Full week! ^^ Its not often that so much happens in one week for me, its a welcome distraction from the norm/job hunting etc.

Tomorrow/Wednesday Mike and I are meeting up with a friend I made from the Games Workshop (he works there, heehee), we are going to have Pokemon battles and talk about random before his shift starts at 12pm :) after lunch Mike and I will pop into GW to do some painting and gaming with him. I am also going to sort out the bases for my rat ogre figures (holes need drilling for the pegs).

On Thursday we are picking up Pye from Southampton train station =D we will have lunch then probably hang around Southampton for a bit. Need to also sort out some food for the next couple of days.

On Friday we will be sorting out train tickets for Saturday morning and having a general walk around Salisbury. Will then sort/pack bits for London Expo on Saturday evening to avoid rushing around in a sleepy stupor the next morning XD

Saturday is London Expo day. We are travelling pretty early to try and avoid the crazy busy rush. We will get the train, then underground, then DLR train to the Excel Centre like last year (only this time it will be easier as we wont be carrying tons of stock, lol), I am going to try and limit my spending as Ive recently gotten rid of a load of stuff on eBay and dont want to replace everything! I can be really bad at buying things on a whim. Will spend the day in London and have food at the Tokyo Diner later ^o^

Sunday will be more laid back but I need to remember to head back into town and grab the Games Day tickets from GW -- hopefully they will still have some as they go on sale the same day we are out and about in London XD coach tickets should also be available (though Ive already reserved 2 to we are guaranteed those). Pye is also getting picked up later.

The following week I am going to work on some creative stuff like my Warhammer miniatures and some artwork :) I might also start planning a cosplay for Games Day if we get tickets.

And finally... here is a video of my talking Snivy plush ^^ I got him from GAME. He was £29.99, but I didnt want to pay that for him XD so I traded in a few games instead and used the store credit to buy him.

OMG you guys! Mr Ashens is going to be at MCM Expo next Saturday =D FFFFFFUUUUU, check out the sneak preview below. If you are unfamiliar with Ashen's Youtube shenanigans you may remember me posting some of his previous videos such as Xmas tat.

Trip to Bath

On Friday 4th May I met up with truekitsune in Bath Spa :D neither of us had been before so it was a new experience walking around with neither person having a clue what was around the corner XD it was fun though. Bath is a good place for shopping and sight-seeing:

http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q64/almiraswolf/bath_may2012/

As you can see by the photos, all the buildings are the same kindda colour and shape... which made it quite easy to get lost ^^; we had a map though, so it wasnt too bad. We did get a little lost trying to find the astronomy museum (which we ended up not finding in the end, lol). We found a few interesting shops too including one called "Octopus" selling lots of random, quirky gifts. A shop that had a moving/animated ocean as its window set up (upon many TV screens) and some random cafes (lol, Tea Monkey!).

Work

The job search is still on >_> not getting very far though. Ive been applying for at least 2 jobs a week and havent had even a sniff of interest for weeks. Not really sure what else I can do apart from try and find out about apprenticeships :/

eBay

The eBay sales are going okay. I get the feeling that people arent as keen to spend money at the moment ^^; my last lot did fairly well but some rarer collectables didnt get as much as they were worth. My current auctions seem to have more interest, but this meant parting with some of my treasured game merchandise and G4 ponies. I really need to make sure I dont try and spend the money buying things to fill the void of stuff I struggled to part with XD whim buying is a nasty habit that I NEED to control. As saving up for conventions and days out is now my priority.

Warhammer

I am very slowly building up my clan of Skaven (only buying something new when my current projects are painted and finished!). I have a box of "plague monks" that havent been touched yet, I havent assembled more than one miniature at a time yet so making up 20 will be interesting. I need to figure out a colour theme for them...

I have also decided to attend Games Day in September. It wont be too costly as individual stores arrange for a coach to come and pick up everyone and bring them back ^^ so coach tickets will be MUCH cheaper than train tickets. I am pretty tempted to make a Skaven-themed cosplay to bring, but I will see how things go.

Warlord Rothsturm won! =D Now to wait and see if there is any Skaven influence on the Game's Day t-shirt for 2012 <3

He is currently sat in the glass cabinet at my local GW waiting to get his photo taken. Hope he behaves himself, lol.

