I’ve been a fan of Mythbusters since episode 1. I’m further delighted by the fact that even my kids (who are in their teens) love watching every episode, including reruns. So when this video of Adam Savage giving a talk was posted on their Facebook page, I naturally had to watch it.
You might be wondering why I’m posting the video here on a site about action figures. Seems odd and out of place. Well, there are a few good reasons…
- Adam passionately talks about obsessing over an item and finding ways to obtain it. It struck me as an action figure collector who occasionally obsesses over little plastic toys made in the 70s and then finds himself paying a ludicrous amount of money just to have it. Great minds think alike :)
- Adam shares with everyone his recipes for making replicas of his “objects of desire.” There are no step-by-step guides provided, but he does give a very clear overview on his entire approach. I love how he talks about doing a lot of research and getting as many reference materials before actually sitting down on the workbench to start the project. This sort of discipline is something only a true artist can appreciate. Many of today’s so-called artists settle for the quickie approach – which is to hack and copy existing works by other people – all for a brief moment of fame and a quick buck.
- One of the slides caught my eye – the one where Adam mentions using Super Sculpey. The slide was a photo taken from Cason (Casimir) Pilliod’s web site – Inanimate Objects. I just found it to be a wonderful coincidence since I am also as big a fan of Casimir’s work as I am of Adam’s.
- Did I happen to mention I’m a huge Mythbusters fan?
So I’m having a geek moment here. But this video got me inspired to work on a project that I’ve been obsessing over for the past year. I’m actually gonna start on that as soon as I’m done typing here. And maybe 2 or 3 years from now, I can blog about it here.
