May 2009 - The first three sets of Conquistadwarves are finally at the mold makers. The masters are done and the production molds get made the last week of May. I'll be releasing the cavalry with spear, personalities and the pikes. That master mold also had the Spacer Crew for Splintered Light Miniatures in it so they should be available shortly. There was also another 15mm Sci-fi surprise. I'll post pictures of that one a bit later.
Once again, convention season is upon me. This year I'm planning to attend Origins with the Splintered Light booth. I won't be selling anything myself, but David may be carrying some of my stock for purchase. We'll see how that works out. Acheson creations will be carrying my cargo containers and any other terrain items I get done by then.
Speaking of cargo containers, I made the master for the 15mm large (40' long) container last week. It's ready to send off to be molded. I have no idea when that will be available or what the price point will be on it yet.
Apr 2009 - Lots of cool stuff happening this month. Unfortunately, all of it is making demands on my time. So things are happening a bit more slowly than I had hoped. The biggest success is the updated shopping cart. Adding new items, taking care of inventory and updating this front news page is really slick and easy now. Many thanks, Jim! The cart still uses PayPal, but it will add all of your purchases together and won't allow purchase of items that are not in stock. I have also added a section for PDF downloads and free downloads. The shipping modules seem to bee adding the correct amount and won't charge postage for the PDFs. The free stuff has a direct link to the download and will not be added to your cart.
I will no longer be taking credit cards. Dealing with these banking bastards and their constantly changing terms and conditions is simply more hassle than it has been worth. If you are uncomfortable with purchases using PayPal, I am still more than happy to accept checks or money orders. Please use the check or money order payment option during checkout.
My first experiments with creating PDFs is a basic set of high-tech space ship or installation tiles. I'm learning and relearning what works as I go, but it's pretty fun so far. I'm currently working on 15mm sets to use for bug hunts and raids. I'll be releasing most sets in 3 variants. One will be full color and texture, the second will be gray scale with texture and the thrid will be a low resolution flat color set for fast printing. Check them out as they become available and feel free to provide any feedback you wish.
Mar 2009 - Cold Wars has come and gone. It was a really cool show that has led to some interesting developments for Highlander Studios. The 15mm cargo containers sold out over the weekend; ok, the large ones did. I didn't receive enough of the small ones to fill reserve orders. That should all be taken care of in a week or so. Anyway, it has encouraged me to do more modern and sci-fi terrain pieces in 15mm. I'll also be designing some for 1/144 and 1/64 scales for 10mm and 28mm gaming.
In addition to sculpting historical lines for Splintered Light Miniatures, I will be working David in a cooperative effort to release some near future/ post apocalyptic/ sci-fi miniatures, some additions to his fantasy ranges and possibly some complete boxed miniatures games.
There are more things in the works that will be announced when they solidify. For now, I'll be wrapping up the couple backlog sculpting commissions by the end of March and moving on to the next wave of new projects.
Feb 2009 - So the end of 2008 was not very productive. I took most of Nov and Dec off from sculpting and painted, read and cleaned out my office instead. Jan started slow and then ramped up into long days of 8 - 16 hours each with very days off. Lately I've been waking up between 2:00 and 3:00 am sculpting or working out assemblies in my head. Feels a lot like the days of mid-terms and finals when I was in college.
Anyway, I've determined to make the best of the year that I can and have expanded my sculpting projects to terrain pieces as well as figures. The first releases, 15mm cargo containers, will be launched around the end of this month. Thanks to the preview photos on TMP, I think I've found a new web guy to take care of the online store.
I've also decided to change my business model to allow more time to focus on my own products. This was the intent from the beginning and now I feel it is time to make that shift. I'll be keeping 2 - 3 of my best customers as regulars who share priority with my personal projects. Other commissions will be scheduled as time allows. Yes, the approach seems a bit backward in light of the current economic situation. But if I don't take time for myself now, when will I ever?
My reading during the sculpting hiatus was not totally for pleasure. And I'd like to mention a few of the books that I really found helpful. I encourage folks to check them out and see what you think. Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting, Lynn Grabhorn. The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz. A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle. Start Late, Finish Rich, David Bach. Check your local library for copies. |