Last time I entered a painting contest at the Games Workshop I placed 3rd in the veteran category with a figure that I had improvised with and had limited paints to use. Since I took the photo uploaded at DA of the figure below I have spent a few more hours tweaking his design and adding a bit more detail/shading etc. Maybe... just maybe I may have improved my techniques since the last time.

Warlord Rothsturm is entering the Games Workshop National Hero Painting Competition tomorrow o___o wish him luck! Judging begins at 12pm.


Skaven Warlord Rothsturm by
*Almiras on deviantART

Just a few projects I am currently working on :) I keep this list at DA too (which usually gets updated as I make progress):

~ Skaven plush

~ x2 art trade with Lyrit

~ Spike the dragon plush

~ Grey seer artwork

~ x20 Skaven plague monks

I am also having a mixed time with Ebay lately as a seller; I have found that custom made items dont sell as well as collectables in general (like Pokemon stuff, toys, video games etc), Ive even tried to tempt sales by starting off low but it dosent seem to help much :/ which makes me think I should be careful what hand made/customs I should list as I dont want to undersell my work.

Ive also had problems with one buyer; an item that sold for 99p 5 days ago still hasnt been paid for, Ive given them until Friday to respond or pay (I sent them this info in a message). This is the first time Ive had someone just not even bother contacting me (Im just glad the item wasnt expensive). Im more annoyed that Ebay wont let you leave negative feedback for buyers that dont pay D: yet they can leave you bad feedback regardless.

Just a couple of website and business updates :)

Mike has kindly re-vamped my website (again). It is now much simpler and has less on-site content. I really like the new look though, it also leaves it open for redesign if I happen to get a merchandising career going in import: http://www.whisperofwolf.com/

The large icons were drawn by me and then vectored by Mike ^.^

I also closed my Etsy store/account. I didnt sell anything in the end (Dont worry, I dont feel disappointed because the market of Etsy is just HUGE and sales are varied) however I will be saving up any future stock to sell at conventions instead :)

Artwanted.com gallery is also gone. I prefer DA, and it has been months since I uploaded anything to AW.

Feedback needed!
With the following basic plush... which design is your favourite?

Patch bugs: http://fav.me/d4db4yg

Flatworms: http://fav.me/d4db4mn

Cute squid: http://fav.me/d3ha2f5

I would like to make more basic plush for future stock but would like to know which ones people are drawn to more. If you arent sure which one you like best, perhaps a suggestion for a new design? Keep in mind that any of the plush above can be made in almost any colour.

The fantasy novel is still in the works. I havent really added to it lately due to lack of motivation to type. I still want to get it published some day though <3

Yesterday evening I came home to find that one of the Moon moth cocoons had hatched!

The photos below show the moth from a couple of angles as well as the cocoon that it emerged from. I cant tell the gender of this moth at the moment... all I know is that the females are bigger than the males. Another moth should hatch this week so I may be able to compare them if they are different genders.



Quick video... the moth was fairly relaxed until it started vibrating its wings after I transferred it to my mum's hand (which was a sign that it was warming its muscles up for flight). Being a heavy thing, it didnt so much fly but glide ^^; and started thwacking itself into the sofa/floor/radiator/behind the sofa and finally landed on my slipper while I tried to catch it!

As the wings are so delicate, sadly one of the "tails" has half broken off :( the moth is fine but I read that its common for the tails to fall off when they bash into stuff. Its a shame because they look so pretty.



Unfortunately Moon moths dont have mouth parts so they have very short lives as an adult ;__; I think they live for around 10 days (another reason why they dont move around much as they try to reserve as much energy as they can to find a mate/breed). If I manage to hatch a male/female pair they may mate and produce fertile eggs. If I only get females, they will lay non-fertile eggs which will not hatch.

Yesterday I went to the Games Workshop party :) this was mainly a celebration of the release of 145 new paints, new figures and books. There was a painting contest - I touched up the Night goblin I previously painted with the new paints in-store a few weeks ago.

I didnt win a prize but I placed 3rd in the veterans category! ^^ Considering that Ive only been doing the painting for 3 weeks, its not bad! I am also going to enter my Skaven warlord into the big painting contest later in April... the winner's figure actually has influence over the Games Day (big convention in Birmingham) t-shirt design o__o

I will post a pic of him on DA when he is done. Ive spent HOURS painting him thus far XD so I would be thrilled if he won. If not -- then practice, practice, practice! And one year I hope to become classed as a "pro" painter =D

I might also pop a photo of my finished Night goblin on DA later in the week.