TerranScapes ~ Newsletter

6/17/13 - My magpie has kicked in.

I wanted to touch base quickly before the next store opening (6/19) to mention a few of the newest things happening in the shop. This past month or so has seen a lot of research and development for me, and I just can't seem to help myself from diving into all sorts of new ideas. Perhaps its the spring, or perhaps is a new phase of exploration but it feels right so I'm running with it. :)

I recently made another attempt at a reusable mold making materials. A YouTube viewer cued me in on Vinamold which is a heatable polyvinyl (?) compound that seems to be very usable for making short run molds. I recently received an order for over 50 casts from a single Hirst Arts mold and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out. Vinamold can be a bit finicky in the heating, as too hot and it burns, while too cool and the mold will have bubbles in it. Suffice it to say I spent two days melting and pouring before I got molds I could use, but the learning experience was worth it. I have a much better handle on the material now, and I suspect it will find many uses in the shop for those one off molds, when pouring silicone is just too expensive.

I also have started early explorations for having some pieces 3D printed for me. My current project needs some detailed dressing and 3D printing looks like a good fit for it. As I don't have the time to learn 3D software, I am in contact with those who do. It will take a little back and forth initially to get the ball rolling, but I think its a good addition to TerranScapes and opens up all sorts of avenues to explore down the road.

As if all that wasn't enough, I have dived head first into learning about lighting with LED's. After some very primitive starts and fits, I have been led down the path to programmable chips to control the lights and I have been furiously trying basically to learn C++ , in order to talk to my new Arduino board. Each day I make incremental steps and I've been really surprised at how much I am enjoying it. An Arduino opens up so many possibilities, I can't even conceive of them yet. For the current project, the goal is to have multiple lighting effects in multiple areas, as well as some moving elements, all controlled from the one board. Sound ambitious?!? It does to me. :) However, I feel it is the right direction to take TerranScapes as it gives me a chance to separate myself from other terrain makers, as well as being able to make some really cool terrain pieces. Follow my YouTube channel as I will be giving regular updates on my progress with the project and the programming.

Sadly, all of this means that some work as fallen a little behind. My goal of getting each months orders out the door before the next come in might not happen this month. I'm really close however, but a few days of over lap is going to occur. Still, the system of opening the store once a month is working better than any other I have come up with so far, and the maximum wait time for shipping has stayed at 4 weeks or less. I'll be pushing hard this week to get everything back on track, even it means I need to neglect some yard work for a few days. ;)

Please wish me luck on my adventures in coding for lighting. I could use all the help I can get. :)

Mike

4/24/13 - Reorganized and focused.

I have been trying to post a newsletter before each store opening and just missed this last one. Its a bit emblematic of how the past month or two have been going in the shop. For some reason, I've just felt a bit unfocused and as a result I have been a step or two behind in emails, finishing projects and updating the web site. It can start to pile up and become a bit intimidating sometimes. *grin* But I'm happy to say that I have used this past week to reset how things are going and its full steam ahead for TerranScapes.

Part of that pile up was finishing several projects that were large, both in scope and challenges. The recent Frozen Ice Board Set as well as the newest Ocean Boards had lots of experimenting and challenges that were time consuming and a little draining mentally. I was really pleased with how both came out, but I'm finding it's important to balance between experimenting and steady progress. With the completion of both of those board sets, as well as wrapping up the orders from last month, (and a bit more), I had a very satisfying stack of boxes to ship out.

I also took this opportunity to catch up on all the comments on my YouTube videos, organize the upcoming custom projects, and update the web site with a customer photo, new release, new products, and other miscellaneous tasks. And I opened the store on time to boot! :) So, I'm fresh and ready to look forward at this next month and some of the great things coming down the pipe.

I have a large cliff project that will be beginning this week that poses some challenges in sheer size, as well as some decorative elements to add to it. A little later on, I expect to be dabbling in some LED lighting to start bringing some bling to certain projects. Lots of learning and creativity to explore in the next month or two, which is what keeps me coming back to the workbench in the end.

I should also mention that I think the regular monthly opening is working well. It gives me a targeted goal to complete orders and keeps them a bit more manageable in number. The next store opening will be on May 22nd. I've been leaving it open a touch longer than 24hrs and it really depends on the volume of sales that come it. As time goes on, this may get modified, but for next month, plan on another one day opening.

Until next time...

Mike

3/18/13 - Some small delays but store opening on schedule.

This month I seemed to have miss-judged some supply needs and have come up short on casting plaster and Foam Coat. This has meant that I have a stack of work stalled for a few days while I wait for the post office to deliver. But orders have been placed and materials are in route. I have taken the time to do a little experimenting with water effects for the ocean boards after being really inspired by some miniature work done in Japan. I was going to link to the video here, but it seems it has now been taken down. :( Cursed YouTube! In any case, in the video the artist appears to use silicone as the medium for the water and this allows for much more wave sculpting, which has been a goal of mine for some time now. After several experiments however, I am still at a loss as to how to achieve the look I want. I may set the idea aside for now and return to it in the future.

Opening the store for one day a month continues to be a system that seems to be working, so that will continue with today's opening at noon. Up till now I have been able to fill orders before the next scheduled opening and that has created some welcome regularity in the shop. But, because I still have a couple to wrap up from last month, I will keep this brief. :)

Thanks again for your continued support!

Mike

2/7/13 - Next Store Opening and Newness

The opening of the store for one day went well last month, so the new year is off to a good start. I have been able to handle those orders and keep trucking on custom work, which has actually made some new additions to the normal store. So continuing in that vein, the next store opening will be February 19th at noon, and it will close after 24 hours.

Mentioning the recent custom work, you may have noticed that I have added several boards to the Playing Surfaces page. After completing the 20" x 20" large mesa board, I liked it so much that it just made sense to list it there. I would be interested to see if others would like to see more boards offered in the 20" x 20" size so feel free to make suggestions when looking. The ocean boards were a bit of a quandary however, as I really, really wanted to add waves to them. Without going into too much detail, to get realistic scaled waves with nice curves and breaking surf, I just can't use the materials I use for rapids and white water. When a wave swells and curls, it retains its translucency and acrylic gels and silicones stay very cloudy when they are applied thickly. I am contemplating sculpting waves from super sculpey, molding them, and then casting them in clear resin. This way I can control their color, shape and durability much better. That won't happen however until the next ocean piece is ordered, so its something to consider if you like their look, but want a bit more added to them. ;-)

If you follow my YouTube channel, you may have also noticed I finished another waterfall recently. Taking a hard look at pictures of water flowing over an edge has made a real difference in how I approach waterfalls and I was really excited with how it came out. (Though I may not sound so in the videos.) I have a few more improvements planned for the next falls project so I can't wait for an opportunity to work on one again.

Lastly for the newness this month, was my discovery of Kroma Krackle. This is a cracking medium that I used to create the dried mud effects on the new boards added to the playing surface page under the Martian Boards section. This material has so much potential and such a fantastic look (that is durable to boot!) that I am wracking my brain on how to get it into the next project. Expect to see more cracked effects in up coming projects and the creative ways I try to justify it. *grin*

Until next month,

Mike

1/8/13 - Store Opening Time and the New Year

As I mentioned previously, the store will open on January 15th. I will open it at 12 noon EST and close it on the 16th at noon. This should allow all time zones and countries access to the store.

As for the New Year, I'm glad its here. I work best on a consistent schedule and holidays really throw that into a lurch for me. Its taken me several days (a week?) to get back on track and that explains somewhat my delay in adding the Dragon's teeth to the Newest Release page as well as a lull in videos. I think ultimately it was the wrap up of the castle project followed by the holidays that gave me a one-two punch, but I'm rested and back to the bench so to speak. :)

Speaking of the castle, I should add here that I have several custom projects lined up for the new year that may very well carry me late into fall. I'm flattered and grateful to have work lined up so much in advance, but it also means I will not be accepting any new projects for the work queue for a while. The list of proposed projects varies quite a bit and I'm excited to build on some previous work to improve some features for these pieces. Keep an eye on my YouTube channel for work in progress videos as the projects develop.

First up on the new custom projects is a waterfall addition to the end caps that are featured in the Custom Work Gallery. I've been really interested in creating a new waterfall as I think I have finally determined where I need to improve the water flow over the edge to bring it more realism. I have a magazine ad showing a fantastic waterfall shot that I have had tacked up next to the bench for several months now as inspiration. Hopefully I bring some of that inspiration into this new project.

Right on the waterfall's heels will be a next dried lake effect for the martian boards. I spied a new product for creating fantastic crackle surface effects that I think will work great for this type of project. I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail and will be experimenting with it within the week. I think giving a new look to the open boards of that set will dress them up and provide some new modeling opportunities for the future as well.

Lastly, before I go I should mention an up coming Warhammer Grand Tournament that I am involved in. I have been a part of the Unplugged Gaming group for a couple of years now the club has decided to host a GT next year. Its our intention to bring Grand Tournaments for Warhammer to a new level with the best gaming tables in New England, the most up front painting scoring possible, and best over all organization of the event. Its been months in the works with hundreds of hours put towards creating the terrain for the tables and I think it will be an event that sets a precedent for GT's in the New England area. Note that the terrain is not all produced by me - I am only human after all - but it is created with my consultation and I'm proud of the result. The Unplugged web site has extensive information on the event and if your interested in a great Warhammer gaming you should check it out. Unplugged GT

Hope the holidays were good to you. :)

Mike

12/10/12 - A Castle and Beyond

If you have been following my YouTube channel you will know that I have been neck deep in a huge castle project for the past several weeks. Each step of the project required so many new problems to solve and techniques to work on that it was quite a draining project. With that said, it has also bolstered my abilities and given me more confidence to push forward on other challenges in the future. Aside from the work on the castle itself, it also marked the first time a project has shipped freight. Assuming it arrives in good condition *fingers crossed* this will open up new avenues for projects I have been reluctant to look at due to size constraints. Additionally, it has led me towards some additional shipping monitors you can attach to packages to track how roughly they have been handled. I'm looking into these shock watch devices for future shipping as they will help me to monitor and problem solve shipping of large and fragile orders. Once I begin using them, expect me to post a video detailing how they work and how they will be used.

Now that the castle is finished, I find myself in the position of addressing several current customer requests to expand their TerranScapes collections. It has always been my policy to take orders from past customers first and so the next couple of months will be filled with a variety of projects, some new and some old. Of course, I realize that there are many others who are (im?)patiently waiting for the store to reopen. I have been giving some thought as to how to handle this and have come up with yet another idea for the new year. Over the past year, the store opened every 3-4 months for about 4 days at a time and with that schedule, I have mostly managed to close the gap on backlogged orders. So, I would like to try for this year to open the store one day a month each month. Please note that this is subject to change at any time should I find myself overwhelmed but its my hope that some regularity will help with work load management and customer expectations.

The plan then, is to open the store on January 15th for 24 hrs. I will determine the exact time as it gets closer to that date. I am choosing the middle of the week rather than a weekend as sometimes I am pulled away from the shop over the weekend and I would like to avoid distractions that may interfere with my duties. ;) We'll all try this experiment out and see how it goes.

In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with comments and/or suggestions on this system. As I have said many times in the past, I don't plan on expanding the workforce or shop size as I would rather pursue TerranScapes more as an art career, rather than as a retail career, so some eccentricities are likely to occur. I hope you can understand.

Hope you have happy and low stress holidays!

Mike

11/6/12 - Custom Projects, New Buildings, Next Opening Date

I have been diving into Imperial Sectors and Castles for the past several weeks. The Imperial Sector is now finished and pictures and a video will appear on the site soon. It marks many significant improvements over my previous attempts and while I don't praise myself often enough, I'm proud of the results. The next beast is the large castle I have been working on, and it's slated for completion by the end of the month. Its massive size means a lot of work for November, but as it forms, I get more and more excited about where it is heading. Updates on this project will show on YouTube soon as well.

This month also marks a rare event this year; three new buildings have been released on the site. After having too many large plaster buildings destroyed during shipping, I have decided to pursue casting large buildings as a single piece using resin/plastic and backed with foam. These three buildings mark the first steps in that direction and I am really pleased with how they came out. Molding them gives me the chance to take the time to really work on their design, and the most recent building, the mausoleum, shows this the best. Future buildings will likely reflect this higher level of detail and hopefully will grow a little in size. While working with Hirst Arts molds is time consuming and negligibly profitable, I love them and don't want to give up on them just yet. Hopefully this new direction will provide a better all around product, both for TerranScapes and its customers.

Lastly, I should comment on the next store opening. Right now, it looks like around the first of the year. Once the castle is finished and the current orders are complete, I will need a few more weeks to work some previous customers on some back logged pieces. Then I think I can take some fresh orders again. This time line will be updated in December so check back then for updates.

9/21/12 - Custom Projects - A lesson in the Planning Fallacy

I had meant to post something sooner after the store re-closed, but I have had so much work to do on a few large projects, it just kept falling by the side. The store was open for only 5 days and it was very flattering to see that my work is still in such high demand. Thank you so much to the continued support from the gaming community as they demonstrate their appreciation of my work, and patience with my working time.

