Purchase of Image of the Mind Studios

 We all must face reality
and the reality of the situation is that at some point I must either 
liquidate or sell
Image of the Mind Studios

I do have a business plan, which expands the operation 

beyond the degree that I care to contend with.

The foundations are in place for a much more substantial operation

than I am currently engaged in.

That being said, I anticipate that I will need to begin

working in that direction.

I have developed (or am developing) a 

Business Plan

that takes into account a much larger 

corporate operation

with numerous divisions.

This is plan is quite viable, given the financing and staffing with competent personnel.

But this is a plan that will not be put into place by me.

It is a plan that required the proper Board of Directors

in fact multiple Board of Directors,

because the three primary Divisions must be operated as separate entities.

It also calls for other Business Operations beyond the three Primary Divisions. 

These are all linked together to create a cohesive whole.

I discuss some of this in the blog IMS Management

and on The Gnomes of New Hope Blog

Here is a posting regarding

The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture

which discusses some of this.

June 19th Dragon Puppet

Here's a shot of the 

Micro-Fogger

 in action.

I like it. 

This was my last hurrah 

with being 

The Dragon Master.

My efforts are now turned to 

The Gnomes of New Hope

In this regard.

ARCHIVE:

It's time to work on the Dragon again

 This year I am installing 

a Mirco-Fogger into 

the centre head.

This will allow the Dragon

 to breathe smoke 

from his nostrils.

Last year the Dragon was clear-coated to protect the paper-mache from rain.

But doing so also made the colors pop in the sunshine.

I will post more photos as I can.  I do expect to create a page on the Dragon,

since I also have a video documenting the re-construction of the tail

and I will be handing the reins of Dragon Master over to someone else. 

This will be my last year performing as John in the June 19th Pageant.

(as I am officially retiring next year at the age of 70)

The Bryn Athyn Church 

puts on a Pageant that depicts events 

described in the Book of Revelations

(which we refer to as The Apocalypse)

The event takes place on the East Lawn of

The Bryn Athyn Cathedral

on June 19th at 7:30 pm

(weather permitting)

In the Event of rain the Pageant takes place inside the Cathedral.

A Painting of the Archangel Micheal 
doing battle with 
The Seven-headed Dragon 
by
Jared Buss
currently serving
The New Church
in the
Pittsburgh Society

Office Management

    I have been engaged in setting up an assortment of workstations for the numerous operations going on within the current 10k sq ft studio space. I make mention of some of those operations throughout the assorted blogs associated with IMS.

   As is to be expected at this time of year, my mind has turned toward accounting and the Management Office. I have, for many years, experimented with an array of accounting methods and processes, none of which have really been properly effective, thus creating a mire of ineffective garble. So it is the I have turned my attention to the facilities, equipment, resources, systems and personnel required to correct this problem.  

   That being said, I am looking to locate personnel that can work on that aspect of the operation. This something that will take time to restructure and it is also something that I want to build upon, not something that I want to dive into, until it is clear that the working relationship are copasetic.  That being said, I continue to look for a CFO to supervise those matters. I welcome inquiries from those wanting to work out of our physical facilities in Southampton, Pennsylvania.  AG

A New Look for the Book

Printer's Layout, On-Demand Limited Edition Books

There were numerous unseen anomalies and corrections to be made. 

The end result was a shift in the overall look of the pages.

I opted to lessening the amount of ink on the page

by reducing the opacity of the outer page.

I like it better.

BOOK ONE will go to the printer today for a Limited Quantity as I start to build inventory.

If all goes well, BOOK TWO will follow shortly.

UPDATE: 3/23

   This post was a draft, an outdated draft because circumstances changed, but here's the skinny... The On-demand books will begin with jobbing out the printing for the limited quantities required to build inventory. Once the inventory is up to speed, I'm very much looking at putting a printing press in the studio. Beyond publishing the seven book series, there is the music score, which in itself, is larger than the Illustrated Storybook and the Libretto combined. It rather depends on the demand and how the licensing turns out.   I am set on the design and implementation of the Hand-stitched Books, but the reality is that those books must remain Limited Editions, simply because of the time factor of making those books cannot meet any large quantity orders. If another publisher steps up to license the Perfect-bind books, then production and distribution of the Unlimited Editions will be out of my hands. This is probably the most advantageous situation, since I need to focus on theatre activities and not get tangled up in book production and distribution.

Check;

www.thegnomesofnewhope.blogspot.com

Sound Stage & Studio

Here's a truck I'm either going to sell or rebuild into a Cabover.

image.of.thge.mind.studios@gmail.com

    I started to plan out the construction of a Sound Studio, when I realized that the stage I am installing should serve as a sound-stage. If it becomes necessary to have a sound proof room, we can add that later. I like the idea of a sound studio, but one critical aspect of that is the overhead issue. If I can succeed at garnering the funds to support overhead on the studio for a twenty-year period, which is my goal, then installing a sound studio would be more practical. It simply is not advisable to invest the money in facilities that may come under threat in terms of operating funds. My interest is to build the facilities within an environment that is completely secure for the long term. I do not want to have to seek clients to use the facility, I would rather have the facility available for in-house operations exclusively. That's not to say that outside client might not want to use the facility, but such application and use of  the facilities cannot depend upon it. To put it simply, external application must be gravy for the operation.

"Swedenborg Designing a Flying Machine"

used by permission of 
The Swedenborg Library in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 
for the cover of
"Nunc Licet"

   So, I am redirecting my energy toward building the stage and installing a 50+ seat peanut gallery. I have 80 Art Deco Theatre seats left from the 120 that I had, the reduction being a result of water damage and an urgent forced move, whereby I needed to rescue what I could from the larger quantity. Those seat need to be restored and reupholstered. Well, it seems appropriate to  set up to do the seat restoration and to install the tiered platforms required for the peanut gallery. I have the borders and legs, the lighting and sound equipment, the wiring, cables, battens and chains, so I will be moving to setup and install that equipment. I also have the drops, for both backdrops and green screen. It's only a matter of cleaning out the stuff that occupies the space. That shouldn't be too hard.

   Part of that is also rearranging some of what is already set up. I am installing a paint booth in one bay and setting that up for both spraying the automotive work I need to do and the painting that comes into play for set construction, furniture refinishing and fabricating, which occurs from time to time. 

   All of this points to the fact that all production activity is centered around in-house studio production as opposed to location or remote work. This is something that must be understood when engaging with Image of the Mind Studios. All activities are taking place in Southampton, Pennsylvania. My days of traveling around freelancing are over. I just want to be clear about that. AG