Finished! 28mm Hospital Furniture

I finally finished the hospital beds today..yay! It's taken a while but I finally got there. I've taken a few quick photos, so the quality isn't great, but you can get a rough idea.

The plan for tomorrow is to make moulds of everything and hopefully cast one batch to check that everything is ok. Sunday I will begin painting them, and hopefully early next week I'll be able to post a photo of how they all look painted. In the mean time, if they turn out ok, my dad (he's the one who does the resin casting) will cast loads ready for me to package up!

I have only made 4 base parts, so in the photo which shows everything (last photo), only 4 are set up correctly.

If you didn't see the prices/pack contents/discounts, please see my previous blog which I posted yesterday. Otherwise, cheers for looking and I hope you like them :)

Postage: For those who haven't been on my website, there is a red banner at the top which mentions that people from outside of the UK need to contact me for postage. This is because Paypal only lets me set postage rates for one country. Depending on what and how much you order, it may be covered by the normal postage. Sorry in advance for any issues it may cause...

LAST THING! I've put a discount (reduced price) on the 45mm Monsters and Demons (apart from Executioner Steve).  It's a permanent change :)

Okie dokie, cheers for reading once again! Now, I shall rest with some TV!

Hospital Beds - Pricing and Selling

Sorry for once again adding another blog post in such a short time. I'm mainly posting this because Blogger doesn't alert people when they receive replies to their comments. It only seems to alert people when they receive comments on their own blog, but not other peoples (as far as I know). So this is the only way I can ensure that those who asked questions will see the answers as they were asked by quite a few, and they concern everyone who is interested in the beds. I updated my last blog with this information, but thought I would post it as a new blog by itself.


So, here is how I will be selling the beds!


I will be selling the beds in 8 different packs. 4 packs with people, and 4 without. They will be as follows: ALL packs come with 2 bed undercarriage parts. So each pack has 4 components.

Pack 1 - 2 empty made beds 
Pack 2 - 2 untidy/messy beds (flat)
Pack 3 - 2 untidy messy beds sitting up (when beds are made they are laid flat, so it seemed right to make these messy)
Pack 4 - 1 Storage bed and 1 bare mattress bed (possibly for conversions or just as an empty bed with no sheets).

Pack 5 - Male corpse (sheet over head) and Male half eaten guy sitting up
Pack 6 - Female corpse (sheet over head) and Female half eaten sitting up
Pack 7 - Normal male patient, one sitting and one laying down
Pack 8 - Normal female patient, one sitting and one laying down

Each pack will cost £2.75 but I plan to give a 10% discount if you buy all of packs 1-4 and also a 10% discount if you buy all of packs 5-8. If you want all 8 packs then you get a further discount on top of those. The discounts are to ensure that stock levels go down as equally as possible and also, the more you buy the cheaper it becomes. The cost was based on the amount of resin used in each bed/undercarriage, which is the equivalent to about 3 or so 28mm figures. So each pack you receive, is the equivalent of about 6 or more figures!

Ok...  I hope that caters to most of your needs. Unfortunately I can't make everything that is suggested, but I think that covers most things... for now :P Now I should get back to finished those beds!


Thanks again for reading! :)

More Zombie WIP...

I know I posted a blog last night, but it wasn't anything zombie related, sooooo here's a little WIP I did this morning. I sculpted two "normal" patients, one female sitting up with a bed pan on her bed, and one male laying down whilst holding a "kidney dish"...maybe he feels ill?? I also added an oxygen cylinder and a bed pan (behind the oxygen cylinder...not visible in the photo) to the "storage bed".

Click to zoOOMM

In the photo there is also the addition of a bed in the sitting position, which is messy (it wasn't in the last update). The bases in the background need "lifting" mechanisms added (those bars which look like they will raise/lower the bed).Let me know what you think.

Still no news on the recent mould I sent to get caster. But I will update everyone when I know something. At least it gives me a little more time to get these beds sorted :)


Raising money for CGD in memory of my brother
On a different note, this week I crossed the £900 mark for raising money in memory of my brother for a condition we both have, CGD (Chronic Granulomatous Disorder). It's a rare genetic immune system disorder which means we are unable to fight infections easily, and can mean something small can become fatal quickly if not treated. So it means a lot to us that we have raised this amount of money so far as it will go towards helping others who also have this disorder. I hope that this will continue to grow in the future :)

Ok, that's me done for now...more sculpting I think!