Saying that, as I mentioned a month or two ago, I hit a milestone in catching up on normal orders, but I failed to realize how much I had committed myself to special projects. If you have been following my YouTube channel, you will have noticed that I am working on a large Imperial Sector project, as well as an enormous (to me at least) castle. I have been working steadily to push these projects forward, but their scope and magnitude has meant I have to push back filling normal orders for another week or so. I will be contacting all of my customers to let them know of the delay and hope all parties can be patient while I work through this.

So how does all of this relate to the 'Planning Fallacy'? Over the past few years I have become fascinated with the concepts of rational thinking and logic. I am a firm believer in attempting to examining the world in its most realistic view, so as to best operate within it. Logical Fallacies are common logical errors that everyone commits from time to time that can interfere with this. While I am familiar with many of the most common logical fallacies, I recently heard of a new one that I seem to be committing regularly. The Planning Fallacy is the tendency to underestimate how long a task will take. Reasons to commit this fallacy make sense - people want to present the best image of themselves, while making a project look more attractive to a customer. Its been a bit eye opening to see this fallacy so clearly describes my behavior, and to know that I am not alone in committing it. *grin* Now that I am aware of it, the task at hand is try to manage it. If you read the Wiki entry linked above, you will see there are some real costs associated with it, and I have experienced those costs very regularly. Hmmm... The more you know, the more there is to learn. :)

If you haven't heard of logical fallacies before, its worth taking a look at them. While they aren't necessarily wargaming related, when you get into that heated debate between games, they can give you a real edge in determining who is standing on more logical grounds.

Mike

8/26/12 - Store Opening a few hours late?

I just wanted to post a quick apology for not having the store open at 6pm EST as planned. An unplanned family visit created a distraction and resulted in a small delay in updating the site. While most visitors probably weren't chomping at the bit to place an order at 6pm, I'm sure it caused a bit of confusion for a few.

Apologies again for the hiccup.

Mike

8/16/12 - Store Updated and Reopening

I've gone through the site now and have tried to update all the pages. Most had little change, but you will notice a bigger change on the Structures page. As I said previously, I have decided to stop building Hirst Arts buildings block by block and so I have removed almost all the Hirst Arts buildings from the page. I do however, have a few finished pieces on the shelves and those have been moved to the Clearance page. Once those sell, they will not be produced again.

So, having completed that, I plan on reopening the store at 6pm EST on Sunday, August 26th. As in the past, I will only leave it open until a couple of months work comes in. Typically this work queue has been filled within 2-4 days so you may want to plan accordingly. Also, I should mention that its a first in, first out system so placing your order early means it ships more quickly.

Speaking of shipping times, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that for the first time in almost 3 years, the store will be reopening without any existing store orders still waiting to be filled. Its been quite a journey to catch up on orders and I have to say it feels good to see the work queue without any orders pinned to it. (That may sound odd for a small business owner, but backlogged work has been a bear to get a handle on.) Saying that, the bad news is that I have 4 major projects still underway and I will be devoting most of my time to them for the next 4 weeks. Work on new orders will resume mid September so there will still be perhaps a delay of 3-5 weeks to ship the first new orders, depending on their size. That's still a much shorter time than in past so some progress is being made! :)

These big projects will appear in the custom gallery and updates on them have been showing up on YouTube, with more videos to follow. Each is unique and pushing my skills in new directions, so I'm excited to have some dedicated time to work on them for a few weeks. One of these projects involves building several large forests with over 200 pre-made trees that a customer recently shipped to me. Most of these trees are new to me and the size of the woods, and diversity of the species represented is truly unprecedented. Its going to be challenging, but fun. :)

I'll hold back from adding more here now and just say keep an eye on YouTube and this Newsletter page. Lots of interesting work to come.

Mike

7/16/12 - Store Reopening Date

I've been getting more and more questions about when the store will reopen so I thought I would put a date down and mention a few things about it.

The store will reopen on August 26th. I will announce the exact time of day sometime closer to then. Please keep in mind that over the past year or so, the store has remained open for only 3-6 days before I need to close it and start work. :)

Expect some prices and availability of items to change. As I mentioned in my last update, a lot of buildings will be removed from the structures page and new ones will be reintroduced periodically. Recent work on water features and the martian vegetation stands have shown me that I am putting in more work on them now and so those items will see some increases as well. Price changes will occur over the next month or so hopefully.

On current fronts, I'm progressing with the preliminary work on the castle project and have gotten a lot of great feedback from viewers that has really shaped the direction the project is going in. Viewer feedback is something I value a lot but I wonder about the future when it may become overloading. Answering feedback and comments on new videos now takes a couple of hours and if that continues to grow, I may have to adjust how I handle that. In the meantime, keep it coming! (I'll figure it out later. *grin*) Speaking of videos, keep an eye out for an update on the Imperial Sector project. I spent some hours on it last night scratch building an addition to the Manufactorum relying heavily on Pegasus Hobbies kits and I really like where it is going.

Also, I should mention that a friend of mine recently alerted me to the fact that the newsletter doesn't translate well to phone viewing. I must admit that the site is a little aged now and I may investigate a redesign next year. In the meantime I am trying a new coding for this page to see if it helps. Please let me know if you have any problems viewing this page (or any page on the site) from any device. I may not be able to fix it, but I will see what I can do. There is more I could write, but I need to get over to those YouTube comments now. ;) Expect at least one more update before the store reopening.

Stay Cool!

Mike

6/9/12 - Summer of Big Projects

Looking at my work for the next few months, I can confidently say the store will not reopen before the end of August. The summer is typically a challenging time of year as there are many non-work activities that compete for my time, and I have several large projects to work on that will be pushing my skills and talents to their maximum.

If you have been following my YouTube videos, you will have seen a brief video discussing a large castle project. This project entails building an entire castle and backdrop for the evil armies of Mordor. I've only scratched the project so far, but I'm really excited to take on a grand project like this and I hope to be diving into it more over the next several weeks.

In addition I have two complete boxes of Imperial Sector Sprues by Games Workshop to build and each time I take on these city pieces I always want to do more. The customer is encouraging me to be creative so I plan on adding a variety of materials from foam core, styrene, pegasus hobbies materials and more to bulk out the sets and make the final assembly distinctive. I also recently purchased some new weathering materials from Model Mates that will add a lot to the project, so keep an eye on the YouTube channel for project updates soon.

And more recently, I have been building 6 Hirst Arts buildings for a customer and it has driven home to me that I need to make a change on how I interact with Hirst Arts molds. Building block by block is no longer feasible from a cost and time perspective so I am exploring creating new, enhanced buildings and casting them complete in resin and foam. Early experiments on this front have looked very promising and I will be gradually expanding the complexity and size of the buildings and see how far my casting skills can go. I'm very reluctant to give up on the Hirst Arts molds as I have a very soft spot for them and love the versatility and creativity they provide. I will probably reveal the first one or two of these new buildings towards the end of the summer.

Lastly, I have been really pleased with the newest water effects I finished on the large custom river set recently completed. I think I have finally found the best option available for my style and my customers use. It seems like its been a long journey but I think it has been worth it in the end. :)

Happy Gaming!
Mike

5/2/12 -New Tools and Materials

I recently had a request from a customer to develop a more durable coating for the water terrain features. The current coating (mod podge) produces a very nice effect but can't support ships and the like, as its a relatively soft material when cured and objects can leave an impression in its surface. Since I'm always game to make improvements, I have taken on the challenge and have some experiments under way. The difficulty lies in finding a material that has good shaping properties when applied, dries to a very clear and glossy finish, and is resilient when cured. My hope is that I might be able to use a caulking material. On my recent trip to get supplies, I picked up 4 different acrylic and silicone caulking tubes and have them spread out and drying now. They have a long 'dry' time (7-14 days) so I won't know the results for a few more days at least but one of them looks promising at the moment *keeping my fingers crossed* . When they are ready to evaluate, I will shoot a video of my appraisal and post it on YouTube.

Speaking of YouTube, I just recently posted my longest video to date. Its a comprehensive review of the 3D Deluxe Scroll Table from the Hot Wire Foam Factory. The table is a fantastic tool for shaping foam that really expands the options for controlled shapes and angles. While the video may be a little more extensive than most viewers want, I try to produce videos that I would want to see. When I consider a larger purchase I like to see as much detail and functionality I can to help me decide if it is a product that is right for me. It was the most difficult video to date for me to produce requiring over 8 hours of work and 12 hours of upload time (cursed DSL!) and pretty much maxed out my little i5 Dell laptop. Still, it did give me a sense of what I can do in videos and was an interesting challenge to produce. Hopefully it will help others in their quest for quality hobby tools.

Finally, I recently purchased a new molding compound called Composimold. Composimold is a reusable material that you heat up to create a liquid and then pour over the master to be cast, and when cool demold like a silicone rubber. I've been looking at it for many months wondering if it would be a good purchase or not. I decided to take the $42 plunge (not that deep a plunge really *grin*) and purchased a 32 oz jar. First impression is that on its own its a poor material for fine detail. Saying that, it may be an excellent quick and inexpensive backing for thin silicone molds so there may be some use for it yet. I plan on doing some more testing with it over the next week or two and will be posting a video of my findings. Keep an eye out for this one as its really the most unusual molding material I have seen to date and may be an excellent alternative to the 'Instamold' material that hit the markets about a year ago.

Lastly, a quick update on the expected store reopening - I expect right now that I won't be taking new orders until sometime around August. This is a floating date and may be modified before then but I wanted to give a rough idea for those who like to plan. Got a lot on my plate until then! :)

Until next time...

Mike

4/5/12 - Hope you got your order in.

The orders came in and now the work begins to fill them. I am constantly surprised by the support and demand the community shows for my work. Its a constant inspiration to keep pushing myself to expand my skills and imagination. Thank you!

When will the store reopen?... At this time I can't predict. I will be at least 8 weeks, but could very well be longer. As I mentioned before I have several ongoing projects that will also be occupying my time and until those diminish in number, I don't think I can take on much more. Of course, I will be updating this page as time goes on so please check back monthly to see updates and revised time lines. Now its back to the hot glue gun for me. :)

Thanks again for all your support!

Mike

4/3/12 - The Store is open again, but for how long?

I managed to open the store on April 1st, but just barely. When I planned for the date of reopening I forgot that it was the same weekend as the Colonial GT in NJ. After 3 days of Warhammer I got home at 11:00 p.m. and raced to the computer to change the codes for the shopping cart buttons just before midnight. I meant to post a newsletter about the expected timing but getting my models ready for the tournament took up all my spare time over the last couple of weeks. (The Mortise Engine for my VC took somewhere around 25 hours to finish.) I hope the note I added to the front page reached those who wanted to get in early. Next time, I will try to coordinate the calendar better. Luckily, the Colonial GT marks the end of the tournament season, so my distraction level will drop a little for the near future.

The current plan, as mentioned before, is to keep the store open until the back log of work looks like 8-10 weeks or so. I can't predict how long that will take as a few large orders are enough to fill that quota. Looking at the orders coming in, it might close down in a week or so. If your interested in getting an order in this window, I wouldn't wait too long. ;)

This past week was also Tax week for TerranScapes. Each year its an eye opener to see how much is spent on materials, tools, and taxes. Last year was quite a bit better than the year before, but when you calculate the hourly rate... *shudder* Still, progress is progress and I was proud to see that I keep moving TerranScapes towards a sustainable future. Since it took most of last year (and some of this one) to fill back orders that came in before the price adjustments, I'm hoping this year will be the first year that TerranScapes actually earns a modest but respectable income. Everyone who values TerranScapes should send a word of thanks to my wife. Without her, it wouldn't have been possible to keep at for these years to get the business grounded.

So, what should you expect to see coming out of the shop in the near future? Currently I am working on finishing up the shore board pair that I have been previewing in my videos. I've made a few adjustments to the second board that I think will really improve its overall look and I have a few more additions to add over the rest of this week to finish 'jazzing' them up. I'm also going to look into trying to mold a simple Hirst Arts building and casting it as a single piece. (Probably the 4" round field stone tower.) My gaming group - Unplugged Gamers - would like to host a GT next year for Warhammer. That means the group needs a lot of buildings that don't cost an arm and a leg. Its my hope that I can produce some really nice buildings for a low cost which will benefit the group and TerranScapes as well. I think I have a good enough handle on casting large pieces now that its possible, so we'll see. Lastly, I may have a very large project in the works that will span most of the year. Its a secret for now, but once its finalized, and work begins, expect to see a series of videos on it in the near future.

Thanks again for all your support! Happy Gaming!

Mike

3/6/12 - Store will be reopening soon.

First the details for those who would rather not scan through all my babble. :) The store will reopen on April 1st (no its not an April Fools) and will remain open temporarily until I have 8-10 weeks of work lined up. Its my expectation that I will be able to ship the first new orders that come in within 4 -5 weeks from the reopening day. I anticipate that I will still have a few small outstanding orders at that time in the work queue, as well as some work contracted by existing customers for ongoing projects. While I would love to keep the store open indefinitely, finally catching up a bit on the backlog has shown me just how far behind I was and I would like to avoid a repeat of last years massive lag times.

