Blog

The Not So Mini Problem

Here begins the common dilemma. How the hell should I store my miniatures? One of the largest reasons of wanting to collect and craft miniature figures is seeing incredible photos of peoples homes with decades worth of miniatures in incredible vast game rooms. That is the dream! In these pictures i’ve seen people use makeshift bookshelves, wine racks, wall mount systems, tackle boxes and so much more to store their miniatures. However I do not have that kind of space.

Although my collection is modest approximately 348 (yes i counted) miniatures as of June 30, 2020 . It will easily get out of hand quickly as I print more and more miniatures. The question is how do I store them? What is a great out of the way method to store that wont damage my minis and protect against a growing baby into a toddler that will discover everything?

In the 2018/2019 years before my long hiatus from the craft my husband and I began working on a miniature storage system which would help to hold all of our miniatures. I’ll get into that later but in the meantime lets look at my current miniature statistics to look back on in the future.

Miniature type# Ownprimedpaint in processpaintedTotal
FDM Printed73571398
SLA Printed343111
FDM & SLA11
Reaper11912486184
Misc unclassified market minis272754
Total: 348

Of the above my far my most common miniature stash at the moment is the Reaper bones collection of which i bought a massive box of the bones 2 in 2014. Overall my “painted” and completed collection is small with 20 total and only a 5.7% complete miniature collection. I do however have a 24.4% paint in progress or needed to be re-based miniature collection for future storage.

Time to set some goals:

Monthly Goals

  1. Paint 3 miniatures a month, at least 1 must be reaper miniatures.
  2. Base and/or finish 10 miniatures a month

This alone should almost double my completed collection in just over a month.

This is without a doubt a challenge i’ll always be having but i’m sure going to try to fight the “pile of shame”.

September 2025
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  

Week in Review: June 22

The weekly summary posts are way more to myself to track what i’m working on and accomplished over the course of the last week. I will try to post these every Friday moving forward.

My weekly goals include.

  1. 3d Print at least 1 thing
  2. paint at least 1 miniature
  3. paint at least 1 piece of terrain

All of the above will get a blog post highlighting each goal.

Projects in Action

3d printed:

  • Began printing Fat Dragon Game Miniatures from the “Dragonlock” 3d Printed Miniatures June 2019
    • 4 skeletons
    • 5 goblins
  • Standard 1″ round bases x 20 count
  • 1″ round bases variety pack

Painted:

  • Painted Heroforge Kenku archer figure
  • Painted round bases black
  • Figure out where I was on project of Hero Hoards “Modular Shelves & Library study decor

Miscellaneous

  • Organized over 350 GB of digital files to be easier to find and do an inventory of files.
  • Started the process to test stripping paint off miniature
  • Re-based several Reaper Bone miniatures
  • Started to organize miniatures
  • Figure out the miniature tray project and where we left off.

Beginnings are Intimidating

Starting a new hobby or project is always exciting and scary simultaneously. There is always the thrill of the unknown, excitement of what is around the corner. Starting a hobby all over again after you took a break from it has all the excitement of a fresh start matched with the “OMG what have i done?”

I began 3d printing for tabletop gaming in the summer of 2018 using public community printers at a university I worked out. Since that time i fell in love with and bought a Prusa i3 mk3s running it almost nonstop until Spring of 2019 of which I abruptly stopped. All of my stuff was neatly packed away waiting for that desire to craft to come back.

That deep drive to create incredible and mind blowing things for tabletop gaming is back with a vengeance. However much of my depth of knowledge, progress of projects, and collection of documentation is lost to the wind. I have to not only start again but also figure out where I left off. I hope that it is like riding a bike.

With that I have decided to start brand new! I have decided to write a collection of my experiences, things that I’ve learned, common mistakes, battle maps and so much more. Perhaps sharing to the ether will foster a community to provide inspiration and feedback. Perhaps I shall just talk to the ether alone. Who knows but it should be fun.

Why am I doing this?

Since it is 2020, the year as not been so great for many people including myself. I have dreamed of doing something like this for a long time now but never got the courage to do so. Everyone needs to find gratitude in their daily life and feel accomplished. I believe breaking my crafting into consumable chunks will bring me a sense of accomplishment and joy to overcome any negativity happening in the world today.

How am I doing this?

So much of the information I am looking for, knowledge, resources, files etc is scattered all over the place and I like putting it all together in once place. I am going to attempt to break things into sections such as Terrain, Miniatures, 3d printing, Troubleshooting etc. Each post will be tagged and sorted as such. Further features will be flushed out as the need arises.

Be apart of the story!

Comment, challenge me, reach out. I want to share ideas, grow in knowledge and skill. Lets build community together!