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Adam Savage’s Tested

There's Nothing PER SE Wrong About an Ambitious Project BUT ...

2 min read2 May 2026

TL;DR

Adam Savage answers viewer questions about starting ambitious DIY projects — decoupage furniture and a concrete Doctor Who weeping angel statue — and delivers practical advice about practicing on cheap materials before committing to a final piece. He also shares a formative early career story about giving talks at ILM that hinted at his future as a maker-communicator.

Key points

Ambitious first projects are not inherently wrong, but not knowing they are ambitious can derail you when the time investment hits unexpectedly

For decoupage, practice first on cheap objects like 2-liter soda bottles or papier-mache forms before touching furniture you care about — compound curves are non-trivial

Experiment with different comic source materials (real vintage newspapers, reprints, Sears catalogs) before committing to your final aesthetic on a piece you care about

For a concrete life-sized weeping angel statue, watch YouTube videos of similar builds first and research construction methods like 3D-printed negative molds before starting

Adam Savage traces his public communication career to a talk he gave in Breenidge for ILM around 2000, where an audience of 400 people audibly gasped at a revealed visual effect — a defining moment

Actionable insights

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Before starting a project on an object you care about, decouple skill practice from the final piece — use cheap throwaway objects to learn the physical technique first

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Source material experimentation is its own separate practice: try multiple comic/paper types on test surfaces to discover your ideal color and texture combination before committing

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For concrete work at large scale, research internal engineering requirements early — a life-sized statue requires structural support planning, not just surface casting knowledge

Notable quotes

“There is something I notice when people are interested in tackling a new task and they come to me and ask me is this a reasonable project to start with and it is very frequent that the project the person wants to start with is I can see hugely ambitious.”

“The most important thing is that when you are turning out an object that you care about, when it is time to like, okay, now I know enough of this and I know enough of that. Now I want to execute on this thing.”

“I kind of like the advice I want to give you is advice that will bring you to your own point of view.”

Worth watching?

⏭️

Worth watching the full video?

Skip the video — all the practical advice and the career anecdote are fully captured here, and the runtime adds little beyond Adam's conversational tone.

Topics

Personal Development Technology

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