EDIT: In order to answer some questions about how I am selling these, I have added to this blog:
I will be selling the beds in 8 different packs. 4 packs with people, and 4 without. They will be as follows: ALL packs come with 2 bed undercarriage parts. So each pack has 4 components.


Pack 1 - 2 empty made beds 
Pack 2 - 2 untidy/messy beds (flat)
Pack 3 - 2 untidy messy beds sitting up (when beds are made they are laid flat, so it seemed right to make these messy)
Pack 4 - 1 Storage bed and 1 bare mattress bed (possibly for conversions or just as an empty bed with no sheets).


Pack 5 - Male corpse (sheet over head) and Male half eaten guy sitting up
Pack 6 - Female corpse (sheet over head) and Female half eaten sitting up
Pack 7 - Normal male patient, one sitting and one laying down
Pack 8 - Normal Female patient, one sitting and one laying down


Each pack will cost £2.75 but I plan to give a 10% discount if you buy packs 1-4 and also a 10% discount if you buy packs 5-8. If you want all 8 packs then you get a further discount on top of those. The discounts are to ensure that stock levels go down as equally as possible and also, the more you buy the cheaper it becomes. The cost was based on the amount of resin used in each bed/undercarriage, which is the equivalent to about 3 or so 28mm figures. So each pack you receive, is the equivalent of about 6 or so figures!


Ok...  I hope that caters to most of your needs. Unfortunately I can't make everything that is suggested, but I think that covers most things... for now :P

Thanks again for reading!

Mass Effect 3 - Extended Cut

Today's blog is different to my usual blogs. It's nothing about figures, or anything related to my business, but this time it is about my favourite video game of recent years, called Mass Effect. I've tried not to give any spoilers away (as much as I wanted to).

I am a huge fan of this game, and have played each ME1 and ME2 numerous times. Mass Effect 3 (ME3) was released in March this year, and although the game lived up to the amazing standard, the ending (last 10-20 minutes of cinematic stuff and dialogue) let it down.

If you are not familiar with the Mass Effect trilogy, then in short it's about an alien machine race who come to the galaxy every 50,000 years and wipe out nearly all of organic and synthetic life, leaving the not so advanced species to develop for the next 50k years. So your goal in the 3rd game is to unite all the races in the galaxy and go to an all out final war against the big machines and prevent them from killing everyone in your 50k cycle. Depending on the choices you make throughout the game, the outcome of the final battle will change quite a bit.

Without giving anything away, the original ending was ok, but created many questions which left you more confused than when the ending started. It also seemed rushed compared to the rest of the game, as if they had "run out of steam" and tried to get it done quicker. It had some plot holes and it left you feeling like you only had part of an ending and they were hiding the rest of it. It also made you not want to re-play the game as you knew that was at the end.

Luckily, Bioware decided to fix this by bringing out an "Extended Cut" DLC (download content) for free (always good!).

So today I downloaded it and played the ending a few times to see some of the various endings. I just want to say, for me it was worth the wait. Each of the numerous endings (there's quite a few different outcomes), were explained in much more depth and detail. There was far more clarity and much more thought went into explaining how each ending/choice made a difference to the future. Also, the plot holes that I had problems with were answered through extra scenes which made me happy. For me it turned a not so amazing ending into a great one, and it makes a decent ending to a trilogy. I would have liked to see maybe one or two extra things added, but I won't complain as they have already improved it dramatically!

What Really Grinds My Gears:
What really bugs me is the so called "fans" who complain in a vile manor and then hate the DLC and anything Bioware say before the DLC has even been released. I understand people were not happy with the original ending, but don't complain like it's the end of the world (well... it kinda is in the game, but I mean in real life). Some people just can't be pleased no matter how much you try to please them. So at the end of the day it's their loss right?

It's just silly that many people threw hate and abuse at Bioware for ruining the game (failing to remember that 95% of the game was amazing) and threatened to boy cot the whole company.

It seems that there will always be people who just love to hate things. Just because it's not the way they wanted it to be, they will throw a tantrum. I admit, I was not a huge fan of the ending and was disappointed as it did let the game down. But I held out for the DLC and gave it a chance, and I'm glad I did.

