Episode 40: Barry and Jim on their Favorites (and their Failures)

Your hosts aren’t at all sure that anybody will be interested in this rather self-indulgent episode, but hey, we were just responding to a request from one of our loyal listeners, Jamie Stokes in Australia, who left a voice mail for us on Telbee (and everyone is welcome to do the same by clicking here!). Said Jamie:

“Realistically speaking, what we are doing as miniaturists is creating a tangible legacy of our hobby that will outlive us, no doubt. Knowing that—and Shep Paine being the most current example of a legacy outliving the creator—I’m curious if any of us could describe just two of our favorite models that would encapsulate our life as a miniaturist or our favorite one/most meaningful miniature, with the proviso being we get to choose our favorite as the miniaturist who made it and then our significant other—spouse, wife, husband, whatever—gets to choose the other one for their own reason. Love to hear the feedback on that from the fellow listeners as well.”

Well, Jamie, with our proviso being that we await the feedback from our listeners, your hosts chose not one but two of their own favorites, then asked their spouses. And, being the sort of chaps we are, we also chose some pieces of our own that we think failed, or that we liked the least. We’re perversely cynical and self-critical like that, don’t you know.

We had some fun having this chat—we always do!—and, hey, it seemed like a good one after 40 (forty!) episodes. Plus, we wanted to make Jamie happy. We hope you’ll enjoy listening, and we hope to see many of you at the MMSI Chicago Show on Oct. 20-21. Onward!

The first of Barry’s own favorites: “Box #3” (54mm, 2014).

One of Jim’s own favorites: “Il Cenacolo: Milano, 1798” (54mm, 2014).

Barry’s “NYC, 1977” (54mm, 2013)—also Jim’s favorite by his podcast partner/brother in box diorama-making.

“Initial Reconnaissance, 1787” (54mm, 2022), also Barry’s favorite by Jim.

Joan Biediger’s favorite by her husband: “Recruitment of the Young Guard” (100mm, 2012).

Carmél’s favorite by Jim: “The Whole World Is Watching: Chicago 1968” (75mm, 2017).

Barry’s not happy with his box “Thursday Evening” (70mm, 2015), but Jim likes it a lot.

Jim’s choices for his failures: “Retreat from Moscow”  (2010, 1/35th & 54mm), because the mirror for the French “ghosts” just isn’t positioned right. The mirrors worked much better in “The Cutting-Out Expedition”
(2013, 54mm), but Jim isn’t happy at all with the sculpting/Historex conversions. (Then again, what does he know? Marijn Van Gils included it in is his fantastic book Dioramas F.A.Q. Storytelling, Composition and Planning.)