You may have noticed that the site hasn't been a flurry of updates over the past couple of months. I have been spreading my time via more media these days and have found that You Tube is absorbing more of my time. I have really been flooded with feedback from the You Tube community and having so many suggestions for improvements and ideas is really shaping where I work on pieces. Its been invaluable, but means I can't always update the site as frequently as I like. Additionally, I have been producing terrain tips for my friends' podcast 'Painting Tabled' and that has been a fun way to share with the listeners. If you've listened to the show, I would welcome suggestions and feedback on the terrain segments. I don't always follow Greg and Jen's Painting Tabled forum and so I sometimes wonder if the tips are hitting the mark.

I'd go into more, but brevity is something I am working on. *grin* If you have any questions about the reopening, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Take Care,

Mike

1/18/12 - Store is stayin' closed a little longer.

This past weekend I attended the Conflict GT in New York and played a weekend's worth of Warhammer. It was a sort of vacation for me as I don't often get away from the shop for multiple days. While I went 1-5 overall, I had a great time as the gaming club I'm in (Unplugged Gamers) is full of fantastic gamers who value the hobby, the game, and friendship. After a day of recovery (seems like it takes more and more time to recover these days...), I jumped back into the shop and took a fresh look at what I have going on.

I still seem to be trying to take on a bit more work than can be achieved in a reasonable amount of time and haven't made the progress I would like on shortening the time it takes to ship orders to customers. This has become a chronic state (which in itself sounds like a broken record) resulting from supportive customers seeking my work, and a small character defect that over estimates my own abilities. Since a new year is upon us all, I have decided to make a commitment (rather than a resolution - who keeps those? *grin*) to keep the store closed until I fix this situation. Delays on orders is the only part of TerranScapes I'm not proud of and I believe I can fix it if I apply myself.

So, I'm going to leave the date of the store reopening undecided at the moment. I still have a large back order of work to complete and I want to reopen the store with fresh slate for the new year. I will still be releasing videos, creating a few new pieces for the store, completing some custom work projects and updating the newsletter to help let everyone know I'm still here and going strong. I hope those of you waiting for the store to reopen are understanding and realize that this is my attempt to serve you better in the future.

As always, keep an eye here for updates on developments. I would also like to return here soon to discuss some thoughts I have on GTs (Grand Tournaments) and perhaps can shed some insight on these mega-gaming events for those who have been curious about attending. You may also want to listen the to Painting Tabled podcast as we did a bit of recording on the way home from Conflict, and if the sound quality is listenable, I'm sure they will be releasing it soon.

Best Wishes,

Mike

12/18/11 - End of the Year Wrap Up.

As you may have already noticed, I have closed the store for the next three months. I have been graced with a lot of orders at the end of this year, requiring a brief shut down so I can focus on them. I have found that I have been fitting in smaller orders here and there (no one should have to wait 15+ weeks for single stand of trees really...) and that is beginning to take a toll on my ability to work on the larger orders that need more of me time. So, for a couple of months I will be focusing on clearing up the queue a bit and then reopening again in February. No changes will occur in policies, pricing or layout during this time.

I would also like to take the time to thank all of my customers from 2011. It was a big year for me and I feel like I have TerranScapes on solid footing enabling it to continue into the future. New techniques, new tools, new customers and a lot of loyal customers has really given me to confidence that TerranScapes is heading in strong direction. It means a lot to me to be able to say that, and I don't take your (the customers) support for granted. Thank You!

Speaking of new techniques, I have finally finished up the new roads and have a few customers who have preordered them before the store closing. I am really excited by the roads as they are a brand new casting material, and represent a fresh approach to terrain making. The road set is likely to see some additions in the future (different widths for instance), but I'm eager to have this set get some use on gamer's tables so I can better evaluate how they perform. Having a lot of experience with casting by now, and doing my homework on the materials, gives me confidence they will perform well.

Currently I have also been working on new rock casting techniques that are going to appear on several items in the immediate future. Soft casting the rocks with latex molds allows you cast rocks directly on uneven surfaces in large areas more easily, and this was first attempted by me on my most recent display board on the site (the cliff display board). I am bringing this technique to bear in a much larger fashion on a large hill to proxy weather top, and now I see its use in more places to come. You may have seen the plateau end caps I have been working on (see You Tube videos and Custom Gallery) and looking at that project, soft casting rocks onto the next set of those will bring a lot of variation and dramatic impact. Keep an eye on my You Tube channel as I will be explaining this process a tiny bit more when I update the weather top hill project.

And as a final note, I'm trying to embed my You Tube channel on the front page to make finding my videos even easier. The widget I have there now is experimental and may change, but I thought I would try it out to get a feel of having a simple way visitors can view the videos. Feedback on the addition to the front page is welcome. :)

Take care and talk to you in 2012.

Mike

11/17/11 - Storms, Computers, the Web, oh my!

Since last newsletter its been a month of surprises. (Is that becoming cliche?) The end of October saw an unprecedented (winter?) snow storm barrel through New England that felled trees easier than a rampaging giant. Millions of homes lost their power and the shop was in the dark for 4 days as a result. Having never lost power for more than 4-5 hours in the past, it was a bit shocking to say the least. Always the opportunist however, I used the time to get a lot of painting done on my Vampire Counts army (LED head lamps for the win!). Even once the power was restored, it was several days before things returned to normal. Its amazing how dependent we are on electricity, culturally I mean.

Shortly after that, I suddenly was confronted by a computer that no longer worked. My current laptop, a Dell Inspiron i5, was purchased only about 6 months ago. Selected for its processing power to allow me to edit HD videos more easily, I expected at least 1-2 years of smooth performance. It was not to be. Two months after purchasing it, I had to reimage the hard drive with the help of Dell technicians, and again by myself two months later, and now it turns out it was a bad hard drive all along. One shiny new hard drive later, and things seem to be ok now. I was sharing these woes with the misses over dinner and she pointed out that I had to be the IT guy for TerranScapes. I hadn't realized I wore that hat, but as a one man shop, I wear all the hats! :) Grounds keeper after storms, IT tech support, shipping manager, etc. Its one of the things I love about working for myself really, but its quite the spread of skills to keep improving. Tip for those in computer woes - before calling for tech support, run the PSA test on your machine. (F12 - Diagnostics) I suspect that had the techs done this first, I could have avoided the 20 or hours of lost work time on the phone to india and reinstalling software.

As an extension of IT support, I have been frustrated with web services lately. Over the last two days, I haven't been able to print postage through PayPal and through a brief conversation with their tech support I learned that it might be a problem on their end. Paypal seems to have attempted to link their shipping with eBay and the new interface looked really great until it crashed. This morning it looks like they have fixed it and restored the previous shipping system. Seems I'm not the only one with IT problems. :) Another web service of recent concern is Tabletop Gaming News ad service. TGN has always been a fantastic resource for small businesses such as TerranScapes and under Zach's leadership, was a fluid, rapid response service to news and announcements. When I submitted an announcement, Zach would have it posted within 2-3 hours and would send a follow up email to notify me. Now, under new ownership (CoolMiniOrNot) getting a response from them is like pulling hydra teeth. I was never able to get the news release about the sale posted on their site, and can't get a response from Ross (Cool's owner?) regarding how or why the release never went up? While I recognize the service is free, and I am very grateful for that, it would be nice to know what happened. More importantly, if there is something I need to do on my end to help them, I would love to know so I can make the next exchange as seamless as possible. *sigh* I hope TGN isn't letting down the little guys. We need them! If anyone knows of another site that is similar in services provided, please let me know so I can get TerranScapes info out to the world more easily.

And what would be the next announcement be? How about a set of flexible roads! :) Currently I am working on a design for rubber cast roads that should provide more detail than existing products on the market and will fill a gap in the TerranScapes product line. I'm really excited about them and I will be posting a video of a prototype for review. I've never cast with rubber as an end product so I expect there will be a few little hiccups in the process, but I've done my homework on materials, done more pretesting than in the past, and feel confident I can bring a really fantastic set of roads to the game table. Keep an eye on the site for more updates on these roads over the next couple of weeks.

Lastly, I thought I would share a photo of the recent stack of boxes ready to ship. Progress is being made! (yeah!) It did make me think however that I should chunk my work into more reasonable pieces and avoid having quite so much ready to ship at once. :) In any case, its motivating to see so much going out. Enjoy.

- Mike

10/19/11 - A Sale?

I have been in recent contact with a potential customer and we were engaging in friendly haggling over the price of a large order. It gave me a nice focus to reflect on what I offer customers, and just as importantly, what customers offer me. I will always be offering to be the best I can be at all aspects of TerranScapes but without loyal customers it becomes a hobby rather than a business. So many of my customers come back to me months, even years later to add to their terrain collection. Those relationships all started when they took a chance on a small company purchase and found their hopeful expectations were met or exceeded.

So, to extend a welcome to potential new customers, and offer thanks to existing ones, I would like to offer a 10% discount on orders over $100 and 15% discount on orders over $1500. Rather than try to fidget with Paypal to set this up (not sure its even possible), I will simply send you a refund immediately after receiving your purchase. Alternatively, if you would like to apply your discount towards an extra terrain item that can also be arranged. I'm going to run this sale until November 15th. Please, do review the shipping and timing page if you are new to TerranScapes. :)

While I tempt you with a sale, let me take a moment and show how quality is improving. I recently finished a Small Chapel Ruins and I think it makes a good example of how every item in the store is constantly being added to and improved.

The Original -

The Latest -

Adding weathering washes, vines, and a tree bring this piece to life much more. I was actually tempted to do more with it, but its current price doesn't allow much more work. (The tree alone takes over 30 minutes to construct.) Always remember that what you see depicted in the store is the minimum level of quality you will receive.

Until next time...

Mike

9/26/11 - Final Thoughts before the reopening.

At this point I have updated every major page on the site. I have made a list of things that really need new photos and I will be working on many of them over the next couple of weeks. I'm going to make an effort to have some replacement photos in place for the store reopening, but October 1st is coming fast. One of the interesting sections of the site for me was the Custom Gallery. I haven't really taken a look at many of those projects in years and it gave me a chance to reflect on how far I've come and just how many pieces I've made over the years. If anyone notices something oddball on any of the pages, I be in your debt if you dropped me a note pointing it out. Its a lot to proof on my own. :)

The store will reopen at 12:00 (noon) EST assuming something doesn't keep me away from the computer. I'm posting this on the front page as well for those who don't visit here often. The store will remain open indefinitely as of this writing. I'm still grinding away on the backlog and still have more to do than I care to admit. I will try to keep some kind of accurate timeline on the revised 'Shipping and Timing' page, but again, its hard for me to forecast.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention some nice equipment upgrades in the shop! The new lighting I purchased to help with videos is working out well. Even though one of the bulbs burned out right away, I was able to shoot a few videos with just one light and the difference it made was stunning. The replacement bulb has come in (and a spare) so I should be able to really light pieces for videos and photos much better now. Keep an eye on YouTube to see the difference. Also, the Hot Wire Foam Factory has sent me their 6" hot knife and their Freehand Router to tryout and review. The knife in particular is proving to be really nice and a comparison of it against the 4" version will show up soon. The Freehand Router is an unusual tool that could have some interesting applications. I'm going to play with it a bit before reviewing it so I can get a better feel for what it can do.

Well, its back to tree making for me. :) 

Mike

9/22/11 - Working through the site.

I've got most of the pages of the site tidied up. Going over the Hirst Arts casts page, I checked to see if my partner site in the U.K. was still going strong. (For those who never saw the link, it was company casting in the U.K. and we agreed to swap customers to help people find reasonable shipping on casts; plaster can add up quickly in weight.) Turns out, they don't exist anymore. After cleaning up that section of the page, I reflected on just how often I have seen that fate fall on terrain studios. While there are certainly some sites that have going as long or longer than TerranScapes, I've seen twice as many start up only to close shop within a year or two. It gave me a pause as I considered the future of TerranScapes. One of the assets of longevity is that customers can come back after a year or two and add to their collection from the same artist, getting matching terrain of ever higher quality. Its my hope that the changes I am making will help insure the future of TerranScapes for years to come. After all, I feel like I'm just getting started on honing my skills! :)

Looking at the Structures page, it seems that more popular buildings have gotten a lot of improvements over the past couple of years. Less popular buildings haven't been produced and hence, their photos look terribly dated. Rather than dropping them, I have segregated them to the bottom of the page with a note that I would very much like to give them a good polishing on their next round. In particular the Warlock's House is a fantastic piece that could have so much more done with it now that I have new techniques, materials, and ideas. I've given it a special nod on the site and someday, the right person will see its potential for a supreme rebuild.

Lastly, I revised the Playing Surfaces page, and importantly made the FAQ link more prominent. I get a lot of questions regarding the modular boards and the FAQ should be helpful to new visitors. Sometimes I feel like there is a lot to read on this site. (Certainly compared to most terrain sites.) But I always want to provide the most information possible to visitors, as so often I wish other sites I shop on provided the same. Hopefully some of the changes I am making will ease navigation and clarity. If it doesn't, please let me know! :)

On to the final stretch before October... Next post will include a time for the store reopening.

Mike

9/17/11 - Listen to me talk gaming.

I keep forgetting to mention that I was a guest recently on a new Warhammer podcast. Painting Tabled is a new show hosted by a couple friends, Jen and Greg, and focuses on both the hobby and gaming sides of Warhammer. I was honored to be on the show and contribute what I could towards topics such as display boards, color choices for armies, etc. Unfortunately, I also had to recount my recent struggles at a tournament. Playing has been my strongest suit, and my memory about the games was weak to say the least. But the hosts were very supportive and understanding. :) If you would like to give it a listen, you can find it at the Painting Tabled web site.