At the end of the day, it's Bioware's game, and it was their story to tell. We just went along for the ride and were able to customise the story to a certain extent. But the basis of the story was theirs. So although their initial ending was quite poorly done, they improved it vastly with the Extended Cut, and it now makes sense which is what many of us wanted. We now have some form of clarity and closure. Oh and people complain that your character dies in every ending...umm no he doesn't, you just have to make the right choice and play the game well :P

I am happy with the Extended Cut and will be happy to play all 3 games again in the future, even if ME1's graphics are starting to look a little dated (not much, just starting to show age...2007 I think).

Ok, rant over... *takes a bow*.. Thanking you!

WIP Zombie Hospital Beds

I have been working on some hospital beds since my last blog. Here's a photo of the progress:

Starting from the left:
1 nicely made bed (ready for a patient)
1 untidy bed (Maybe a dead person has risen and is now a zombie!)
1 storage bed (Gotta have somewhere to store all those excess pillows and blankets. There is also a medical box which is full of umm medical stuff...or weapons?!)
2 corpses (bottom one is male, top is female. More noticeable in person because of the "bumps"... yeah you know what I mean)

The next bed is of a male who couldn't make it out of bed in time. He has been fed upon, with intestines hanging out and part of his brain scooped out. I plan to do a similar one for a female too, different injury type though.
The others will be a combo of male/female living, and some which are fed upon. I should be able to finish them next week and will get casting straight away.

NOW I NEED HELP!! - So I have a question regarding those barrier things which stop people from falling out of the bed. Should I put side barriers on some beds or not worry about them. They aren't difficult to make, but they will only be able to go on some beds because of casting reasons. When they are in place (lifted up) I can do them (only about 4 beds would need them), but when they are lowered to the side of the bed they will cause casting problems as I am using 1 part resin moulds which always have one side which is flat... so they would't cast properly. So my question is, should I just leave them off and not worry about them, or should I just put them on 4 of the beds?

ZOMBIE NURSES... There has been a delay casting them. I've been told moulding should start early next week. So it's looking like I will have them ready for sale around the beginning to mid July... (hopefully the beginning) sorry! It's completely out of my control. Just wondering, who is likely to want them?

Cheers for any input and you time!
Me!

Zombie Hospital Furniture

I would like to start off by saying a big Happy Birthday to my brother Gareth! He would have been 29 today. I wish he could be here to celebrate with us. We plan to have a meal along with some cider (as he liked cider), and then we are also planing to send up a birthday balloon with a note attached to it. It still feels at times that he is still here, and I have to think about it sometimes to realise that he isn't. I still can't believe it, like it hasn't sunken in. I know it happened, but I just can't comprehend it. It's like my brain refuses to believe what happened, and every time I start thinking about it, everything just shuts down. Anyway... it's his birthday, and I hope wherever he is, and whatever he is doing, that he has a great day, and we'll always be thinking of him :)

Now...zombie stuff...

After reading replies to my last blog it gave me a lot of ideas to consider. One that made sense for me to do right now would be some hospital furniture to compliment the hospital range of zombies. Don't worry, I will be bringing out other zombie ranges, this was just my first.

So, I made some beds, mainly 2 poses, sitting up and laying down. We cast them in resin this morning and I painted one (VERY roughly). These will provide a solid base foundation so over the next week I can dress them up to house sheets/pillows/people alive/corpses etc etc.

So here's one of the "base models", like a prototype. The base hasn't been cast yet. It's not complete as it only has a basic mattress on it. So final ones will be all kitted out in various situations. I've made plans which cover pretty much most scenarios, so depending what you are aiming for it should be covered, whether it's a ward of corpses, a ward with patients who need protecting, or a ward which has recently been fed upon, or simply an empty ward... it's all included :P

Oh by the way, that's a bananaman which Gareth sculpted for the Hasslefree "Dress a Kev" competition :)

I have heard no news about the recent set of zombies which are with the metal caster, but I plan to get these beds finished in time for release with the new zombie nurses.

Cheers again for reading. As always, all comments are very welcome.

Zombie apocalypse accessories?

So I was wondering: What kinda of accessories would people like to see for their zombie/apocalypse games or collections?

I'm thinking in terms of small things which I could possibly sculpt/build and then make out of resin.

