New normal. That's the phrase all over the news in the current Covid 19 crisis, but I first heard it in my bereavement counselling sessions after Julies devastating illness and subsequent death last May, when we had only just started our time together. New normal is the stable point you aim for now, although things can never be the same again.
And if you are bereaved, I urge you to try counselling, both the one to one and group sessions. It doesn't take away the sadness, but it has been a huge help in sorting out feelings and emotions.
Last weekend Mum passed away. Very sad but she had a happy, long and interesting life, so it was pretty much what anyone could wish for. A life to celebrate.
So what will new normal be? A large chunk of it will be work of course, and after the last 20 months I have a lot of catching up to do. My customers for my commissioned work have been amazingly patient, and I am incredibly thankful to them for not giving up and going elsewhere.
Just released in my website shop are a set of ten 1/43 scale 1860s figures. I drew these in 3D on my laptop, had them 3D printed and produced the master figures from the prints. The first image is the 3D drawings, and the next two images show the pewter master figures.
In another departure from my usual way of working, I ordered a limited number of sets of castings from RP World Models, so I will not be casting these myself. The castings are made of whitemetal, as used by most manufacturers of metal model figures. The skirts are hollow, so the back is a separate piece.
I already have the seated versions of these as 3D prints, so they will be the next ones available. In addition, I have 3D prints of the same 10 standing and 10 seated in 1/152, 1/120, 1/87, 1/76 so these are all in the pipeline. With 3D technology you just scale them to a different size, no need to start from scratch each time.
As 3D drawings these were all pretty much a first attempt, and I have made a lot of improvements in subsequent drawings.
I have recently been involved in a project which was very unusual for me. It was a limited edition snow globe in collaboration with Kit Grover Ltd. The original sculpture is titled 'Refugee Astronaut' by Yinka Shonibare CBE. It is life size and part of the 'Being Human' exhibition.
I had to make the 100mm tall, 10 piece master figure in pewter then mould it and produce 38 painted castings in resin (metal would be too heavy to shake in a snow globe). Luckily I didn't have to assemble them into the snow globes, that is beyond my pay grade! One problem was making sure that the paint and the glue would survive permanent immersion in water, but all seemed to be ok after a lot of testing.