9/13/11 - Started House Cleaning.

I've begun the update of the site and have put up some revised shipping info, a completely redone custom orders page, and begun revision of the product pages. It can be challenging to keep the site current with the very latest info and taking a close look at the pages, I see I've fallen behind on a few items.

Going over the Trees and Vegetation page, I quickly realized just how dated a few of the photos are. I've made a note on the relevant products to let customers know they should expect much more than shown, and as an enticement, spared a few of those items the site wide price increases (see July Newsletters for a bit on explanation on price increases). Hopefully, new orders for those items will come in earlier and I'll be able to revise the pictures when they get produced again. To be honest, many of the pieces could use a few new photos as quality creep is constantly adding more every piece I produce, but I'll aim for the most in need for now and see how that goes. :)

I hope the new Custom Work Request page is easy to understand for visitors. Custom work has been the one area of TerranScapes that has been the hardest to nail down over these years and while I feel really good about the new system, I'm sure it will need some tweaking in a few months. Because the work queue can fill up so quickly, I have added a new option for customers to make a deposit early to get the next available slot in the queue. Its a big experiment but I felt it important to give a fair chance to each customer, rather than end up at the back of the line while emails go back and forth over details and pricing. If after reviewing the page, you find yourself with questions about how this new system works, please let me know so I can revise it right away.

As the above suggests, I will now be slotting custom work into the normal work queue. Its the only way I equitably handle orders, especially for customers awaiting the store reopening. What its overall impact on the wait times for ordinary store purchases will be seen, but since every order is now made on a need to ship basis, it might have less impact than expected. . Of course, if this system isn't working after year, I'll try a new one. ;)

On an entirely different topic, I've been incredibly frustrated with my video camera. I'm currently using a Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5. I researched this camera carefully and was drawn to it for its reasonable price and particularly for its very close focusing ability (2 inches focal length). All reviews seemed fine on color rendering, but alas it seems to struggle quite a lot with light colored subjects in bright incandescent lighting. If you've seen my videos, you've probably noticed how often the color shifts towards yellow/reds, and its been a big problem with some recent desert color schemes. Unfortunately, the camera lacks a White Balance adjustment. >:( However, a little testing later and it seems to do much better under fluorescents, so I've ordered some great photography lighting that is arriving at the end of the week. Hopefully an $80 investment will prevent the need for a much more expensive camera upgrade. Keep an eye on the YouTube channel this weekend to see how I fare.

On the bench, I'm going to try out a new style of carving for cliff faces... Big cliffs need new techniques. Lets see how I do with it.

Mike

9/5/11 - Changes are afoot.

You may have noticed that last month it was a little quiet on the site. While the summer was winding down, I was working hard to keep up hours in the shop as well as ponder the changes needed for TerranScapes. Now that the school year is upon us (my partner is a teacher), social engagements, yard work, and distractions become fewer, and its time to start work on reopening the store.

I've decided to reopen the store earlier than planned and I will begin accepting orders on October 1st. When the end of this month nears, I will post a time of day the shopping cart will return so those who want to get their orders in first can try to get first in line. In preparation for the reopening, I will be spending a little time each week updating nearly every section of the site with new information, pricing, and policies. As pages are updated, I will post that in the 'Newest Additions to the Site' on the main page so visitors can follow along. Saying all of that, what can you expect for the reopening?

Many of you will be happy to hear I will begin formally accepting custom work projects again. Its my plan to add them to the work queue as a normal order so they won't get left behind like they did last year. I'm currently mulling over how to handle this as often it takes a while to nail down the specifics of a custom project before accepting a deposit. I'm considering accepting deposits as a queue holder while working on the specifics to keep everyone 'First In - First Out'. Of course, should the project not be accepted, this place holding deposit will be refunded.

Less joyous, but probably less surprising as well, I will making price changes. My brief business consultant meetings indicated I was pricing my labor too low. And surprising to me, I have had several customers express the same sentiment after seeing the quality of the work they received. (I should say I have been deeply flattered by such suggestions.) It has become clear, even to me, that demand is outstripping production and my goal is bring more balance to the business. My plan is to go through the site page by page and adjust the prices based on the amount of work a piece requires, its quality and place in the market. Pages that reflect the new pricing will have the store reopening date changed to October 1st, rather than the November 1st showing in the store. Hopefully this will be clear, and I will try to get the pricing changes in place quickly to reduce confusion.

Some other less monumental tidying up of the site will be done as well, hopefully to make some things more clear as well as reflect current practice. Its like spring cleaning, but in the fall. :)

I will be posting to the newsletter at least once a week during this month so keep an eye here for more on these changes as they develop. Before I go, I would like to once again thank all of you for your enthusiasm and support. Every time someone contacts me saying they are eager for the store to reopen, I get a little fired up to push harder to create the best terrain I can.

Mike

7/26/11 - July, plus "Got Some Learnin' to do."

First, as some of you have seen in your emails, I've been in and out of the shop over the last two weeks. July is always a bit of tough month as some point in the month my wife and I throw an annual summer party that is really more like a small wedding in scale. Prep and recovery time for the party is extensive and it makes getting anything else done for a week before the event almost impossible. The good news is that its behind us now and we are getting back into a normal swing so no more auto responders to your emails. I'm back in the seat and ready to crank out some work. To be honest, I don't do well with irregularity, so I'm relishing just putting in some huge hours at the work bench.

Earlier this month however, the Misses and I were chatting about TerranScapes and the struggles I have been having this year. The surge in popularity of my work has really been almost crippling and its clear some evolution is in order. Not being much of a capitalist, I have been at a loss of how best to address the problems. She suggested finding someone who might be able to give some business advice and after some digging, discovered that Massachusetts has a grant funded program to provide consultation to small businesses. I have never been one to dismiss advice from experts so I made an appointment.

After spending the first 20 minutes just trying to explain exactly what it is that I do, the advisor began to ask me several questions that I had no answer to - 'Do you have an accountant?', 'Did you bring your books?', 'What is your hourly pay?', etc. Hmmm... Clearly there are some things I need to work on. At the end of the 1.5 hr meeting, looking at the numbers I did bring with me, he made some basic conclusions. He thought I was producing some fantastic work for minimum wage pay, this is something I should improve, and he thought he could help me. While I was a touch embarrassed at moments, I left feeling really hopeful that I had made the right choice to bring in some help. What will that help look like? I have really no idea at the moment but a follow up meeting is being scheduled, and another advisor is being brought in. :)

The one thing I do know, and tried very hard to convey during the meeting, is that I don't want to hire a big staff, rent a big studio space and become a manager. Personally touching the work, communicating with each customer, and expanding my artistic skills is what keeps me coming back to the bench. Its the foundation of what has made TerranScapes popular and I'm not willing to give it up. :) So with that as the bedrock, I'm going to open myself up to any and all things that need to happen to make TerranScapes better for me, and just as importantly, better for my customers.

As you know by now if your a regular reader, I'm a pretty transparent guy and I will do my best to share with you what I learn as I go along. Perhaps others who have their own small businesses can learn a bit as well. Ultimately though, know that I am committed to improving TerranScapes to create the best customer - business relationship possible.

7/10/11 - Whoa that was quick!

Well, the store was open for 2 hours and hit the sales mark for another shut down. This shut down will be for 11 weeks and the store will reopen on November 1st. Its my hope that over that time I will be able to shorten shipping times a little and I can then open it for a longer window. I could say more but I'm a little stunned by the days events and a good night of sleep will surely help. :) I'm really quite stunned to be honest. Please keep an eye here and on YouTube for updates, work in progress shots and some more info on my research into the water effects I have been using.

Mike

7/7/11 - The 10th Approacheth...

It has been an interesting 10 weeks since I closed the store to new orders, filled with great new discoveries for techniques as well as some set backs. As I'm sure I've mentioned here before, TerranScapes seems to be in constant evolution and I'm never quite sure what will be around the next corner.

The last two months I have really gotten into weathering powders and some of the effects they can produce. It has been exciting seeing how I can take older pieces and breathe new life into them. The arena I recently completed is a great example of this as the walls and upper deck came alive with some weathering washes. I recently took a similar approach to the 4" Round Tower built from Hirst Arts molds and I can't believe how much more realistic the stones look as the powder shades them and fills some of the cracks between them. There so much more to explore in these techniques and I am sure the rest of the year will bring new enhancements to a variety of pieces.

Last month I upgraded the hardware and software I use to produce videos. Videos, in my opinion, are the best way to show and describe products to customers before they are shipped. The previous system I was running just couldn't handle processing (rendering) HD videos and the software was fairly primitive as far as customization and effects. Now I can render videos in 1/3 of the time, include picture in picture elements, multiple layers of sound, customize effects and much more. I haven't even really begun to explore the nuances of what I can do, but after the investment of a good number of hours, I can already see the difference in the quality of the output.

On YouTube, my channel recently broke the 2000 mark for subscribers. For a while I was wondering whether the effort I have been putting into the videos is worthwhile as it takes away from actual production time in the shop. Recently however, the value has been fully realized with my posting of the recent water effect problems (described further below) and including a request for help. I quickly received so many suggestions for things to try I was almost overwhelmed by the ideas. Since TerranScapes is a one man shop, its incredibly valuable to have contact like this with the wider community. Already I am testing several of the ideas presented and I think its going to lead to a much needed advance in my water techniques.

On the flip side, I have not made the progress I had hoped for for catching up on orders. Several things have contributed to this including the aforementioned new computer and software, the problems with the water effects, summer is just a crazy season, and now several molds need to be redone. In addition, I find myself spending more time on each order as I have so many ideas on how to improve them, implementing those new techniques have slowed down production time. Currently I am working on a Tower Ruins piece and I can't help but add some of the new weathering I have been working on as well as the new silflor ivy I just started using. (See one of the recent videos for more on the ivy.) It adds time, but its where I want to go as an artist.

The recent problem with the water effects has felt very much like a big set back, but recovery is on the way. :) To briefly explain, two customers have recently contacted me that their rivers were showing imprints from the bubble wrap after shipping. It seems that the warmer weather is softening the coating and so the bubble wrap is pressing into it more easily and damaging the finish. The result of this has been many hours trying to replicate the problem here, explore coatings to protect it, new packing techniques, new materials, etc. Even now I have several experiments running to see what can be done to fix the problem. While I feel confident I can find a solution, its been drawing on me heavily to do so right away. I won't ship any water pieces until I feel confident they will arrive and remain in good condition.

Lastly, I need to redo all the molds for the buttes, arch and mesa from the martian board set. I probably should have seen it coming, but I didn't plan for it and its going to take a bit of time to correct. I already made one attempt, using a new molding technique for the arch. It was a failure... but with much learning. I have some more materials on order for another attempt and once I iron it out, it should speed up the process for all the other pieces. Wish me luck, because the first attempt resulted in $60 of wasted silicone rubber. :(

That leaves me with 2 days until the store reopens... Because I am still quite backlogged on orders, I will only be reopening the store briefly. Once a certain amount of sales have come in, I will be closing it again for 12 weeks. I have had many people expressing interest in placing orders when it reopens and I'm genuinely flattered that so many gamers are interested in my work. Before placing an order however, please consider that it will likely be a significant delay before I can ship it. Some orders I am finishing right now are 15 weeks from time when they were ordered. I am reluctant to give estimates for shipping on orders beyond the next few in the queue, as the last two months have taught me 'things come' up that I never expected. If your patient, please feel free to take advantage of the open store interval. On the positive side, each piece I produce is better than the last, and when your order ships it will likely exceed your expectations. :)

Mike

6/23/11 - Quick Update

I recently received the order of flock from Scenic Express and I am happy to say its perfect. While I'm not sure why it doesn't match the flock I bought through Hobbylinc, I now have 5 gallons of what I know and love, so I should be all set for a while. Speaking of product evaluations, I recently posted another review video of the Foam Coat system on YouTube. These reviews have really enhanced my understanding of the properties of the system and I still have a few more videos to do. Several viewers have given me great ideas for tests for the system and I wanted to mention here that I'm always looking for more ideas. If your curious about how the foam coat system will perform on different materials and/or situations, let me know. If I can, I will work it into future 'experiments' and we can learn together.

I also recently posted an arena in the Custom Work Gallery that I recently completed for a customer. This project tapped into many new techniques that I have been developing over the past year and I think it showcases them to good effect. While it was a time consuming piece to finish, its a nice break from routine to take a piece and really trick it out.

Going to keep this short as there is plenty to do in the shop. Here's hoping your summer includes some great gaming!

Mike

6/12/11 - A Week of Upgrades

This past week saw a set back in output as I spent many hours setting up my new laptop. The need for an upgrade was largely due to the increasing frustration of trying to edit HD videos on a system not built for it. Hopefully audiences have been unaware that I actually have to edit the videos mostly by sound alone as the frames of the videos would lag minutes behind the sound in the editing software. Frustrating to say the least. Once I made the upgrade however, I have discovered that a who new array of software is now available for me to use and I am eagerly awaiting my copy of video software that will really give me the ability to add more features to the videos, color correct somewhat when needed, and render them in 1/4 of the time I'm used to. Of course, what all of this really means, is that this past week was derailed by probably close to 15 hours as I researched PCs, photo editing software, video editing software, installed software, troubleshot the new set up, etc. The hard work is over now though, and I think the investment in time and money will be worth it.

