When Projects Fail: Lessons from a Mythosaur Skull Build
Last Modified: June 2024
Have you ever challenged yourself to learn a new skill or tackle a demanding project, but no matter how much you planned, issue after issue kept popping up, and it just made you want to quit? Several times while building the Mythosaur Skull, I came extremely close to quitting.
Project Inspiration
We often see fantastic and inspiring projects in the Maker Space online, which is part of the point! I am making things today and putting them online because I saw others doing it and was inspired to get started. Precisely for this project, Paul Jackman from Jackman Works was a huge inspiration! He often makes massive power carving projects from humble pallet wood.
This project has been on my mind for well over a year. During that time, I thought I planned every single step. I even thought I solved some problems ahead of time, such as building a beefier outfeed table that could support the weight of 25 2x4s.
Where Things Went Wrong
Despite all my planning, things started going wrong very quickly. I almost immediately found that my digital plans were not translating well into the real world, and this issue kept popping up a few times. Once I had finally gotten the skull glued up, I returned to the shop only to find massive gaps I hadn’t noticed when adding clamping pressure. The most significant error, though, was when I broke the tips off the tusks, not once but twice.
Not all makers are comfortable sharing their mistakes with the world. Starting with my first projects, I have always appreciated folks like the team at I Like to Make Stuff who don’t hide their challenges and mistakes. They show them and lay out how they will move past them. They are a big reason I include most of my mistakes as well.
It is encouraging to see how others push past failure, but I will also be the first to tell you that it will feel completely different when it happens to you. Honestly, there were several points during the projects when I had to step away for a few days. However, when the second tusk broke, a few days might have turned into a few weeks.
Getting Kicked While You’re Down
After pushing past so much failure with the build and power carving, I was finally in the easy home stretch. All I needed to do was make one last cut and add some finish. I thought I had pushed through all my failures when I looked at my previous cut…and hated how the skull looked. I thought I had completely ruined the skull, and there was no way back.
After collecting myself and deciding there was nothing I could do but continue with the finishing process, I moved on to the fun part: burning it! I planned only to char the eyes, nose, and top crack. Once I had charred those areas, I stepped back and hated how it looked. There was too much contrast between the light wood of the skull and the charred details. I thought I ruined my months of hard work for a second time.
Fortunately, my wife reminded me that charring just some details wasn’t my original plan. Initially, I planned to char the entire skull. Instead, we decided to lightly char the skull to keep the charring in the details. This plan finally worked, and I was thrilled with how it looked!
Pushing Through
It can be challenging to keep pushing through when you think you are failing. However, you’ll never know if all your hard work will become something extraordinary or a learning experience until you finish. With the skull, if I had stopped, I would ALWAYS wonder whether I could have finished it, whether I was on the right track, or whether I’m a complete failure as a power carver. However, I pushed through and kept trying to make the project work. Now, the Mythosaur Skull is one of my favorite projects I’ve ever built! I’m incredibly proud of it and wouldn’t sell it for just about any money.
Now, some might argue that you should know when to call a project done. There will be projects I cannot or should not complete and should stop. However, if you can learn from the project, identify what went wrong, and devise a plan to correct it in the future, the project won’t have been a complete failure. Keep pushing till the project is full, or you have learned enough about what NOT to do, and you’ll be better every time.
