What You May Not Know

I've been really gratified by the nice comments I've received on this blog, and, in general, with the kind, generous, thoughtful and talented people I've met while roaming around the interwebz.  You've all been far, far nicer than I deserve!  In particular, recently, one tutorial of mine has gotten a little bit of notice: How To Make A Really Authentic Dollhouse Miniature Thatched Roof.  And I would like you all to know that, initially, I got so much negative feedback that I almost took it down entirely.

I remember back when I was 15, I was so ridiculously proud of myself because I was exhibiting a painting in my first real (as real as it's apt to get when you're 15) art show.  Sure, I was all pompous and self important about it but, underneath it all, I was just so excited.  A local artist who'd had some modest success came over to me and told me that I shouldn't sell my piece; I should keep it as a souvenir of that time in my life when I thought I had it in me to become a professional artist.  I could look back on it, he said, and laugh at how deluded I'd been.

Yeah, well.  Happiness is the best revenge, right?  It wasn't until years later that I realized, wow, for him--for a grown man--to be talking to a kid that way, he must have some really serious issues of his own.

After I first wrote this tutorial, which was initially created for a miniatures magazine, I received quite a long email from a comparatively well known miniaturist.  He absolutely lambasted me, going into--in gruesome detail--everything that was wrong with my technique.  Principally, he seemed very worried that this wasn't how real thatched roofs were made.  To which my response was kind of like, um, yeah, very little about dollhouses resembles real life building.  The walls of my house aren't made of MDF, either.

But, basically, he wanted to make very sure that I understood what a rotten miniaturist I was, and requested that I withdraw my article from publication lest I lead other miniaturists astray.  He then went on to, rather tiresomely--and predictably--extoll the virtues of his own carefully honed technique.  Which, he assured me, was far superior and I'd serve myself better by coping him rather than coming up with ridiculous, bad plans of my own.

The then-editor of the magazine informed me--having also been aware of the article's apparent deficiencies--that I shouldn't feel bad, their magazine published how-to articles of all types, even those more suited to remedial miniaturists.

Luckily, I have a healthy artist's ego!

Listen, I'm no one's motivational speaker--I usually offend people when I try--but the moral of this story is, it's YOUR project, YOUR hobby, YOUR investment, and YOUR imagination.  Do what you want.  Some people may not like it, but some people don't like much of anything and they're not living your life, anyway.