Another train jumped the track this week when the mold for the Martian Arch finally quit on me. This is probably one of the most popular pieces I have made, and as a result I want to get it back into production right away. I was lucky enough to have preserved the master for the mold, but it too needed some sprucing up. I have always lamented the lines that show the layers of the foam used to build it up and I contemplated just scrapping it and starting over. Looking at the time it would take to do so, I opted instead to try to touch it up. After some time consuming and careful sanding and gap filling, I think it will look better than ever. That led to how to mold it again. The previous method I used was to brush on the rubber and then build a plastic shell for the mold. This is a very, very time consuming process (something like almost 2 weeks of off and on work if I remember). After doing some research, I have found a method that I hope will work, which uses the old shell as a form to pour a new mold. Its complicated to explain, (so I won't), but if it works, it will be a huge time saver and produce a better mold than the original. If it doesn't work, well, its the old method...

Other smaller projects have also gotten some upgrades, including an improved scree hill, and a plastic resin molded deck for the bridges. I will get a video and photos up on the site, just as soon as the new software arrives. :) The next front that needs attention are the river molds. Several of them are failing, and I really want to redo several of the masters anyway so some time this week will be needed on that front as well. I think this is a new phase for TerranScapes as now there are some quite old products in the store and many of them are primed for some redos/improvements. I try to take them on as they arise, as I can't think it will be helpful to let them pile up.... Those razor wire stands could do with a little primping as well now that I think of it...

Lastly, and item of real concern. As you may have read here previously, I had some trouble restocking one of my most used flocks, Green Turf Blend by Scenic Express. I was glad to see that Hobbylinc had some back in stock and I ordered a few jugs, while I wait for my 5 gallon pail to arrive from the manufacturer. I know they have had some troubles with the blend and had informed me it was back in production. When the jars arrived, I noticed that something had changed. The flock color looks just about right, but I think its been ground much finer than the previous version... I wish I had some old flock to compare it to, but I believe it will look slightly different on the terrain, especially once sealed with watered down PVA.

This creates a dilemma as now I have possibly three different looks for boards 'out there', the old version, a few isolated boards I produced recently with a new blend that is darker, and the new current blend. I think for the immediate time being I would like to suggest a plan for customers with existing modular boards who plan on ordering more to expand their set. To be safe, you should plan on mailing me one of your existing boards so I can ensure as best I can that the new work matches it. Once I have seen some older boards compared to the newer ones, I can better judge if this is real problem or not. If you have any questions regarding matching your existing terrain, of course you can feel free to contact me and we can talk about it. And, saying all of this I might be worried about nothing as the 5 gallon supply that should be arriving soon may match the old product perfectly. *shrug* Its something I'm keeping my eye on for the immediate future and will update here when I know more.

Keep an eye out for the new videos! I'll talk to you soon.

Mike

5/24/11 - Still Plugging Along

Even though the cart is closed, it's still full steam ahead in the shop. While I never feel like orders get out as fast as I wish, the queue is shrinking each week. I don't expect to have the queue emptied by July 10th, but I can see it will be much closer to under control by then. Of course, part of the delay in filling orders, is the improvement I try to bring to products, when opportunities arise. One example of this involves some extra work I'm doing on an arena. The initial work has involved extensive roto-tooling of the outside wall, which will really bring some age and depth to the piece. Some larger, bolder vines are planned and I really want to work on some weathering washes for the piece. A work in progress video is up on YouTube and another will follow once its based and painted.

Another recent order included a scree hill and a stone circle. Both of these pieces have never fully met my vision of what they could be so I'm working to step them up. The scree hill has been enlarged and a more realistic cut in the hill has been added that makes it look much more plausible. For the stone circle, I've decided to do a complete make over. After many attempts at carving some new stones, I have realized that nothing looks like stone, except real stone. :) So, after a couple of hours with some slate and a hammer, I have fashioned a dozen new pieces that have intricate detail which will carry really well for any almost any game scale. Molding the stones involved a slight hiccup, but I am happy to say the newly cast plastic versions look great and the difference will really be outstanding. Keep an eye on the TerranScapes YouTube channel to see a video of the new stones very soon.

For the near future, I think the river pieces are going to need some work. The molds for several of the sections are really tired, and so it seems time to take a look at where that product line could go for the future. Working on a waterfall this week, I sculpted the edges of the bank against the water to look like it overhangs a touch, and it seem to me to look much more realistic, especially for curved sections. I could talk more about this, but suffice it to say that at the very least, some new/replacement river sections will be added to the site before the reopening (very likely).

Before I forget... I have been continuing the review of the Hot Wire Foam Factory's Foam Coat System. Its been a fantastic opportunity to look more closely at the products and get a firm handle on how to use them in different applications. Expect more review videos over the next several weeks. I encourage suggestions and questions on the products as it helps me look at areas to explore.

Finally, I've had a lot of customers and YouTube views express interest in placing orders when the store reopens, and I just want to say Thank You. Your enthusiasm and feed back keeps me pushing forward.

Mike

5/3/11 - Holding Off New Orders until July 10th.

Well, April was a humdinger. :) I have really been flattered by the big surge in popularity for TerranScapes and its taken me a while to process it and put together a plan for moving forward. Many great people have provided me with a lot of ideas and encouragement and I always appreciate such feedback. It's never been my intention to grow TerranScapes beyond a small shop and so I have been reluctant to bring in help, look for a new location, and the like. One of the things I love the most about this job is its intimacy and getting bigger isn't the direction I want to go. Besides, this could be a fluke and my survival strategy has always been to keep my overhead low. ;)

So, in order to focus on the orders I have I have decided to close the shopping cart until July 10th of this year. That gives me about 10 weeks to focus on the orders I have and close the delivery time somewhat. I don't think I will have all the orders out by then, but it should put a good dent in the queue. Additionally, I should have a little more time each day as following up on orders and modification requests takes some time at the computer, and my intention is redirect that time towards the paint brushes and hot glue gun for the next several weeks.

Customers who have orders in the queue are welcome to check in on their progress and modify their orders as desired. I will still be doing videos for YouTube, new releases (at least one more), and updating this Newsletter page. I have a few new projects in the works (see the recent Trench Modular Board video on YouTube), and catching up on the the work queue will allow me to bring out some great new pieces later this year.

Keep an eye here for updates over the next month since it seems I am revisiting this page more often lately. I like that.

Mike

4/19/11 - Spoke too soon.

Last week saw an unprecedented number of orders come in (and I mean 'unprecedented') and so future order delivery dates are completely up in the air now. While the largest orders are planned for a staggered completion schedule, it will obviously add to the shipping times for all subsequent orders. I'm going to say if your ordering now, expect perhaps 15 weeks for shipping. If that sounds crazy to you, imagine my surprise. Of course, as things develop I will provide updates here.

The clearance page was an immediate success with most items being snatched up very quickly. Only the Pandoran display board is still looking for a home now.

On a technical note, I have had trouble getting in one of my flocks that I use in the blend that coats most of the terrain on the site. Scenic Express' Green Turf Blend has been out of stock for several weeks now and I finally called the company to find out what the situation was. I was informed that the last large batch they had ground up contained some contaminant that made it unsuitable for selling. They are working on grinding up a new batch and are back ordered on it considerably. I have a 5 gallon pail on order but it may be a few weeks before I see it. I share this as in the mean time, I have substituted another flock in the blend that is a slightly different color (I actually really like the richer color a lot), but retains the texture of the original blend. As a result, pieces being sold are a just a hair darker than previously completed pieces. This really poses no problem for 98% of items but for modular boards, there may be a slight difference since so much of the boards are coated in flock. I'm waiting on finishing any more board sets until the Scenic Blend returns.

I also have posted the first Foam Coat System review video on YouTube. If you haven't seen it, you might find it interesting. I'm looking forward to trying out the new engraver and the hot 'knife' soon as they seem to be the next logical components to review. After testing the tools, I can then test the coating system to see how it affects detail retention and durability improvement.

Talk to you soon.

Mike.

4/10/11 - Making a Dent

I just wanted to briefly update you on recent progress here in the shop. This weekend saw one of the larger collection of orders going out the door and I am happy to say the delays have stopped growing and perhaps are even shrinking. :)

Its been great to see the work paying off, and the positive feedback I have been getting from customers receiving their orders has really helped to keep me motivated.

Another quick note: I have put up a clearance item page in the main product menu. I've listed a few things that have been on the shelves (taking up too much space) and I am moving them out in the fashion of spring cleaning. One item of interest is the Pandoran themed display board. This item was a custom project that was never paid for and its up for grabs. While its fairly stylized, I can see it being a fantastic display board for a variety of armies and I hope it finds a worthy home. A couple of months ago I unboxed it to show it off to a few friends, and I still feel it is one of the most spectacular pieces I have done to date. Its felt like a shame to have it sitting boxed up so long, so I'm glad to finally have it listed.

Lastly, I was recently contacted by the folks at the Hot Wire Foam Factory and they have asked me to do some review videos of their products. I've been using their foam coat for a few months now and I have lots of good things to say about it. I will however, be taking a closer look at the products and stacking them up against some more conventional materials to see just how much better they perform. I was really excited as they also agreed to send me one of their engraver tools with a pro power supply. I have been eyeing that bad boy for a couple of years now and just never felt like taking the risk on it. Now I can dig into some foam with it and also combine it with their coating products. I think many terrain modelers out there will benefit from demonstrations and commentary on it. Hope to start some video reviews on them in a week or two.

Hope your enjoying spring!

Mike

3/17/11 - Price increases for some items.

Tax season is really the one time of the time where I sit down and review all the monetary in's and out's of TerranScapes. Its a bit of a harrowing process as I comb through a years worth of PayPal transactions trying to piece together which is a 'durable good' or why I sent $43 to Mark Smith in April, or some such transaction. :) Its rewarding as well to feel like something concrete happened over the year as I review the expansions in equipment and molds as well as seeing just how many orders actually went out to people all across the globe. Overall, things improved for the year for sales (+ 3% or so) but at the same time, I put in more hours for the year as well (I track this fairly closely and it went up 2% or so.)

How do I interpret all of this? Well, TerranScapes is at least financially stable. Riding out the roughest part of the Great Recession has given me some confidence that I can sustain this for some time to come. Saying that, it has been a small income that would only be possible to live on for a married couple with no kids. :) I would like to move TerranScapes a little further away from the financial cliff that looms just beyond the backdoor of many small businesses, but simply adding more work hours is not realistic. This has been made all the more apparent lately as I struggle to get back on track for shipping orders. There are not a lot more hours in the week left to put into the business. (I love my work, but I love my wife as well. *grin*)

I have been thinking about this for last several weeks as I try to evaluate where my time has been applied the most, and where costs are needing some coverage. I'm a poor capitalist in the end so this stuff can often escape me. I have decided to take it piecemeal and evaluate things as I come to them. Recently completing a big board set, it gave me a chance to look at the hours required and its a considerable investment. I can't help but continuously improve them (see the new water effect) and so the prices have gone up to reflect the improved foliage, water, surface coating, edge tightness, etc. Then today I was looking at my vacuum chamber and realized that its primary use has been for casting Hirst Arts molds. As the chamber alone was $387, if I add just .$.25 to each cast, it will take over 1500 casts just to recoup its cost. Crazy huh. (Doesn't include the pump or its electricity draw...) So I am increasing the price of the casts $.30 ** Edit - decided on $.25** each to start down the recoup path. As I move forward, expect to see some other prices go up as I complete orders and get a closer look at the time involved for new techniques and materials I apply to them.

I hope some of this transparency is helpful to you. Your feedback, support, and patronage is what sustains TerranScapes and I thank you for that. If any of this raises any comments or questions, feel free to send them my way. I'm always available to chat with you.

Oh, I almost forgot, I am going to be adding a 'discounted page' very soon. I plan on listing some items that I have had around the shop for a while that I would like to move so I can make some space. (Its cramped down here.) Keep an eye out for that to show up very soon.

Mike

3/5/11 - Delays deepen.

Well, I just sealed 10 large boxes for 5 orders and I'm catching my breath. My wife snapped this picture and thought you might like to see my version of 'catching my breath'.

To try to get those orders wrapped up, I 'dropped out' for a few days and hadn't been checking my email as I didn't want to be distracted from moving them along as best I could. An apology to those who sent emails and wondered where I was. :) I realize now I could have put up an auto-responder to at least alert you to delays in communication. I'll make sure to put that in place should this occur again in the future.

Its clear to me that my spacing for orders has been way off and as a result, times to deliver for all orders in the queue are probably going to at least 4-5 weeks longer than original quotes. Of course, for those of you who have followed me over the years, you probably know that my estimation of time for projects/orders is my weakest skill. :) Saying that, I'm asking everyone to consider my estimates for shipping dates as 'soft' estimates. Of course, I also understand those delays may be too long for some customers, so I of course would offer a refund to anyone in the current work queue on request - no questions asked. (A link to this post is being sent to everyone in the queue.)

