it all comes out in the wash... er, gouache...

 A number of years ago I fished two Lifeguard trumpeters out of a $.25 box at a toy soldier show (manufacturer unknown). I painted the first one with craft acrylics, much as I've been painting figures since the '70s. Ten years later, the second one is going to be an experiment. 

Since I've grown tired of the variable quality and selection of the locally available craft paints, I decided to branch out and try some new materials and techniques. What I discovered was that some of the most highly pigmented paints are gouache paints--densely pigmented water colors available in either cakes or tubes. But... being water color paints they are easily reanimated and reworked simply by getting them wet--not like working with acrylics at all! After a few tests on 28mm figures I can not claim success but I think by learning the right techniques, practicing and experimenting, gouache may prove to have some real advantages. Particularly for large scale figures that won't undergo a lot of handling.

Stay tuned!

bringing order to chaos...

I've always been a collector of books. About 10 years ago we were moving for my wife's job. Her employer was paying the cost of the move and, of course, insisted on insuring our possessions. So, I was given the odious task of determining the replacement value of my 1100+ books. I started with a spreadsheet but being a web application developer (at that time) meant that I couldn't leave it at that. Eventually, this project grew to be a data driven collection management system which I then tweaked in order to track my gaming stuff. I call the game collection system Muster while the book version (though essentially the same code) is called Cache.

a tour of my hobby space...

Since I'm on a blogging roll I figured I'd give a tour of my hobby space. These types of posts seem to be perennially popular. (That, and I just spent most of the day straightening up and I want to show it off!) 

I'm a lucky guy to have such a space. I can easily spend all day down here. The room is on the lower level of the townhouse so I have easy access to the garage and the back yard. The only downside is that the laundry room is right off this space so it can be a bit wearisome to listen to the washer and dryer running on weekends. First-World problems, eh?

so... picking up where I left off...

 Welcome Back!

 While this blog has been moribund, I have not. My gaming activities have increased substantially over the four years since posting here. Well, not gaming, per se, but collecting and painting figures and accumulating rules and terrain. I had taken steps to engage the local gamers but COVID put a stop to that. After playing and running a few remote games I decided the remote activities didn't give me the visual, auditory or social experience I wanted. So, for now, it's back to collecting and painting.

 Many of my activities are documented at the Wargames Website. However, there are two that I am particularly proud of and want to post here.

My Age of Sail Project

My Palaeo Diet: Eat or Be Eaten Project

That's all for now. I'll post some more 'catch up with Jeff' posts in the near future.