Catsy [CC]'s photostream Pro User

You've probably noticed that I haven't uploaded anything new for about six months, and that Catspaw Customs has been relatively static. The fact is that I've been in something of a dim age for the better part of a year now, and probably a lot longer. There's a lot of reasons for that, but what they all boil down to is an almost complete absence of building inspiration. Even when I get ideas for something I want to create, I just can't seem to make things come together or get beyond the first surge of tinkering. It's frustrating and depressing.

And I've just had so much else going on in my life that I haven't been able to climb out of it. My job is putting ever-increasing demands on my time and mental energy, to the point where when I get out of work about the only thing I can manage to do is write. So what creativity I have available has been directed into that. After 10 years together Jess and I have split up, and the emotional struggles leading up to and following that haven't helped.

And since I haven't been creating anything new, Catspaw Customs has been stagnating to the point where it's time for me to close the doors, so to speak. The hex stands will most likely become part of the BrickArms product catalog, and resellers should contact Will to source them. They are still a fantastic product that I believe in--I just don't have the time or energy anymore to sustain the retail business around them.

I think part of the problem is that I got to a point where I felt like I was obligated to be producing new work in the Lego medium, and I felt guilty if I ended up creating anything else, especially after I started a business whose success depended on continuing to create with Lego. That guilt and sense of obligation stifled me in a way I couldn't overcome, when it combined with everything else going on in my life.

My life is in a state of major change right now, change that I hope will lead to renewal. Within a few months I'm going to be living alone for the first time in ten years, and that will give me an opportunity to clean the house and focus on bettering myself--a process that I hope will lead to a renaissance of creativity. I don't know what the future will bring, but for the first time in a long time I'm looking forward to it with hope and optimism.

Thank you to everyone who's offered encouragement and support over the years. I'm not quitting the Lego community, but I do need to take some time to get my life in order and hopefully reclaim some of that missing creative drive. Whenever I produce anything in any visual medium--Lego or not--you'll see it here.

The SF-10 Longbow is a carrier-borne space superiority fighter. Armed with a pair of mass driver miniguns, the SF-10 makes up for its spindly, fragile construction in its deployed mode with a pair of powerful forward shield batteries mounted on its wing pylons. In carrier mode, the Longbow folds up into a compact form that greatly multiplies the number of available fighters that can be carried.

The stand actually transforms as well in order to accommodate the two different modes--albeit in a vastly simpler fashion than the fighter itself.

Built for the Starfighter Telephone Game.

The SF-10 Longbow is a carrier-borne space superiority fighter. Armed with a pair of mass driver miniguns, the SF-10 makes up for its spindly, fragile construction in its deployed mode with a pair of powerful forward shield batteries mounted on its wing pylons. In carrier mode, the Longbow folds up into a compact form that greatly multiplies the number of available fighters that can be carried.

The stand actually transforms as well in order to accommodate the two different modes--albeit in a vastly simpler fashion than the fighter itself.

Built for the Starfighter Telephone Game.

The SF-10 Longbow is a carrier-borne space superiority fighter. Armed with a pair of mass driver miniguns, the SF-10 makes up for its spindly, fragile construction in its deployed mode with a pair of powerful forward shield batteries mounted on its wing pylons. In carrier mode, the Longbow folds up into a compact form that greatly multiplies the number of available fighters that can be carried.

Built for the Starfighter Telephone Game.

The SF-10 Longbow is a carrier-borne space superiority fighter. Armed with a pair of mass driver miniguns, the SF-10 makes up for its spindly, fragile construction in its deployed mode with a pair of powerful forward shield batteries mounted on its wing pylons. In carrier mode, the Longbow folds up into a compact form that greatly multiplies the number of available fighters that can be carried.

Built for the Starfighter Telephone Game.