Making Dragons

This is Alex Van Valkenberg filling in today. Fourteen years ago my mom wrote a post here, about the lego dragon I built, which I recenlty uncovered while doing some spring cleaning. The creature is in a sorry state, having survived several moves, and storage for over a decade, then months of indecision about whether to rebuild her, take her apart, or just keep thinking about it as other projects and demands took precedent. In the end I opted for a mix of the three, and started to rebuild her from the ground up.

I was inspired by the work on Jason Allemon of JK Brickworks, among others, to make the new dragon smaller, and more elegant in design. I wanted something that could be displayed on a shelf or desk without walking off the edge, or taking up the while space. To make the new design move, while keeping it smaller and more fluid, I built the majority of the moving components into a large base. The base has a drive-shaft not unlike that of the original, but with a more complex system of levers and cams that move the model above in a more life-like manner.

By having all of the bulkier mechanisms below, the model above can place more emphasis on form. The smaller design also makes her easier to display, and wont take up all the red pieces in my collection.

BOoM Make: Past - Present - Future

"The Steampunk movement as a natural human defense mechanism against Future Shock...

Two events got me thinking about this: yesterday's release of the documentary "Vintage Tomorrows", about the Steampunk movement (a favorite of our family), and the recent death of the futurist Alvin Toffler.

Toffler defined future shock as the perception of "too much change in too short a period of time". The magnitude of the velocity of change can be reduced by increasing the period of time in the denominator ("delta t"). Steampunk effectively does this by reimagining the timeline of the vast technological changes of last several decades: if our current technology was mostly in place during the Victorian era, it suggests that development of that technology is taking place over a much longer period of time. This increased "delta t" results in a reduced velocity of change which, in turn, results in a lessening of "future shock".

Steampunks embrace technological change -- celebrate it, in fact -- but lessen its damaging effects by pretending the changes have occurred over a much longer period of time (at least relative to other cultural changes).

It will be interesting to see if Vintage Tomorrows touches on this idea."

~Geoff V2

CNC Router Sign Making

Frankenrouter is a success, thanks to Geoff and William. We have all been eagerly awaiting this day, and the prospect of all that can be done with a personally designed, manufactured, constructed and programmed CNC router, and now you too can see Frank N. Router at work. William made the 3D model using 3ds Max, Mudbox, and Meshmixer, all Autodesk software. Once the digital 3-d image was fine tuned, Geoff and William used MasterCam to generate G Code for the router... but, maybe you would just like to see the movie!

Besides designing the sign, and getting all the details figured out in the software, William painted the finished carving. The details, the shading... it looks fantastic. And finally, he put this video together. I am marveling at all of this, and he's already working on his next project(s).

Make A CNC Router and Make It Big

Fridays at Chickenblog are usually about a Moment during the week, a special moment. Today, it's about the moment Frankenrouter came to life, a moment we've anticipated for quite some time. Frankenrouter is the very large CNC router that Geoff imagined, designed, and built from the concrete and up. For a couple of years, between many other duties and obligations, Geoff's taken time to tinker, experiment, research, cut, weld, wire, rummage, salvage, and create. He's had long breaks, time away for work, and other projects. Geoff's been challenged and stumped, taken some do-overs, and endured some long days. William has been a frequent assistant and supporter, and we've all been waiting to see, and hear, Frankenrouter come to life...

One more part is on order, and may take a month to arrive... a spindle. With it, and router bits, the three axis router will be carving cool things, making what we can design and envision in wood and foam, aluminum, too. In the meantime, Geoff and William made an ingenious little pvc tool to hold a sharpie, so we could give Frankenrouter his first assignment: Draw something pretty, Frank!






Video, right?

I know. I'll get on it.

Still Making

Things may be quiet on the blog, but believe me, we are still making! Here are some glimpses of projects we have been immersed in. Alex and William are leading the creative tide, but everyone gets swept up in the current of activity!

William's blade and the start of the first hand guard, which partially failed, and he had to start over with a new approach.

