There’s method to my madness. And this method takes the form of boxes. Boxes? Bro, really? Groundbreaking stuff here, frenchy! Bear with me folks.
In one of my previous article, I mentionned I used an old box lid to keep bits and debris from falling everywhere when I assembled. But that’s not all I use them for. Like many of us out there, my work area tends to look like a battlefield. I’m not the most tidy person out there and I thrive on chaos. I always have at least 6 ongoing hobby projects, and even the most erratic of us would get lost in this.
I have 2 very specific uses for boxes that fly under the radar and help keep things somewhat organised. And organisation is key when you hope to get anything done.
The first is what I call a project box. You can have a lot of this type. In fact, one per project you have lying around. It’s the system most commission painters use, as it’s quite easy to figure out what goes where when you’re dealing with models that are not your own. You don’t need to be a professional painter to have multiple ongoing projects, so this is helpful.
Basically, these boxes or crates hold everything you have from one army or modelling project. This one is my pile of Nurgle models for an eventual Nurgle-themed Incursion army.
This is a long-term project, meaning I’m waiting on finding everything before starting. There’s no rush, it’s more stockpiling. I have the same with a Bark-Star army and a Khorne Daemonkin army.
Then there’s this one, the ongoing project. An Overkill game full of Deathwatch and Genestealer Cult. This is being painted right now. If I switch around projects, just put this box away and get a new one out. Wham bam, no fuss no confusion; it’s all well planned chaos.
The second type of box I call the dumpster box. Here’s mine.
Back in my old place, before I got my hobby system in check, it used to be a full closet.
The dumpster box is literally a dumpster of hobby stuff you want to keep, but can’t be bothered with. I stole this idea from cooking, where you keep a small bowl next to your work area so you don’t have to make constant trips to the bin with whatever you want to throw away. Let’s say you’re building an army. You have your pink horors and a couple of Burning Chariots. Once you’re done building your models, you are left with sprues you probably want to keep. The burning chariot is a gold mine for bits box. Throw all of those in the dumpster box, sprues, extra bases, and those bits you’ve cut but weren’t used.
Once every couple of while, set aside an hour or 30 minutes to work on clearing your dumpster box. I like to do this once I finish projects, it feels like starting the next on on a clean slate. Back in my dumpster closet era, I set aside an hour everyday where I build my bits box and destroyed old sprues and categorized everything leftover. It took me less than 2 weeks to do.
The Get-s***-done box can be dealt with roughly the same approach. Once it reaches a critical height ( You know the height is critical when your girlfriend mentions it ) set aside an hour every-time you hobby or once per week to work on something from that box. This makes it easier for you to actually do stuff without actually feeling like you are.
TL;DR : Boxes All Day, Er’ Day, Playa!