Realizing that it will take some time to catch up initially had me quite a bit down to be honest. Providing quality customer service has always been a primary goal for me and I felt these delays were a big blemish on that objective. But I also realize that the volume of orders has just kept getting larger and larger, so I must be doing some things right. In the end, I have decided to leave it up to you, the customers to decide if the wait is worth it. Putting it in your hands feels a lot better for me and allows me to include the things that really help keep me motivated.

I have several pieces I designed for TempleCon that have yet to be released, and I want to start a video series that follows along with me as I start designing some new sci-fi structures. (Long, Long over due...) In order to create some balance, I plan on slotting a certain amount of time each week to these tasks rather than the often unbalanced efforts different areas of the business receives. Keep an eye out for announcements on these fronts, both here and on YouTube.

Lastly, on a related note, I recently started playing Dystopian Wars by Spartan Games. The game is really pretty fantastic but if you have been following Spartan Games at all, you know they have been bowled over by the success of it and have been having a lot of trouble keeping up with product demands. (Where are those Blazing Sun Sky Fortresses anyway?!? *grin*) I felt a little better about TerranScapes, seeing a larger company experiencing some of the same problems I am. With the ability of the internet to explode exposure for companies, perhaps its not unusual for smaller guys to get overwhelmed? As a customer for Spartan Games, I am sympathetic to their position and patient for my sky fortress. If they are working at it as hard as I am, I know they are doing their best, and that's good enough for me. :)

Mike

2/15/11 - Not sure what happened, but I am way behind...

Having returned from TempleCon and perhaps misjudging the time required for a couple of orders, I now find myself quite a bit behind on orders. I'm putting in extra hours to try to catch up but it seems this will be the state for a couple of weeks at least. As a result, all new orders will definitely be 8 weeks to ship. Luckily, most customers have been terribly understanding I can't say how much I appreciate that. I have been working hard to keep everything running smooth on the outside of TerranScapes but if I fall behind a day or so answering emails for instance, I hope you will understand.

On brighter notes, I have recently changed the way I finish the surfaces of the rivers and I am adopting this new style to all my water features. I have posted a few pics of the new technique on the rivers heading and this will spread across the other water features as I finish them. A video showing this technique used on the rivers and the modular boards is in the works and should appear soon on YouTube.

Speaking of YouTube, I have had a really difficult time uploading videos lately and as a result, I dropped HD from the most recent video in an attempt to post it (successfully finally). I have done quite a bit of searching to determine what the problem might be, and after changing the power settings on computer, trying their advanced java up loader, uploading over night, uploading during the day, and uploading with Windows Live Movie Maker I still am not confident why the problem has persisted. Until I nail it down, the next few videos may be relegated to the lower res format. *shrug* Is it me or does anyone else think the help pages on YouTube are decidedly NOT helpful?

1/20/11 - A few more reflections for the new year.

I wanted to take moment to convey that orders may be taking a little longer to get out for the next couple of months, and tell you why. First, due to a number of factors that I am about to describe, orders (especially new ones) may move to a 7-8 week shipping time frame. I have been working hard for the last several months to shorten this timeframe and had been shipping things at a 5 week mark for the last month or so. I have long had a goal of getting this time frame down to the 2-3 week mark and was becoming dismayed that I hadn't even come close for the past year. Then I started thinking about what I had been doing for the business that was adding to those delays and I realized that the time adding activities were some of the things I love best about being TerranScapes.

As you might have noticed recently I have been posting videos a bit more frequently and I expect to continue to do so for a while yet. While I have questioned their value beyond merely 'advertising' I have come to really enjoy and value the feedback and comments they generate. I have gotten some fantastic suggestions and tips as well as praise, and I have come to really look forward to the feedback the videos generate. As you might imagine, they are a little time consuming to produce (set up, editing, responding to comments, linking in the site, etc.) but the motivation they provide is really valuable. I also feel its critical that I give customers the best look at my products as possible and the videos are a crucial component of that commitment. So rather than cut them back, I have decided to march forward with them and maintain that great link with the gaming community.

Lately I have also been doing quite a few new releases and I have wondered if I am spreading myself too thin. Developing new pieces is one of the most creative aspects of the business for me and I get excited each time I add a new item to the store, whether its a lowly sandbag stand, or a large building. Every release adds a new improvement in design, casting or even shipping challenges. I thrive on these aspects and new releases deliver the feeling that TerranScapes is moving forward. Currently I am working on several 'secret' pieces for the upcoming Onslaught GT at TempleCon and I can't wait to show them off. They keep me working hard and so I'm planning on pushing ahead with them as much as I can.

As TerranScapes becomes more well known, I am finding that just responding to emails is taking longer than it used to. Because I offer modifications on all my items to match individual tastes, many emails require some careful thought and back and forth communications. I try very hard to make each contact with potential customers a personal experience and you will likely never see an auto-reply to a purchase for example. What I want to offer as a company is a one-to-one buying experience that is so often lacking in our society today. That means more time, but I think its worth it and it seems that many of my customers feel the same way.

Finally, the business keeps growing but the staff doesn't. :) As a one-man shop, it can be challenging to update the web site regularly, photograph new pieces, post videos, get the shipping right (98% of the time), research techniques and equipment and so much more. I'm finding my time spread over more activities and more projects all the time, but I don't want to drop any of them. Sometimes I feel it might be best to raise prices a touch to make more on less, but I have always said I wanted the everyday gamer to be able to access the best terrain available. While I understand not 'every' gamer can afford my services, and some companies offer some better products in some areas, I feel TerranScapes does provide some of the best terrain available at reasonable prices. I'm going to work hard to keep prices relatively stable over the year towards this pursuit and evaluate it again as time moves forward. In the meantime, I hope customers understand TerranScapes is just 'me' and continue to be patient while I make sure every order gets the kind of attention I would want if I were buying it.

So, after all that, expect some delays for the next month or two while I get ready for TempleCon and recover from it afterward. TerranScapes often feels like an organism unto itself that I merely shepard along its evolutionary path. As it grows, morphs and matures, I will always look to you for feedback, comments, encouragement and support. While the TerranScapes staff comprises only one, its still feels like a team effort with gamers across the world influencing it every day.

Mike

1/7/11 - Looking forward to the New Year

Wow, its been a busy-good year looking back and I only have more planned for the new year. Its a little hard to believe that TerranScapes has just finished its 4th year, especially as I have telling people recently that I thought I had been in business for only 3 years. I guess the time has been flying by and I really have all of you thank for that. Sales over the past year continued to inch up and the feedback from customers and video viewers has been especially motivating. Recently, my wife and I had been discussing the 10,000 hours rule for gaining mastery in any subject. (Google this theory if you are not familiar with it as it's pretty interesting.) It started me thinking about how long it would take me to get in that many hours in terrain making and it looked like 5-6 years. Of course, to really get good at anything, you need to learn from those who are better than yourself so I have began a search to accumulate lots of tutorial materials, whether they be books, DVD's, other terrain web sites, and YouTube videos. Needless to say, I am really excited to push my skills in 2011 and start producing the kind of quality I have always envisioned when I began TerranScapes. Hopefully along the way, I can help you, the gamers, put fantastic terrain next your minis, or inspire the other do-it-yourselfers out there.

With the release of the most recent modular board set I feel prepared to really begin to expand the sci-fi section of the terrain line. Of course, I had made a similar promise last year and only barely made a dent on this front at the end of 2010, with the first Hirst Arts machinery and refinery pieces, and finally released the new Ashland boards just before the year closed. It was less than I had hoped to accomplish on this front, but it was the start and now I can build on it. As much as like my sister of battle miniatures I have been using in the photos, I really wanted a new look and some new models to paint. I just purchased a few Infinity miniatures and with their dynamic poses and awesome sculpts, I know I have to make some great terrain pieces to go along side of them. (If you haven't seen Infinity's miniatures, check them out!) So what can you expect for a new release? I would like the new building I am planning to be something that fits in equally well with 40k, the Infinity game, and also be usable for Necromunda. Multi storied, lots of corners and obstacles, walkways and some modularity are in the plans, and I am literally chomping at the bit to begin casting, cutting and gluing. Look for the first release to be sometime early February!

For the modular boards themselves, they are all getting an upgrade in durability for this year. I recently was looking of Senji Studio's web site (another must check out!), and I saw his review of the Hot Wire Foam Factory's 'Foam Coat' product line. After talking with him I decided to purchase a small amount and try it out on a few boards. Its basically a gypsum cement that you coat foam surfaces with to improve their impact resistance. While it doesn't make them bullet proof, I discovered that it does strengthen them enough to be worthwhile. Almost importantly, it bonds to the foam so well, that if does get dented, the surface coating doesn't flake off, something that can happen with PVA based coatings. My calculations show that it would add about $25 to the cost of a full set of boards and I've decided that it is worth the investment to produce a higher quality product. I'm going to split the difference with my customers and only raise the price of the sets $15 to account for the increased material costs. I'm going to post a video review on YouTube of this product soon to explain why its great and why I am using it.

On other improvement fronts, I recently purchased a small vacuum chamber and vacuum pump to begin degassing rubbers for mold making. Immediately, I started using the chamber to vacuum degas casts from the Hirst Arts molds and have been blow away by the improvement. After some trial and error, I can now say that the casts I am making are of exquisite quality and can't believe I went so long with a vacuum chamber set up. I immediately invested in a properly sized chamber so I can degas multiple molds at once. While the equipment was a bit pricey, I am going to hold the cost of the casts at $2/cast for the year as a nod to the sluggish economy and as a way to spread this service out to more customers. Word of mouth has been the best advertising I can get and I want as many gamers as possible to be exposed to these new improved HA casts. Remember that if you don't see a mold listed on the page, and you need it for your project, just let me know and I can have it in the shop within a week to begin casting from.

Really, there is so much more I could tell you about ideas I have, new releases planned, and new techniques I plan to explore I could go one for another page and a half. But I am believer in brevity (sort of) and it gives me an excuse to return to the newsletter page next month. I hope you come back then and listen to me ramble again. :)

Take care and here's to a better year for all!

Mike

11/8/10 - Where's that New Board Set and Refinery I keep seeing on the main page?

As I'm sure many have noticed, in the 'Product Additions' section of the main page, a new wasteland board set and a Hirst Arts refinery have been underway for what seems like a good part of the year. Originally I thought I would have those ready by the end of the summer, but as so many projects go, I can only work on them in between regular orders. Working on the Pandoran Display board, and the Ruined Fieldstone building took up a lot of 'spare' time and meant that I could only chip away at the new boards occasionally. I'm happy to say that they are really very close to release and I am determined to release them and the buildings by the end of the year. Actually, the boards are now finished and I am waiting to finish the buildings and a few other associated pieces so that I can showcase them all together.

The Hirst Arts refinery pieces have actually created a longer delay than I expected. The structures themselves are assembled and in trying to paint them using my past techniques, I am finding it is just taking too long to make it profitable. They have so many nooks, crannies, and smooth surfaces, that base coating and giving them multiple dry brush highlights is just not viable. My next attempt is to spray them and wash them with a quick brush of highlights. Of course, not expecting to take this road, I have assembled them in such a way that getting spray paint into some areas is going to be a challenge. Really though, I am looking at these pieces as test bed for new pieces to come and so this is all part of the learning process.

Looking to future for these pieces, I have finally broken down and invested in a small vacuum chamber so that I can degas mold rubber so I can more easily make molds of the assembled structures. Its been a long overdue investment really but the number of small pieces needed to make these structures is really too much to assemble by hand every time. I don't plan on molding the first set of buildings however as I really want to change a some aspects of their design, both for looks and also for casting. When these first pieces are finished, I think I am going to offer them as a one off set and then set about building the final sets for molding. This 'should' go faster based on what I have learned from this first attempt. ;)

Speaking of Hirst Arts, as I mentioned before, I have opened up the new section of site to allow individual casts to be purchased. I have been surprised by the number of customers who have been ordering individual casts of molds rather than the 10-20 needed to assemble many of the finished projects. It is my suspicion that folks are either judging the quality of Hirst Arts molds, or judging the quality of my casts. Either way, its a great idea to see them, at a low investment, before committing to a whole project. Of course, I would love any feedback these customers have on their opinions of the casts. Criticism (in both the positive and negative sense of the word) of my work is always welcome. Its really the only way to know for sure how keep what is working and improve what's not.

Take Care.

Mike

8/22/10 - Plastering the site with new additions.

I've been at the computer this weekend putting up a few new things I hope visitors find interesting. First I have added three new pieces to the product line that range from simple and useful, to dramatic and dominating.

The new rock barriers (see the newest release page) were inspired by the new Warhammer Fantasy rules which followed the trend set by 40k by implementing 'true line of sight'. Since so many terrain pieces that used to provide line of sight blocking were now rendered transparent, it seemed a good idea to produce a truly large rock outcropping that blocks line of sight to all but the largest vehicles and creatures. The pieces are hopefully useful to a variety of gamers and they gave me a chance to try to enhance the look of rocks by exploring/adding some additional colors and flocking to them. While they are large plaster casts, I have found the Tuf Stone I have been using for casts to be incredibly hard to chip. In fact, I regularly have to sand my casting table to remove its residuals as I often find I just can't scrap it off!

In addition, I have added a new trench piece that features a door and some lanterns. The lanterns in particular were a nice exploration in small sculpts and small casting. A customer had requested them and I really wanted a decent look on their cage and mounting. I think I accomplished this well and it has given me new confidence to try other small sculpts to add to future pieces. When I (eventually) get to the sci-fi buildings later this year, I may look at creating some unique pieces to add them using these techniques.

