WarHammer Young Bloods

 Luke has been working on this model for the last few months in preparation for a painting competition at the massive Games Workshop exhibition known as Games Day. The competition he was entering was the Young Bloods competition, for those aged 14 and under.

 (apologies for pictures on their sides, my camera got confused!)  The detail he went into was astounding.  So much better than anything Stuart or I could create.  In fact Stuart reckons he is the best painter in the whole of RedWarSoc.

Can you see the purple gem on the leg below, that is all made to look translucent with shading.  And the diamond tapestry down the side is free hand.  When you think the model is about 2 inches high at the most, that is very fine detail, and one very steady hand!

 The word "courage" was also painted freehand, and is about a couple of millimetres high.

 The cape was pretty hard to do, trying to get the shading right.

With all this hard work that he put into it, you can imagine his disappointment when he didn't get through to the second round.  Out of 100 competitors, only 6 got chosen to go through to the second round, this is what Luke was aiming for.  He was truly deflated.  And I honestly think an injustice was done.  Unfortunately we don't know where out of the whole event came, he may well have been 7th but that will never be known.

How do you pick yourself up from this?  How do you support someone when they feel their best is not good enough?  You talk about experience, what you have learned from doing it, and you plan for next year.  Competition is hard, but entering this has really pushed Luke, and he has produced his best work yet.  He likes a challenge, and his painting will always be a winner as far as I am concerned.

WarHammer weekend

 As an early birthday treat for Luke, we had a trip to WarHammer world in Nottingham on Saturday.  Inspiration was all around us.  We found the model (above) that Luke is painting up for the Golden Daemon Young Bloods competition at the end of September.  And his is comparable, which is amazing for a nearly 13 year old!

I was awestruck at lightening effect on the cloak of this Dark Elf.  When you think that all these models are just plastic or resin, it is a real testament to the talent of some these artists that they can do such amazing things with them.

 There was awesome scenery.

 There were wood elves (my current collection)

 And amazing artwork.  I'm a bit of a sucker for a dragon!

 Father and son in admiration of the models.

 And besides the gorgeous food we had in Bugmans Bar, which is decorated a la Goth, Sophie managed to pluck up the courage to give an ork a very quick hug! (I wasn't quite fast enough to capture the complete hug!)

A great day out, followed by a day of WarHammer at the club as a special event.  I think it is fair to say we were both inspired, and worn out by the end of it all!  I even neglected the knitting and did some painting, but I won't show you as it is nowhere near as good as the stuff they have on show at WarHammer World!

The family addiction

 Boxes in all kinds of places, stacked awaiting their contents to be spilled, and created.  From dining chairs, to corners of rooms...

 ...dining tables, bedrooms...

 and even kitchen window ledges!

 These role playing models (mainly WarHammer) are taking over the house!  Luke has been interested in them since he was about 7, even though the general earliest age of interest is around age 12.  He has been working his way through armies, perfecting his painting, and getting his head around all the game play strategies.  His book of choice is a rule book of one army or another.  One of his recent paintings is of this boar.

 Considering it is made of metal, you would never know, to me it doens't even look painted, just so natural.  He has got us all hooked on this.  Stuart has set up a local wargaming society which has been a roaring success, with geeks coming out of the woodwork left, right and centre!!  So now Luke has people he can talk to about this, who actually understand the passion, and the rules!  He has been introduced to new armies, new rules, and he is in his element. 

Stuart and I have also indulged a little, havnig both admired games workshop models from afar for many years!  We have been known to be sat at the dining table into the early hours of the morning, building models, filing them, painting them.  I am very slowly workig my wat through my wood elf army, these are some of the dryads that I have painted up.  It takes forever!  Whenever I see some of the armies that have been created, it really brings home to me how many weeks or even month and years these things take up! 

Having said that, it is a wonderful hobby, it is keeping Luke stimulated, it is creative, tacticle, and now has a wonderful social element to it, with the weekly group. 

Creativity

 For Christmas my Mum bought me a day course on wet felting.  So the other Wednesday I trotted off to our local craft centre, whilst Mum looked after Sophie, and spent 6 hours learning how to wet felt. There was me and 7 teachers who were on a teacher training day (now we know what they get up too!! ;) ), all learning how to produce a felt bag.

 We felted onto fabric, which ended up as the lining of the bag, and the bag was made without any sewing, just folding and more felting. 

 I am really pleased with the outcome, I have yet to attach the shoulder strap on, but I can see a few more of these being made over time, now that I know how!!  And I will be saving even more bits of scraps of material and wool for my felting supplies now!!

Other creativity that has been going on, WarHammer!  Stuart has set up a local warhammer group who will be having their first weekly meeting on the 4th April. So he and Luke have been busy creating a fort to aid their game play.  Already there have been quite a few people sign up, so fingers crossed it will get off the ground, and become a regular opportunity for gamers to get together, paint and have a game.

For Earth Hour, Luke very kindly made some candles with a beeswax kit he got for Christmas.  I think we may have to increase our amount of materials, as it is quite addictive, and the rate we go through candles, we need a steady supply.

 And look what arrived in the post these last couple of days.  I have been wanting to read Juno for a while, and from a quick glance through this morning it looks like a lovely magazine, with a wide breadth of articles.  Thank you Jacqui.
And this book.... wow, I think this is the first education book I have read where I am nodding in agreement from the first page.  The perfect book for a would be homeschooler who sits on the fence way too much!  Thank you Sarah, it's just what I needed!

Christmas

After having to put our Christmas plans on hold for one day due to another snowfall, we braved it on Thursday to get to the cottage we had rented in North West Wales. The journey was breathtaking, the dramatic landscape of Wales transformed to a winter wonderland. The only hair-raising bits were trying to get out of our hometown, and once we got within about a mile of the cottage at the other end!

Having safely arrived, we busied ourselves with decorating the place, ready for the big day. And Christmas day itself started earlier for some than others! Ethan woke at 2am, at 3am had a sneaky peek downstairs to see if Santa had been, and then fell asleep again at 6am. Luke started clock watching at 5am. So 6.45am was the latest we could drag it out to!

Presents were opened at varying rates of knots! And before sunrise there was lego building happening!

The rest of the time there was filled with wonderful activity, lots of card playing, along with games such as Quirkle, and Settlers of Catan (yeah, we eventually got our heads around it, and have fallen in love with it)

The obligatory WarHammer battle

And lots of reading. Luke got a "how to build a go-kart" book, so is now requesting a trip to B and Q!

A trip to a local-ish park, very soggy, but very much enjoyed.

It was another wonderful family Christmas. I loved the fact there was no internet, games consoles or even telly. But as soon as we got back home, old habits returned! I am determined however to be strict with myself, and lead by example in limiting screen time.

The journey home was punctuated by the most stunning scenery. The photo does not really do it justice.

Hope everyone has enjoyed their festive time too.

Half-term and Halloween

So, recently I have noticed that alot of my posts have not really included much about the children. Probably as they were at school! Well, I thought I would show you what we had been up to over half term. You have already seen our trip to Slimbridge. This is what the rest of the week looked like.

Playing with cardboard boxes...
Lots of lego building...

Drum practice...

Making pictures with domino run pieces

Making domino runs

Castle building

Candle making

Candle-lit music filled evenings, that were enjoyed by all never wanting to forget them

Pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie from our own homegrown pumpkin.

WarHammer and sewing, can you actually see the dining table?

Glass lantern making

Pumpkin carving

And alot of excitement about "Halloween on the Green". Our communal halloween party.

So there we have it. Proof that the children are still around, having a whale of a time, chilling out, doing there own thing, and requesting not to go out anywhere!