Arnica: Starting on the Adobe Buildings

Not much to report today, except to say that I'm starting work on the molds for the adobe collection. I think I'm going to start with the smaller buildings -- the Casas -- and then move up from there. If all goes well, I'll be posting some work-in-progress photos shortly.

Coming Soon!

Shutting Down For Memorial Day

Liberty, Freedom and Honor...
To those who have paid for what we hold dear, we offer our heartfelt thanks.

Arnica Update

Very, very little to report today. I've been wrapping up the current orders so I can move on to making the molds for our Adobe Collection. I think all the orders we have on hand will ship before Saturday.

I also spent the day cleaning out a room in the house so I can move my production into it. This will be a big boon to improving our speed.

More on Thursday!

Update: Arnica and Hawgleg

Still working to catch up on things. Things are still in flux this week, as I had to cancel all work because our A/C went out and we decided to spend the night with our in-laws. Our A/C guy got things working, though, so I'll be back at work on Friday.

We're still working on repairing molds (I replaced part of the mold for the Attached Shed Kit -- the window next to the front door had torn). One of the molds I'm interested in pouring is another set of boardwalks. Increasing our capacity from four to six will do wonders for productivity.

In Hawgleg news, I'm still getting into the Showdowns & Shootouts book. Progress is slow because I haven't been able to devote a large block of time to it, but it's definitely progressing.

Talk to you next week!

Arnica Hawgleg Update

Not much time for a report today. I did a lot of resin casting over the weekend to fill some orders. I got most of the work done needed to finish out the next two orders in the queue. Those will ship shortly. Plus, I've already got a head-start on the orders after that.

When we started the store, we had about a 3-week period between order and shipment. That's slowly decreasing to about 2 weeks. We're not there yet, but will be soon.

Arnica Saturday Update: Last Saturday was one of the busiest days in casting I've had in a long time. I poured about 5.5 pounds of resin (that's 8 cups, or about 2500 grams). I poured one of everything, except the Mercantile walls because I already have as many of those as I need for the moment.


Hawgleg Update: I've started tentative work on adapting the separate Showdowns & Shootouts adventures into a cohesive book. Since the material has already been written, edited and laid out, there's not a lot to do, but a few of the graphics need to be modified for printing to make a more attractive book. Plus, there will be a few small extras in the book (not a lot, but a few summary pages of the new Specialties, weapons and so forth). If all goes well, this book could be done by the end of the week. Of course, that depends on whether or not I can decide on what I want to do for the cover.

Talk to ya'll again Thursday.

Arnica: Ouch!

Dagnabit. I can't believe that such a minor injury threw off my work schedule today. I cut a big gash in my right thumb, about an inch in length and fairly deep -- probably a bit more than 1/8 inch at its deepest point. And, naturally, I got it doing something fast and stupid. I had just finished pouring some Arnica buildings and had prepared lunch -- a simple can of soup -- and noticed that the garbage needed to go out. It was overflowing the can, so I reached in to push is down and sliced open my thumb on the soup can lid.

Like most deep cuts, it didn't hurt much for a second, but then the blood came gushing out. I let it bleed then washed it and wound up applying direct pressure for about 10 minutes to get it to stop bleeding. I then washed off the caked blood -- which started it bleeding again -- but finally got it all under control about 30 minutes later. Oh, and I cleaned up the blood on the floor, too.

It hurts a bit, but the problem is that it's in a bad place on the side of my thumb in a place that is used to grip tools, pencils, and other items. So when I tried to get back to work an hour later, I just opened it up again. Since I'm not on the TV show Chopped, I don't need to work with a latex glove to hold the blood while I'm working, so I finally just called it quits for the day.

I'll get back on things tomorrow, as I can already tell that it is not likely to reopen again. But, alas, I am more than a half-day's work behind.

BTW: No, I won't post a picture of it. I've been told such things gross people out.

Coming Soon
Rather than just spend the whole column complaining, here's a photo from the upcoming tutorial on how to assemble one of our Gunsmith Shops. The key is to put the front and back on the outside and put the side walks flush with the other two.

Gunsmith Shop: Under Construction

I'll clear it all up in the tutorial that takes the building from kit pieces to finished, painted building. That probably won't make it here on Thursday, but sometime in the future. Remember, you can buy this (and other) buildings at: www.arnicarealestate.com.

See ya Thursday

Arnica: Sneak Peak Behind the Scenes

Not much time for blogging today. I'm busy pouring resin to fill orders, as you can see from these pictures of what I poured last night.

Here are the molds filled with tan resin on my work table last night. As you can see from the empty cups, I poured four cups of resin,. Each cup is 300 grams, so that means I poured 1200 grams of resin. That's about 42 ounces of resin, or about 2.5 pounds.

Here's the rest of what I poured. Today I will de-mold them and then store the pieces until I can sand them, which will probably be on Sunday. My goal is to pour about this much again tonight. In fact, I'm off Friday, so I will probably do an afternoon pour of roofs and extra bits that we like to keep on hand.

See you back here Tuesday