The final addition to the new releases is a large collection of structures comprising a Greek Temple. I have been wanting to use the roman molds from Hirst Arts for over a year now and finally sat down to try to do them justice. Rather than go for the typical ruined/fallen columns, I decided to take a chance and create intact structures that would be visually imposing on the table top. The project incorporated a few firsts as well, such as adding statues and vines to the pieces. The statues are miniatures from Foundry Miniatures in their greek heroes collection and I was surprisingly pleased with the level of detail on them. They make great statues and I think fit the theme well. The vines on the columns and bases of the structures was the second new addition and I really wanted to explore creating them as I have plans for much more elaborate vining on the up-coming ruined tower (also created from Hirst Arts molds). I think they came out really well and were not overly taxing to add to the set. Look for more enhanced foliage on future building releases.

Speaking of Hirst Arts, I have finally decided that I have too many molds I haven't been using. As some of you are aware, I have made it a point to not release Hirst Arts kits until I assemble and finish them. I feel its important for customers to see exactly how I finish them, including the quality of the casts and the level of detail in the basing and painting. (Very few other Hirst Arts licensees seem to hold this position.) As a compromise however, I have decided to open up my entire mold collection for individual casts for purchase. This helps to get them into 'production' while I wait to complete certain kits and provides another way customers can access these great molds at a competitive price. As far as I know, no other Hirst Arts licensee is using Tuf Stone for their casts putting TerranScapes at the front of providing the most durable casts on the market. I realize that my collection is only a fraction of the molds available and that some projects will require casts from molds I currently don't own. I would like to invite customers to submit requests for molds that they desire casts from so that I can expand the collection while meeting the specific needs of hobbyists .

Take care.

Mike

7/25/10 - Summer Days

As many of you who have been in email contact with me know, July has been a very busy month for me. Typically, this is the month that has the most outside distractions from friends (birthdays and summer parties), family (relatives staying with us for 3 days) and home projects (such as refinishing the kitchen floor and the driveway). This inevitably leads to challenges in getting into the shop to keep up with orders and custom projects. Conversely, it affords me structure to the year wherein I can focus on getting these sorts of projects completed during a slightly slower time of the year and compresses them into a bite size time frame.

To top off all of the above distractions, there was the fantastic release of Warhammer 8th ed. To celebrate I hosted a Warhammer Party here at the TerranScapes shop and set up four full sized table decked out with as much terrain as I could muster, which I'm proud to say was quite a lot. The event was attended by a 10 or so gamers from the local area club and we gamed until the sun came up. Everyone seemed to have a great time and I can't think of a better way to welcome in the new era for Warhammer. There has been a call to make it an annual event from some of the attendees and I think holding it in June next year would be great. *grin*

While it may be a little unconventional for a business to share personal life stories, I have to come realize it's important (and enjoyable) for TerranScapes to make personal connections with its customers. As a one man shop, this connection has been rewarding as I continue correspondence with repeat customers or, over a long timeframe, with a customer for a complicated custom project. While doing it all myself limits TerranScapes in size and output, it provides a niche resource for gamers who enjoy a personal connection with a small company making products for their cherished hobby.

So with all of that I'm happy say that I have been able squeeze in enough time to keep up on orders with a small delay here and there. I have been chipping away (slowly) at a few new releases, including a truly massive piece based on the Hirst Arts Ruined Fieldstone tower. In addition, I have decided to tackle the next three custom projects simultaneously to get that part of the business back on track. Ambitious? Yes. Achievable? Probably. *smile* I am finding that I chronically underestimate how long things take so I can only say that all of these things will move along as fast as I dare while keeping my quality at the highest level possible. I have not forgotten about the new modular board set and it will also begin to move along once the aforementioned projects are complete. My mind is filled with new buildings for the new sci-fi themed boards and I think Warhammer 40k gamers will finally be able to see TerranScapes structures on their tables as well, before the end of the year.

Until Next Time.

Mike

6/17/10 - Work Guarantees and Warhammer

I recently shipped out an arena (see the structures page for this item) to a customer and was dismayed to find out that when it arrived, one of the halves had seemed to 'melt' out of shape. The customer was great about sending me photos of the damage and I immediately told him to ship it back, at my cost, so I could repair it. While I was waiting for it to arrive, I decided to sleuth out the cause of the damage, as the box it shipped in was in perfect condition on arrival.

The arena is a urethane plastic shell backed by expanding urethane foam and I have made countless casts using this method and had not come across this problem before. In the past however, I have noticed that some areas of a very few casts had seemed to 'melt' a bit during the curing process and I attributed it to improper mixing, or perhaps water vapor that had contaminated the urethane resin, which is a known hazard. The arena half that I shipped did have a slight dimple in one of its sides but it wasn't that noticeable and had been dimensionally stable after sitting out for over 2 weeks while I worked on it. I suspected that dimple might have been the problem though, lurking below the surface.

I had another arena half here in the shop that I had de-molded a couple of weeks ago and decided to place it in the sun for an hour to see if improperly cured urethane might change in the presence of heat. This cast also had a slight dimple in two areas. In the sun, those areas quickly deformed, shrinking and making the piece unusable. For that cast, I had forgotten to shake the resin before mixing and this led to this hidden problem. While I am sad that the customer has to wait for the repair, not to mention the cost for me for the labor and shipping to replace the half that was damaged, I was relieved to discover the problem and know how to prevent it in the future.

I wanted to share this story to highlight that when you purchase terrain from me, you can expect that I will always stand by the products I ship and correct any problems that occur. As a small business, word of mouth and repeat customers are the only things I can count on to keep TerranScapes afloat. Should you ever have any problems with my terrain due to manufacturing defects, please contact me at once so I can do what ever I can to make your experience with TerranScapes as positive as possible.

On a brighter note, as many of you are probably aware, Warhammer 8th Edition is being released with the preview copies in stores now. What you may not know, (but may have guessed from many of the figures in my photos) is that Warhammer is what led me to start TerranScapes and has been the only miniatures game I have been devoted to for almost a decade. While I don't play as often as I would like, I am grossly excited for the new edition and have been quite a bit distracted by it for the past week. I expect some of this giddy distraction to carry over the next several weeks and, combined with the arena repair, will soak up a little bit of my time. Luckily I am disciplined enough to keep my nose to the grind stone most of the time, but I expect to get pulled away from the shop a little more than normal while I frantically paint up more Dark Elves and get a few games in. I hope you will be patient if I run a couple of days overdue on projects for the next couple of weeks: nothing out of hand mind you. I'm just refueling my love of the miniatures hobby to help power TerranScapes into a great summer and rest of the year.

Happy Gaming!

Mike

5/27/10 - A new bridge and a new plaster

As you may have noticed, I only sell Hirst Arts building kits that have been built here first. This allows me to show better what the final product can look like and allows me to see what modifications can be made to the kit to improve it. The newest release, the Traveler's Bridge is no exception. Looking at the kit, the first thing that jumped out at me was to widen the deck so a unit of 5 troops on 20mm bases could stand abreast on it. Since I am long time player of Warhammer Fantasy, this seemed like an obvious improvement to make. What it also did was make a really big bridge even bigger. The standard Traveler's Bridge takes as many casts as the 4" round towers (18) and feels just as big in the hand. The wider deck means even more casts of the deck pieces. On top of that, shipping a bridge like this becomes tricky as the deck has a very small amount of contact area with the sides making it pretty vulnerable to the shearing forces that would break it. Thinking about that over the past week (and after I shot the video for it) I decided that the deck needed some wooden beams underneath (similar to rafters) to strengthen both the deck and its attachment to the side walls. While I think this makes it a fantastically durable model, it does add to its cost and so the wider version is priced accordingly. For gamers on a budget, I always recommend you pick up the kit form of the bridge and assemble it yourselves. Its fun, not too difficult and very satisfying if you have the time.

Adding to the durability of the bridge, and all subsequent Hirst Arts based releases, is a new plaster I am using. I have shifted over to Tuf Stone which is a polymer reinforced gypsum cement that is nearly twice as hard as the UltraCal 30 I had been using. (And three times as hard as the more common Hydrocal sold by many Hirst Arts distributors.) The plaster actually is filled with millions of very tiny plastic fibers that help to bind the plaster and reduce the frequency and size of chips. My own simple experiments with it have show that is quite a bit stronger than the UltraCal and I hope customers will find their models to much more resistant to damage. I have found over the past several years that the buildings can fracture along the glue lines as the plaster literally pulls away from itself. This new plaster should prevent that from happening as the fibers will distribute the pull force to deeper areas of the block. This plaster requires a bit more finesse to cast but I have decided to not add any cost to the Hirst Arts kits. Currently I have the kits priced at $2/cast which is pretty standard for the Hirst Arts Kit market.

Speaking of Hirst Kits, I have another one ready to come out of the shop. The Greek Temple has been sitting on the shelf for a while now as I didn't have any high quality acrylic paints in shades of white to finish it. I have placed an order for some and when it arrives I am eager to finish it up. The temple features several structures and several statues that I think will really show off the Hirst Arts Roman molds to good effect. Keep an eye out for its progress meter to start moving in the next week or two.

Talk to you soon.

Mike

5/10/10 - What happened with updates to the site and YouTube?

Things may have looked quiet lately for TerranScapes if you have been checking the front page or YouTube for updates. A few factors came together to set me back a bit over the last month including two unusually large orders, one for hedgerows and one for multiple kits for the Hirst Arts Dragon inn. To top those off, I forgot I was taking a week off for vacation.

While I have had a fairly good eye for the time required for regular orders, I really misjudged the time required for the hedgerow order, which included over 120 individual sections. While I put in a peck of time on that I was then stymied by a week away from the shop. Actual vacations are a rare event for me and I neglected to account for it in my regular orders and the custom order queue. As a result everything got pushed back a couple of weeks and I have been loathe to even touch the site as I felt it more important to get the work out to the customers as fast as I could.

The hedgerows are done, the Dragon Inn kits are well underway and I have really pushed the current custom project ahead so I feel like things are returning to 'normal'. *smile* During all of this though I have been accumulating materials and casts for the upcoming new ruined refinery board set and I am really looking forward to beginning it. I plan on visiting this page a bit more often over the summer to provide updates on how that project is developing.

Lastly, I have the new Hirst Arts Traveler's Bridge ready and I've gone with a new color scheme to help break up the ubiquitous gray scale so common for stone structures. The video and photos should be up in a week and I am looking forward to seeing how the color scheme is received.

Talk to you soon.

Mike

3/15/10 - New ideas on the horizon.

One of the constant challenges of running TerranScapes is balancing the need to meet the ever growing volume of orders, meeting the unique challenges of custom projects, and developing new products. Creating new pieces for the store is one of the most rewarding aspects of TerranScapes for me and I can't help but feel excited about the prospect of seeing ideas in my head become a reality on gamers' tabletops. Each new release features new techniques, materials and depths of skill that keeps the business fresh and motivating for me. This year I am setting my sights on a few new additions that I hope visitors will find useful and dramatic.

First, I am working to release a small set of pieces for the 6mm gamers. A recent contact by a customer spurred me to investigate this scale and there seems to be a lack of quality terrain for this tiniest of scales. To help me get a handle on the scale, I purchased a few sample packs of 6mm WWII figures from GHQ. I must say I was blown away with their detail and it almost swept me up into MicroArmor gaming. (Time for this seems limited so I have held myself back so far.) The purchase did however entice me enough to want to add a small section to the store dedicated to this scale. I am planning on few basic pieces to start out with (woods, hedgerows, and the like) and see how they are received by the 6mm community. As always, I will be looking for customers to guide future developments for releases so once you see what I have available, please feel free to make suggestions for additional pieces.

On a larger scale, I am planning to finally dive head first into a new modular board set designed to feature a ruined refinery/cityscape for the sci-fi gamers. I recently purchased several of the industrial piping and machinery molds from Bruce Hirst (a.k.a. Hirst Arts) and these will provide a visual framework for me to build around. Because this project will be fairly involved regarding new molds, building techniques, and the like, I am aiming for a release sometime mid to late summer of this year. If I can realize even half of what I envision for the set I think TerranScapes fans and customers will be very pleased. Clearly with this sort of project, and my heavy existing work load, some delays may occur but having committed some capital already to the project, its safe to say you will see this completed sometime this year.

Some visitors may also have noticed that some prices have changed slightly on the site. These prices reflect what I call 'quality creep', meaning that I am constantly improving the finish and detail on many items in the store but simply don't have the time to reshoot the photos for them. This gradual increase in detail on pieces is unavoidable, (as I can't seem to stop myself) and as my skill and time investment on pieces grows, some price increases are inevitable. As always, every purchase must meet your strictest approval and comes with an unconditional refund policy. Many customers have been telling me over and over how much better their purchases look in person compared to the pictures on the site so it seems like I'm doing something right. I don't post customer testimonials as that seems potentially disingenuous as anyone could pick and choose the best responses to post. Rather, I ask you the customers to tell your friends, forums and gaming clubs about your perceptions of the products you receive. This is the most honest and valuable feedback any small business could ask for.

