpts... so now any spare bits that I would normally throw away get used to create some random alien zoology. This has led to a Rattle-Tailed Spiker (Squat for scale):

Click the Pic!

... and a Cyclopean Gill Worm:

Click the Pic!

There are more on the way with a small, hairy, creature coming up next.

So... TLDR: I am going to be entering a time of change, I've had a bit of a sculpting drought but I'm back at it with a vengeance and I'm in a good place...

... So I'll see you from the front of the queue!