Lemme know your ideas. I'm not promising to make them, but if the ideas are popular then I might consider doing it as a side project to actual sculpting and getting them out for sale.

Past Present and Future

I have recently converted one of my alien figures (Alliwen). He wasn't the best sculpt out there, but I think I have improved on him by doing this conversion. What do you think? He isn't finished, I still need to do some work on the arms and the guns, and put some soles on his space shoes.

Me and Sculpting
In July I will have been sculpting for about a year. I did some sculpting for about a month during the summer of 2008, but everything was new to me and it was mainly just getting to know the putty and sorting out how to even use the stuff. After a month of messing around, I stopped sculpting and went back to university as it was the summer holidays. I never touched it again until 2011. I decided to go back to sculpting as I had finished university, and I thought when my brother got out of hospital it's something we could do together. I mean we shared pretty much most things in common, but this would be something new.

I finished most of Executioner Steve and I took a photo to show Gareth in hospital. I think he saw him... I hope he did, he was on a  lot of meds at the time, so he was very sleepy. As you probably know near the end of July everything went wrong, and my motivation for everything completely went. I used to be a semi/pro photographer, I did some work for friends and was even published in a monthly paper for a whole year as I did work for the university. But since my bro passed, I have just lost motivation for it and have kinda given up on it.

A few weeks after my bro passed, I decided to get back into the sculpting and try and do something with it (such as opening up Grekwood Miniatures). Sculpting has been on and off since then, so technically it hasn't really been a full year. I only sculpt for around an hour a day, maybe 2 as it's scattered throughout the day (few minutes here and there). Some days I don't do anything as I work on other stuff (either web design or accessories.. or just time off). If I was to add up all the days and time, it would probably only be a few months of 9-5 work. So not bad for such a short time and no prior experience...right??? It helps to think that way lol

So... The Future
Personally I can see an improvement in my sculpting (seen in the batch of sci-fi things a couple of blogs ago).  I am starting to put more detail into figures and I am making edges crisper and more defined. Hopefully people will see that they are improving too, and they will continue to do so. I have definitely not peaked, this is simply the beginning.

After the current batch of sci fi stuff (and new zom nurses) which are with the caster, I will be producing another range of 16 zombies. But I won't be able to do get them cast until I have made enough money from other figures/accessories as it all cost a lot to do, so please share as much as you can. I really appreciate everyone who has promoted Grekwood Miniatueres already, so thank you BIG time! :)

I have a few ideas for future moulds which should keep me going for a long time. They include a mixture of zombie ranges and sci-fi things as I want to try and put out an equal amount to attract as many people as I can.

Umm that's it for now, sorry for the long blog, unless you like ready long blogs, then you're welcome lol

Cheers for reading,
Carl

Hospital Zombies...

I'm uploading this collage of the first batch of zombies so I am able to link to it somewhere (they won't let me upload from a computer!! arghh...)

So apologies if you have already seen these...

Thank for looking :)

Sci-fi and Zombies, it's all cool

Below are photos of my latest sculpts which I have recently sent of to the casters. This is mainly for those who have not seen them on Facebook and the "Boardofthelvingdead" forums.

The first image shows some sci-fi mutants/aliens which have some big guns. Two mutants are muscular, whilst the other two are much less so. I want to say "flabby" but I'm sure that's not "politially correct" these days... I don't care, I'll say it, they are more fat/flabby in appearance.

Click to ZOOOM

The second image shows some sci-fi/fantasy beings. They are mutated once again giving a "straight jacket" appearance. The expansion of the torso has caused their fronts to split open, making this a vulnerable spot.

Click to ZOOOM

Finally, the third image is the NEW zombie nurses. These will be replacing the current zombie nurses with bandages, and will be available for the 4 pack discount deal. The bandaged zombies are being moved to a new page with under the "Fantasy" column, named "Demons". This is because they are pretty much demonic nurses.

Click to ZOOOM

The new nurses have longer skirts, piping on the sleeves, epaulets on the shoulders and "normal" zombie heads. Also, all weapons have been removed. Two have "slight" damage (tears in clothes etc) and the other two don't. This is in keeping with the other 3 hospital packs.

So, I'm taking a few days break, and I'll start working on some more stuff. I think I'll create some bases to go with those sci-fi guys...

Cheers, all comments are very welcome :)