Mike

2/11/10 - Back from TempleCon

Vending at TempleCon was a great experience! TempleCon is a steam punk themed Con and as such, the Warmachine contingency was in full force. As the Con provided hotel rooms for small vendors to display their wares (called the Clockwork Bazaar) I was able to affordably attend the event and could use my room creatively to showcase a considerable amount of terrain.

For the first time, I was able to display a wide variety of my work in person to an avid mass of gamers and get some first hand feedback on their perception of my work as well as their needs as gamers. Overall, I was pleased and flattered by the positive reactions gamers had to my displays which included a full 6' x 4' layout of both the martian and verdant modular board sets. Many visitors expressed that the terrain looked even better in person which was both a compliment and a disappointment, as I strive to provide the best photographs and close ups of TerranScapes products possible.

One visitor who runs Warmachine tournaments sat down with me to go over the detailed requirements/recommendations from Privateer Press regarding specific terrain to use at events. This gave me a good chance to see how I can adapt my current line to meet the tournament level requirements for Warmachine. For those of you who are interested, you can see the diagrams of the terrain here. I would like state here that any item you see on that list can be produced on request and visitors to the site are likely to see a few new products added to meet a couple of the pieces I don't currently carry (particularly the shallow water piece) over the next several months. Always remember that specific terrain pieces can be modified in size to meet specific needs at no extra charge usually.

Now that the Con is behind me, expect to see a flurry of activity as I work to fill orders, chip away at the list of custom projects and throw in a few new items along the way.

Mike

1/11/10 - New Custom Orders System

Looking back at last year, I have been amazed with the increase in sales and requests for customer work. While these changes are positive in many ways, it has become painfully clear that in order to achieve the level of professionalism I demand of myself, TerranScapes needs to improve in two key areas. First, I need to shorten the time frame between orders and shipping. I have made some big changes in the shop over the last few weeks to help with this and I had set a personal goal of reducing the wait time to 2 weeks for new orders by the beginning of February. It looks like it may take until the end of February to achieve this goal but I will not be satisfied I am serving my customers fully until this happens.

Second, I desperately need to create a more organized and open system for accepting and managing custom work requests. Around the middle of last year I was literally swamped with custom project requests and I really wasn't sure how to best handle it. I underestimated how long it would take to complete projects, and left too many potential customers waiting to hear when their project might get into the project queue. I apologize to everyone who has been waiting and hope you can understand that I was truly surprised and unprepared for the overwhelming amount of work that was being presented to me. So, in an attempt to improve this situation for 2010, I have created a simple and open format to manage custom work requests.

In the revised Custom Orders page, you will now see a work queue with 6 slots. These represent the current projects that have been 'accepted'. As projects are completed, they will be removed from the queue freeing up a slot for a new project. I believe this will keep the wait time for new projects more transparent for potential customers. I ask that visitors not request to be placed on a waiting list to be added to the queue, as that puts me back in the same position I was in at the end of last year with too many people waiting an unreasonable timeframe for me to recontact them. Instead, as a slot opens, the first person to contact me at that point will be added to the list. As a final step, I am currently recontacting every person that has made a custom work request over the past 6 months and asking them to review this page and process so that the slate can begin clean for the new year for everyone. It is possible that the queue may change a bit over the next week as the process settles and the top project is finished, so please revisit the page if you have interest in being added to the queue.

Finally, over the next few weeks TerranScapes will be making some public appearances for the first time. I will be attending the Conflict GT in Nanuet NY on January 16th and 17th and will have a small display table showing some wares. This is my first Warhammer GT and I am looking forward to playing in a large, all painted, high caliber tournament. I don't know how my Lizardmen will fare, but I am looking forward to it and I am proud to be a small sponsor of this event. Then, on February 5th I will be attending TempleCon in Rhode Island. TerranScapes will be selling out of a room in their Clockwork Bazaar on Friday and Saturday and on Sunday I plan on playing in their Warhammer Fantasy Tournament. Again I encourage you to stop in and say 'hi' if your planning on attending this event. It will be TerranScapes' first convention and I am excited to participate in it as a vendor and as a player. Hopefully I will see you some of you at either (both?) of these events.

Mike

12/8/09 - Its the crazy time of year.

With Christmas around the corner, I am receiving orders with requests for delivery by the holiday. Unfortunately however, unless I already have the item being ordered in stock, I will not be able to get new orders out before the end of December. I have a few projects that I have already promised by January and they are absorbing a considerable amount of my time. If you would like to order gifts for your favorite gamer, I would be honored to bring them holiday cheer but you may need to place a picture of the purchase in a card, and let them know that Santa will be making a second pass by the house after the holiday to deliver it. *smile*

One of the projects I am working on is a gladiator arena for the guys over at Avatars of War. They took notice of my last custom arena and wanted one for their use and play testing. I decided to make another go at turning this into a regular store item and have the new master and mold almost ready. This version, while very similar to the first arena, features some new details, crisper lines and better seams. I am very excited about its progress so far but I need to balance my enthusiasm with the reality that this project represents the largest, most complicated mold I have attempted to date and there may be some problems still lurking ahead. This is one of the projects that is on the fast track in the studio at the moment so expect to see it soon in video and pictures.

Until the end of this month I will burning the midnight oil trying to get more work done than the I have seen in the shop since I started TerranScapes. Your patience, support, and enthusiasm during the holidays is greatly appreciated.

Mike

11/3/09 - Making progress on catching up!

For the last several weeks I have been making an effort to close the gap between orders and shipping and I have been able to shrink that gap to something like 5 weeks or so. I am on pace to close the gap to a week or two within the end of January. This is great news as I have a large custom project on my lap at the moment that is going to take a lot of extra resources for the next several weeks and I feel confident I can juggle it and the regular orders successfully.

I have been surprised that my sales have held strong despite the economy here in the states and the fact that I have stopped advertising on podcasts and on Tabletop Gaming News. I think the strong euro and australian dollar overseas has helped to balance the reduction in domestic sales. It has given me pause however, as I would like to put the name of TerranScapes out into the community more, but I fear being overwhelmed. I am pleased to see however, that so many customers recognize that TerranScapes quality is worth the wait and have been very flexible in working with me to see their orders and projects through.

I'm still looking forward to TempleCon and recently built a portable gaming table to take with me to display products (and for me to game on!). I plan on revealing it in videos and pictures on the site soon but recently had a set back with one of the legs. Once I redesign it and 'play test' it more I would make sure to get it up on YouTube for public review and comments. It might be the kind of item I would be willing to make for local pickup but I want to see how the community reacts to it before I consider that further.

Mike

9/3/09 - Custom Work Requests

Recently I have been receiving a growing number of requests for custom work, and for the last month or so I have been adding people to a waiting list. Looking over that list, I see that I have work that could extend well into next year. While this a great sign that gamers are finding my work desirable, I don't feel comfortable adding more names to a contact list that may take 5+ months before I can recontact customers. This means that until next January, I will no longer be accepting additional custom work requests, nor adding new names to the wait list for custom work projects.

This decision has been further motivated by my plans on attending TempleCon in Rhode Island this coming February. I would very much like to attend the convention with several display pieces and these will need to be constructed on top of the normal work I have. The time between now and February also gives me the chance to reduce the wait time for ordinary store orders, from the current 7 week wait to a more reasonable 1-2 weeks.

So until February 5th, I'm turning up the steam in the shop and putting in extra hours. Keep an eye on the custom gallery to see the current projects as they are completed, and don't forget to check out the videos on Youtube for more information.

Mike

8/5/09 - Lessons are always being learned

The first half of the summer has been marked by a few projects that push my limits and some lessons to learn from them. Around a month ago I finished a large Mountain Display board for an overseas customer that incorporated a lot of new techniques and represented the pinnacle of quality for me to date. The two boards, featuring a 24" high mountain, two waterfalls, improved techniques for flocking and enhanced water effects, ended up better than I had hoped and would make a stunning display platform for an equally well finished army. Unfortunately, I discovered that the mountain made the size just a tad to large to ship overseas for less than $700. As ridiculous as that sounds, the time I spent researching overseas shipping (totaling several hours) will ultimately be valuable as I can plan accordingly for other similar projects in the future. The project is slated for a re-do with some modifications that will allow for more economical shipping and an even better finished look I think.

More recently I have been working on a gladiator styled arena for use with Avatar's of War miniatures. This piece represents the most ambitious project for mold making to date. The area will span over 24" across and be composed of 4 quarters that will be cast individually. Creating tight edges for finished casts and defect free surfaces are the biggest hurdles in a project of this scale. Unfortunately, my previous casting technique of painting plastic into the mold and back filling with foam seems to be insufficient for getting consistent high quality casts. This has been compounded by underestimating the design of the mold from the master sculpts which may be contributing to some of the problems. The costs associated with this type of 'learning' are high as silicone, urethane resin and foam are very expensive and the thought of scrapping the entire mold for a redo is a little disheartening to say the least. The saving grace is that the masters were pulled from the mold without any real damage so making another mold from them is possible. I am motivated however to conquer this project as it paves the way for more intricate, larger molds in the future.

As for delays in shipping, the wait has been held firm at about 8 weeks and I think I can see some decrease in that wait time come the fall. I have several custom projects underway that once finished will begin to lighten that end of the business and I can begin to better judge how many I can take on and still ship orders in a more timely fashion. Again, I am flattered and grateful that so many customers find TerranScapes work to be 'worth the wait'. Looking back I see that I had planned for price increases and still haven't implemented them in all areas of the store. Sometimes its a decision between working on the site, or customers orders. *smile* Look for sporadic changes in the prices of some items over the rest of the year as I chip away at updating some areas of the site.

Happy Gaming!

Mike

5/28/09 - Delays Continue

Recently I have noticed that I have had a surge in requests for custom projects from new customers and (a growing list of) returning customers. This is excellent news for the long term sustainability of TerranScapes and I am honored that so many gamers/collectors desire to make TerranScapes terrain an important part of their hobby.

I have also become aware that this increased workload is reaching the limits of what I can complete in a timely manner, and this is evident in recent delays in meeting deadlines (including the martian board set release) as well as delays in communication. It is very important to me that every order gets detailed and professional attention and towards that end I am making a few changes for now to help manage my current custom projects.

For the next couple of months I will no longer be adding any custom projects to my work queue. Be assured, if you currently have a project under development or have made a deposit for such, there will be no change to your projects status. Returning customers with projects that add to previous work are always a priority for me so regardless of current development or deposit status, your projects are already 'accepted'.

I would ask that while I 'catch up' on these orders to please accept my apologies in advance for any time delays in returning communication or meeting completion dates. Custom projects demand a lot of my attention since I am frequently incorporating new techniques and styles into each one. Getting them 'right' means giving them extra energy and I don't want to rush any of the work. (Current projects will have a follow up email sent soon, with details specific to those specific projects.)

5/7/09 - Martian themed modular board set nears release

This month sees the completion of a project long in the works. In about a week or so I will be releasing a new modular board set themed on a martian or desert setting and well suited to the 40k universe. This project, like so many for TerranScapes is the product of collaboration with the initial customer and will feature a brand new outcropping and river look. This project really highlights how many of the products added to the TerranScapes store are born from specific requests from customers. Contracting with TerranScapes for custom work is the best way for customers to get the specific terrain they are looking for while providing me with the imperative to develop new pieces. Since current order volume is so heavy, many new projects get put on the back burner in order to get already purchased items out of the shop. When the board set is released, it is my intention to add to it over time. Custom work requests for new boards to accompany the set are always welcome.

Speaking of heavy order volume, more and more it is looking like I will be producing store terrain items on a as need basis. I have been unable to 'restock' the shelves with product so most orders will remain in the 4-6 week window for shipping for the foreseeable future. The positive side of this is that customers are generally getting the newest work from me, and I find that over time, even ordinary pieces have improved quite a bit as I gravitate towards improving color schemes and vegetation placement. Recently I pulled a set of walls from the shelves that I had finished quite a while ago and discovered I needed to add to them more to meet my current expectations for work from myself.

4/5/09 - TerranScapes News and Price Adjustments

Recently I completed this years taxes for TerranScapes and it provided a detailed look at the past year for the expenses and revenues for TerranScapes. I was dismayed by how much material costs are impacting the business and as a result I am reluctantly increasing prices over most of the product line. Generally prices will be increasing 5-10% depending on the item and these changes will be implemented over the next week. It has always been my personal goal of making high quality terrain that the average gamer can afford, so this decision has been carefully weighed against the sustainability needs of the company. On the positive side, the quality of work leaving the shop has been growing continuously and I am confident that customers will find that the products they receive will still maintain a very good value for their price.

For views of the latest work, I suggest subscribing to the videos I am posting on YouTube. These videos showcase the latest releases and custom projects being completed and provide the best view of the quality and diversity of work being produced. I have been encouraged by the positive reception the videos have been getting and they will continue in the future. An important work ethic for me is to provide customers with the most detailed and accurate representation of the work being produced in the shop so that they can make an informed decision about where they can invest their hobby funds. It is what I look for when I am shopping online and I think it has been successful to date.

Lastly, TerranScapes has been experiencing a surge in sales this year and as a result shipping dates have been pushed back. I would like to thank all the great customers who understand that high quality work takes time and delays sometimes occur. Currently orders are backlogged about 4 weeks but that number can vary depend on the project request/size of order.