Entering the...where were we? If I'm not wrong, this is the 58th day of the quarantine, I honestly can't say exactly how many time I've spent at home, at this point!
So, I was saying: entering the 58th day of the quarantine, I can say that this has been the most passionate and hardworking time of my recent life, but despite I've never been so busy and productive, I feel like I'm stuck in a bubble of immateriality.
Because, you know, if your job is to produce and sell miniatures all over the world, not having miniatures to sell is like assembling the best fishing rod ever made and go fishing on the highway.
During these last months, I painted a lot and I have such fun with it: not only my usually evanescent mojo came back to me, but I never had such pleasure while painting in my life!
This, obviously, is fine not only for me, but also for business: I discovered that (who would tell?!) since I started to paint and share my everyday painting progress, I engaged many people around my projects and products and I've seen the interest around my minis grows more and more.
This is cool, but also frustrating because...the store is almost empty!
As you may imagine, all the pandemic emergency really messed up all our plans: the restocks that I waited in March, have been delayed and, not being able to ship the remaining KS rewards of the Second Government campaign, I have to wait before putting the Second Government resins on the store. As I told you before, I'm a man of honour, so I won't sell any Second Government products to non-backer customers before every single KS reward has been sent.
So here I am, with many people that every day ask me the same question: "I would like to buy your products, but everything is out of stock: do you plan to restock your dwarves?".
I'm so happy to see a growing interest around my miniatures, but it's frustrating to think that I'm probably losing so much opportunity to sell them, because of this messed up schedule.
Please, be strong: I hope to receive soon the restocks of all our ranges and be able to catapult dwarves all over the world!
In the meantime, let's talk about all the positive things that we made during these troubled days of quarantine:
THE ELF AUGUR
The latest character sculpted by Valerio is an Elf Augur, a complex and fascinating scene that shows one of the most particular concepts of this range (well, just wait for the next one!). This concept is a kind of reboot of a never-released miniature of us, sculpted a long time ago and never produced: Mei!
Despite many things have changed from the original concept, the idea behind the character remains the same: a young girl, blessed by the spirits, who carries two magic cauldrons that contain magical spirits.
Despite I'm still sad for the original girl, I'm happy that the whole idea that brought her to life (well, almost) hasn't been totally vain and I think that the Elf Augur is a worthy heir of her!
The metropolitan police
Meanwhile, Davide managed to sculpt the three police officers of the Metropolitan Police of Zorn Uzul. You know, I have a rule: every year I have to make at least a new dwarf character.
I've plenty of Dwarf concepts still to explore (a Goiko release? More Iron Crows? Alternative versions of our Dwarf characters?), but I have to properly dose them like a luxury elixir, in order not to annoy you with too many Dwarves.
Ok, I'm kidding: I just don't have all the money I need to make all the Dwarves I would like to design. If I win the lottery, I would literally submerge you with Dwarves.
Davide did an amazing job with these guys, they perfectly nail the idea I had in mind when I thought about everyday life in Zorn (yes, I have these thoughts, sometimes): they maintain the classic old school, almost cartoony style of our Dwarves, but they are ominous indeed!
Moreover, we can see the very first Goblin character, here: ok, maybe this is not the mightiest debut for these creatures, but I'll spend the whole next year to give them a proper range full of powerful Orcs and Goblins!
I'm sad that I can make only three police officers, but at least Davide is sculpting two new Mechanical Familiars, so there is still some new toy to unwrap, soon!
My Display cabinet is starting to look nice!
Since February, I've painted four Dwarf characters and made all the scenic bases of my Iron Crows Sentinels, that waited for years looking at me every day with those puppy eyes like they were asking me "oh, mighty master, when will you make us complete? When we can expect to receive our bases?!".
Of course, I'm not the most prolific painter of all times, but for my standard, these have been the most productive months ever, concerning painting!
I've painted the first three Sentinels (not their bases) in 2 years. 4 Dwarves 4 months are pure magic, for me.
Great master Sigurd is the latest addition to my collection, I've spent hours and hours on this guy, making the most complex base of my career!
What's the point with painted miniatures? Well, as I wrote before, I've noticed that this is still the best way to promote my products and it's so important to engage more and more people in our community! Moreover, I've noticed that painting my miniatures is such a motivating activity, for me! I've never been so attached to my minis as these last months, and I think that it's important to cultivate my love for all these tiny guys and gals because passion, sometimes, is more contagious than anything else: I've never been so excited to create more and more with my minis!
Like a pressure cooker
So, here we are with the main theme of this post. Maybe it's just because I've been stuck at home for almost two months, and things are getting a bit claustrophobic lately, but I feel to be like a pressure cooker, and I think that it's reflecting on the whole DPF life: there are so many energies that are boiling inside me, we are creating more and more and I honestly can't wait to be able to open the lid and unleash all that we have been forced to keep quiet 'till now!
I hope you will keep following us and our projects, despite at the moment we are not able to materially share them with you: we are all living a troubled situation, and despite I just want to go back to normal as soon as possible, we have to be patient.
@Neil: oh Neil, thank you so much for your kind words! Indeed, I can't thank Marko&Aleksandra enough, since the beginning they helped me so much to promote my minis with their amazing art! You know, despite I would say that we are growing slowly (but relentlessly XD), I'm so thankful of the community we have gathered during these first years of business, it's something that goes far beyond the mere "customer/producer" relationship (which is important, dare to say essential for a commercial company!): during these last weeks, for example, I received many and many massages like yours from people that follow our projects, most of them were worried about my health, many others just wanted to give me their support:…
Well I just want to say, you are doing amazingly. I am so glad to have found your work through following Craftworld Studio with Marko and Aleksandra. It has been really inspirational. I have harboured a new love of sculpting as I have never seen such creative bases. I’m grateful for all the advice you have given me as well.
I would actually say that this situation has made me want to buy your miniatures even more so I am now a dedicated supporter and can’t wait to see what comes next! Keep up the great work!