Category: Other Projects

I recently tried using the lasercutter to cut some drawer inserts for the toolbox I build to go under my workbench. These help keep everything organized and easy to find, and they were pretty fun to do. Basically I just took a photo of the drawer with everything laid out where I wanted it, then traced around the tools in a drawing program to get the cutouts.

I've started playing around with some stained glass, and here are my first two 'practice' projects before I tackle something bigger and more complicated. So far it's been really fun to do! I've got the pieces for the next project rough cut, but they still need grinding to final shape before I can start assembling them. Maybe I'll get a chance to work on that over the holiday break coming up.

Here's an updated photo of the avocado tree I planted from a pit about two years ago now. It's probably almost 4 feet tall at this point, and is no longer just a single stem with leaves - it's finally starting to branch out like a tree.

Last fall I saved the pits from some peaches and plums to see if I could get them to grow. For those fruits you have to 'stratify' the seeds in the refrigerator for several months in order to get the seeds to sprout. I just checked on them a week or so ago, and low and behold they were sprouting! I've since moved them to the windowsill and they are 3-4 inches tall already. Once they get big enough I'm hoping to harden them off and plant them outside.

I read an article online about how to grow cool crystals at home using fertilizer, and Carter and I thought we'd give it a try. Our first attempt failed, but did something really interesting. The article mentioned this might happen if the water was allowed to evaporate too quickly. It grew this amazing structure that looks almost like white broccoli.

Made this for Carter for Christmas on the laser cutter. Each panel is one of the elemental symbols from Avatar, and there is a remote-controlled LED puck inside of it.

Our science collection cabinet was getting a bit crowded and unorganized, so I came up with some display stands that I could cut with the laser. I even incorporated labels onto some of them, which makes it a lot nicer (when you know what you are looking at). I probably could still use to make some item-specific one-off stands, for some of the bigger items. But for now it looks much better.

This one is sort of an inside joke at work. At one point someone made a joke about putting it on a t-shirt, and I threatened to do it for real. Then suddenly I've been stuck working from home for months and decided, "why the hell not?", and actual made some real shirts. Once it's safe to go back into the office I plan to hand them out to everybody in the know.

Carter and I try new root beers every chance we get - especially on our road trips, when we might get a chance to try one from a local small 'brewery'. We've been saving the bottlecaps every time we try a new one (and the bottlecap isn't blank), and have just been storing them in a jar. I finally got around to building a display board for all of them. I made sure to build it oversized, so it has room for our collection to continue to grow.