Normally, major mistakes are rare, so many times they don't get documented becuase they get overlooked in the rush to get things done. But this time there were so many problems one-after-another, it seemd a good idea to make an article about it. But also, this is the overall philosophy I've choosen for my studio; I am a firm believer in several things that others might not agree with.
Information should be shared, not hoarded and kept secret. Processes generally advance and improve much slower if they are kept secret; the power of the masses to consider and inovate new ideas is almost endless. Some may say, "Why would someone pay you to do this if you show them how to do it themselves?" and there's a grain of truth in that. But, knowing how to do something, and actually having the skills, time, and willingness, to do something are very different things, so I'm not too worried about sabotaging myself.
I try to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. While successes are great, and it's very helpful to see how to do things correctly, many times the best lessons are taught through mistakes. Not only does this show what pitfalls to avoid, but it gives people a true sense of just what it takes to do the things I do. Sometimes, if you don't have a deeper understanding of everything involved (good and bad) a process might seem almost effortless. Realistic expectations are good things.
As for miss-casts, I keep the 'almost good enough' casts for personal use, and the completely worthless ones are tossed in the trash. The rest get placed in a reject bin for later consideration. Most are too flawed to invest a lot of time trying to make them usable for their intended purpose, (better to just cast a new one, really) but they might have areas with details that can be cut free, cleaned up, and used in some other way. My current plan is to use these parts to help build shrines and intallations devoted to Chaos. I might also be building some larger scratch-build projects that these parts can be incorperated into.
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