Organising paints on a tight budget, an alternative clay conditioning machine, and what's up next hobby wise

Looking at my paint bottles strewn all over the work station makes me wish I had paid more attention during woodwork classes all those years ago. If I had, I would have made myself a nice wooden paint rack by now to store up all the drop bottles I own for easy access. If wishes were horses ...

Using a cheap alternative to store paint drop bottles

So having an extremely tight hobby budget to work with meant I had to seek the cheapest option available without compromising too much on quality. That came in the form of a Tesco house-brand 2900 ml. air-tight food container which cost RM13.90 (about USD4.30) which was especially suited to the Vallejo Model Color acrylic paint drop bottles but not so much the Reaper Master Series paints.

A Tesco house-brand 2.9 litre food container

Dimensions of the 2.9 litre food container was such that I could overturn the container and still have the Vallejo Model Color drop bottles stay in place without moving too much.

Acrylic paints all lined up, pretty as you please

However, when I tried doing that with the slightly shorter Reaper Master Series paint drop bottles, they would move around rather loosely in the container. Nonetheless, both paint brands had drop bottles with a similar diameter so as long as you don't make a habit of overturning the container to have a better look at the colours, it was still fairly usable for the Reaper paints.  

Still fairly usable for the Reaper Master Series acrylic paints

Seems like the local Tesco store is starting to become a regular haunt for me in which to source alternative art supplies such as silicon-based cooking papers (attractively priced during festive seasons) for use in my home-made wet palette. In fact, it was in a Tesco store that I finally found an affordable alternative to an art clay conditioner. There was a mini-promotion going on at that time so I got the pasta machine for just RM29.90 (~USD9.20). Thank my lucky stars I didn't shell out RM130 (~USD40) for a clay conditioning machine that I saw in an art supply shop. Heck, Tesco should be my 'hobby sponsor' ala Formula One driver sponsors. Again, if wishes were horses ...

Using a pasta machine as a cheap alternative for a clay conditioner

So what's up next for me hobby wise? With my Knight Models Spider-Man Marvel Universe project very close to completion, I don't have much left on the work station other than the two work-in-progress Dark Sword Wood Elf Goddesses. So after a prepping, assembling and priming binge, I now have eight additional miniatures of all sizes primed and ready for their first coat of paint (see below). 

Miniatures on my immediate to-do list: eight primed and two work-in-progress

As for my sculpting ambitions, hopefully by getting a pasta machine for use as a clay conditioner I would have removed the last excuse I have for my continued procrastination towards sculpting. Moreover, after initially toying with the idea of using Katniss Everdeen as the first sculpting subject matter, I felt perhaps an easier-to-sculpt character will make those first baby steps less daunting. Darwin Watterson was the simplest subject matter I could think of off hand so I guess that walking talking goldfish from The Adventures of Gumball cartoon will likely kickstart my sculpting journey.

Darwin Watterson, The Adventures of Gumball

What with helping my son prepare for his finals as well as spending more time with him leading up to his birthday, I haven't had much time to paint miniatures. Hopefully I can still squeeze in some hobby time amidst quality family time. Matters are made much worse by the fact that two of my favourite TV shows namely Supernatural and Walking Dead are entering their latest seasons which means even less time for the hobby. Sigh ... if only we could download ourselves into an EMH (Emergency Medical Hologram) and have eternity to indulge in our hobbies. Ouch ... will the geekery never end.

Ahhh ... what price immortality and the life of an EMH