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In this video I tell you 5 tips I’ve been learning from gardening and applying to my miniature painting hobby!
Channels mentioned:
Conjured Craft: https://www.youtube.com/c/conjuredcraft
Trent Miscast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUtsRCYEE-hCPsftezm9wzA
My Website: https://howlcorp.com
Support Me on PATREON: https://patreon.com/danahowl
MUSIC:
glaciære – “Looking out the hotel window”
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com/track/looking-out-the-hotel-window
glaciære – “Polar bears”
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com/track/polar-bears
glaciære – “Whiskey on the rocks”
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com/track/whiskey-on-the-rocks
Stevia Sphere – “First Taste of Success”
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com/track/first-taste-of-success
glaciære – “Hot Air Balloon”
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com/track/hot-air-balloon
Stevia Sphere – “Elevator 10”
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com/track/elevator-10
Disconscious – “Fountain Plaza”
https://disconscious.bandcamp.com/track/fountain-plaza-4
Stevia Sphere – “Elevator 16”
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com/track/elevator-16
All music used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
40 Comments
6:23 smoooooooooth transition
Very cool and fresh video, and I really truly greatly appreciate the perspective and ideology behind this strategy!
My only problem is that (I just had to pause the video to say this because I thought it was really important) you were able to set up an entirely bespoke online store for your garage sale and I, someone who has never done such a task, couldn't hope to achieve that.
I just don't feel like there's a simple solution for that hurdle, but anyway now I'm going to watch the rest of the video
I'm quite limited with space, but I'm still trying to make it nicer and more usable.
I relate to this a lot more than I thought I would. I looked at all of my 2024 models last month, and I was really unhappy with how chaotic that little collection was. So… I stripped a bunch of stuff. And… I started learning how to use transfers correctly. Looks like 2025 is basically just 2024 2.0 for me. Oh yeah, and there's like four years worth of unpainted stuff, Warhammer or otherwise. So, maybe I'll try to save a few pennies this year too.
I enjoy miniature painting and bonsai (miniature trees) theres a huge crossover in similarities. Great video ❤
Actually, I would argue orcs are like Mint. A garden thug that takes over space and outcompetes most other plants.
It's a lovely vibrant ork color scheme you're rocking there on your Evil Sunz. From green skins to armor reds they all look so good.
Thanks Dana
A great metaphor!
Can confirm, having a separate assembly desk from my painting desk rocks, and it means I could get a proper set of organizer boxes and storage bins for all my bits so they're much easier to find. Just don't do what I do and leave so many half-finished projects on the desk itself that you have to start doing assemblies on the couch, in bed etc because you can't be bothered to clean it up!
My wife wants pics of your real garden, not the hobby garden. She thinks you may be a fraud with all this garden talk and no pics to back up your knowledge claims.
I'm now suspicious, that you may be an genestealer cult infiltrator, no one else would be this obsessed with "environmental biomass".
I work in my unfinished basement. I have a couple IKEA desks end-to-end. One desk is mostly for airbrushing, one is mostly painting/assembling. Spanning the two is my new FDM printer. I don't think I need a dedicated assembly/basing space. I typically paint – assemble – paint … The size of each project varies depending on what I feel like working on next.
Speaking of gardening and tabletop gaming, there are rules for a composting game called "Compost28" in issue 6 of 28 magazine.
14:08 "Am I a joke to you?" – nasturtiums probably
Wisdom like that dude at starfleet that taught Picard everything he knows
I was just talking to someone yesterday about how I didn't like having a pile of plastic bits left over after assembling minis. Glad to hear that other people are wanting to move closer towards a "Net Zero" waste hobby as well.
I spent a good part of yesterday helping my parents out in their garden (South Florida growing season is now), and came back to my apartment filled with minis. All this to say that this video is at the perfect time to make my brain go brrrrrrr and be content
I'm composting my bunny waste for the garden.
I've also melted down nearly all my sprues for terrain casting purposes. Wear your PPE and it's a good time.
Edited because I've seen my comment two times. Didn't click post more than once, honest guys!
As a long time game player who has struggled in the hobby to maintain games etc, and a recent plant mum, this video has helped me to unify my sense of identity in both realms.
Dunno if that's what you wanted, but this opened my third eye just a little more ❤
It isn't a dedicated hobby space for assembling but I've found buying small multi-compartment containers work well for keeping assembly fairly organized and easy to pack-up and use the space for something else. You cut various bits from the sprue and keep a compartment for each mini. That way when you have some time you can get some bits out clean the nubs and mould lines, assemble the mini etc. and when you're done you just close the container and set it aside, no more awkwardly shifting cutting mats with little piles of bits.
About 5 years ago I decided not to buy anything new for an entire year, other than necessities. It encouraged me to fix things that were broken instead of getting new ones, build the kits I already had, and made me appreciate the blessings in my life more. I also found it challenged me to be more creative with my kit bashing since I had to make do with what I had. Oh…and I saved a ridiculous amount of money too. After the first couple moths, I found it was pretty easy to stick too, and it really did change my life. That was 5 years ago and I’m still mostly doing it. 🙂
This was a really lovely video <3 and it's super common! It's kind of a running joke that when I meet someone who's started to make their craft a career in recent years I'll ask, "Did you get weirdly into gardening or cooking?"
I don't have the space for dedicated stations, but I got around this by having different rolling tool caddies. And on Point Four, over Christmas I transformed my kitbashing caddy into a Goblin Apothecary station and it absolutely makes a difference to my headspace.
Flower Orks when?
Oh man, Pikmen themed Orks would be fun.
As a grower and mini painter i really enjoyed this!
I really love the idea of having a separate assembly space. I already have a separate painting and airbrushing space so I think I'm going to do that.
Another lesson from horticulture is that monocultures are fragile, while diverse ecosystems are resilient.
If you only buy models from one company, and that company goes out of business or engages in hostile business behavior, your hobby vocab takes a hit until you find a new source of models and materials.
Having a few different species in your farm plot or garden will prevent the whole crop from being devastated by a single pest or disease. Having a few game systems and model makers in your collection provides security of supply.
I would love to have more room for my hobbies. Unfortunately, I only have one workbench for building model, rebuilding carburetors, cleaning guns, and fixing household stuff.
3 desks?! In this economy?
13:40 "meet space" or "meat space"? oO
I thought orks were perennials because they produce spores/mushrooms that grow into more orks?
The Floral Shoppe vinyl is a delightful background bit
Using hobby time as tidying-up time is one of the best tips I've heard. I always feel like cleaning my hobby desk up is a chore I have to do (or don't bother doing, more likely) outside of the hobby itself. But treating it as a valid part of the hobby totally shifts my perception. What a great suggestion.
I thought my stormcast eternals were perennials, but GW had other ideas 😑
I really love this ❤. i would love Plants and green stuff, unfortunately, my workspace and hobby room is blocked from all light, so my studio light temperature is consistent. I would need artificial plants as a decorative thing. Great idea 🙂
Perennials only last one year with my dogs 🙁
I love your orks so much, the vibrant underpainting giving the color a bit of vibrance and interest is such my jam. I think it really fits the exuberant, campy, mad max orks so well.
Wonderful video
I can’t get over the way you say squarespace 🤣😂🤣
A cabinet shelf organizer with a cafeteria tray under it makes the dedicated assembly space without losing desk space. Leave everything in the tray, put that under the organizer, put whatever needs to be on the desk on top of the organizar.