Year: 2020

Attic Storage

We've been needing some additional storage in our attic makerspace for a while now - materials and tools have been building up on the benchtops without a proper home. So I built this quick-and-dirty storage unit out of scraps to give everything somewhere to live. It's sized to fit right under one of the workbenches that is almost never used, so it shouldn't interfere with anyone's legs.


Linocut Block Prints

I remember trying a little linocut block printing in high school, and have always thought I might try it again someday. So I've been messing around with it lately, and have made three so far. My favorite so far is the round one - it's a scene from the Avatar: The Last Airbender show, and is Zuko during the last Agni Kai with Azula. Will definitely be trying more of these. I need to get some 'real' paper for this, though - I've been using generic "mixed media' paper from Walmart, but I think it's time to try some 'official' block printing rice paper.



Glavenus Sculpture

I've been trying to think of things to sculpt from clay, and got the idea of making a series of mounted monster heads, from the Monster Hunter series. This one is Glavenus. It went pretty well - the sculpting went better than the painting, but it all went well enough that I think I'm going to try another one.


Plant Stand

We've needed a big plant for our main living room window for a while - all of my seedlings were on the window sill originally, but they were all getting ready to be repotted into bigger pots, and were no longer going to fit on the windowsill. So I built this big plant stand out of cherry. This makes much better use of the sunlight, and the plants are loving it.


Lord’s Hill

For Carter's birthday I took her up to the mountains for a day trip. While we were up there we decided to go hunting for some mineral samples for the curio cabinet I had recently finished. The spot we headed to is called Lord's Hill, and is the site of an old open-pit mine. But if you hike a bit past the mine you can find a nice outlook. It was a pretty foggy day, but the view was still pretty cool.


Curio Cabinet

During the summer Carter and I started thinking we needed somewhere to store and display all of the 'science-y` type stuff we've collected - bones, minerals, shells, fossils, etc. So I built this little curio cabinet for our makerspace in the attic. It's build from cherry and has glass shelves and lighting. We're really happy with it, and we've still got lots of empty space - so we've got plenty of room to grow our collection.


Carter’s Pens

A few weeks ago I taught Carter how to turn pens on the lathe - since them she's been loving it, and producing new pens like crazy! Here's a sampling of what's made so far - there are a few that Lori has taken to work, but this is the majority of them. She's got a several more blanks queued up to turn in the near future. I might have to teach her how to make bud vases or something too.



Rocking Chair

My sister is pregnant, and asked me to make her a rocking chair before the baby comes. I was onboard and ready to start last February, but then the pandemic hit and I couldn't get any lumber. I hemmed and hawed hoping things would return to normal quickly, and then eventually broke down and bought some lumber online. I got a much later start than I wanted, but still managed to finish it before the baby was born - delivered the chair yesterday, and her due date is next weekend! Definitely cutting it close! I made an identical one for us at the same time, as we've always wanted a nice rocking chair for the living room. The chair is made of cherry, and I made the cushion myself as well.




Bigger Planters

We've been trying to start a bunch of plants from seed indoors - mostly fruit trees. So far we've planted lemons, clementines, mango, and avocado. Once the seedlings start to grow I'm going to need to move them out of the tiny pots they're in right now into something larger. So I've started on throwing a bunch of bigger planters to be ready. Here they are drying after being thrown - so they still need to be trimmed, bisqued, and glazed. I'll try to post new pics once the glaze is on there.

Arduino Metronome

I've got the idea to make an Arduino-based metronome while I was between other projects. It's got a Neopixel ring for flashing the beat (plus a piezo buzzer) and displaying the current BPM, plus a pair of buttons for increasing/decreasing the rate. So, pretty simple - but kind of cool. I still need to figure out an enclosure for it - I'll post another pic once it's done.