Apoxie Sculpt flintlock hammer, ready to be drilled and sanded into shape.

Rough cut of flintlock pistol. African mahogany.

Measuring the fitting of the trigger guard.

Trigger mold... "the finished master for the trigger guard."

The chopsticks are called sprues.

The rebuilt sword guard, glued back together, this time with biscuits.

Max and Mister Foo, checking out the anvil.

With an anvil, the children are another step closer to completing their forge!


Trying the hammer.

Measuring seams on the britches.

Details on the sword Alex made. Ask him about aluminum backed plumbing tape! Stuff is amazing!

How many hits to turn steel plates into a helmet?

Helmet panels.


A lot going on. As usual. {By the way, this is our "dining" table.}

William designs things on the computer, then takes his patterns to either wood, fabric, or metal. In this case wood... shaped, and sanded, then painted to look like metal.

He made flaps and I sewed them to the thrift shop loafers, and with the buckle he has a whole new look!

William continues to work on the sword.

Steel blade and the wooden guard {hilt?} that he began in the first image.

Viking Festival time! Gauntlet time!

I added a pouch, and Maria and I added the pocketful of posies. Alex is a Viking with a cell phone, and wallet.

The medallion is Appoxy Sculpted, the armor is home-hammered!

Alex and Sarah bear their shields.

Okay, that's all, for now.

Make a Choice

Kellie and Michal, Natalie, Maria, Eli, Geoff, Bambi and Alex, James, William, Suki, Isaac, Max, Cameron, and Grant

We're back!

Not really.

Emotionally, spiritually, we are still at Maker Faire, the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth.

This is our third visit to the Faire, and I don't mind saying, it just keeps getting better! We've got new friends coming, and we presented as Love & Rockets, our awesome Make Club. Maria, Eli, and Alex made great demonstrations, and everyone helped bring it all together... lovely teamwork. The only problem is deciding what to share, in what order... actually, I know I will share it all, so brace yourselves for the impending epic display of mind blowing Maker prodigiousness.

As for the question of what order to post the many topics of epic, mind blowing Maker prodigiousness... well, I am hoping you will help me in this decision. So, allow me to share some initial peeks and hints of the wondrousness of our journey in Maker Joy, and by a show of hands the first post about Maker Faire will be decided by the readers, You! Remember: vote early, vote often. And here are your choices:

Option 1: Conventional.

We can begin at the beginning. I'll try not to get too philosophical. Who can say when things really begin? But, yeah. At some point we got on the road and started driving north, and we call that "the beginning." A lot of prep went into pulling this off, and it wasn't exactly easy reaching the point where I felt "ready," but eventually we packed children, tools, and hopes, and left for Maker Faire!

Option 2: En Route.

What makes a girl leap for joy? What can you build with found treasures on your way to Maker Faire? What is kinetic art? We didn't wait to arrive at Maker Faire, to begin our Maker fun.

Option 3: Why is this, S.T.E.A.M. inspired, young man so happy?

(Yes, "S.T.E.A.M.," not S.T.E.M.) Who did William see, and hear, speak, live!! at Maker Faire? It's no Myth, the man is super charged for Maker Faire and all who make, just like we are!

Option 4: All the Young Makers.

Sure, there are pros at Maker Faire, big names, and big companies, but we love the Young Makers! We love sixth grader Silvia Kacic and her Fairy Wall House. We love eight year old Alex Yu, and his chess piece, the KightQueen. We love Love & Rockets entrant #7982! The future is now, and these Young Makers are going full S.T.E.A.M.M. ahead. Let's give them the tools they need to show us what they can Make!

Option 5: Think, Make, Tinker.

It's our friend, Gever Tulley from the extraordinary school, BrightWorks! For us, it all began with Five Dangerous Things. He's an inspiration.

Option 6: Max and Skallops.

You're curious. You're looking at Max, appreciating his creation, and his broad, bright smile, and you're wondering: What are Skallops?! Skallops are just one more totally cool, fun, innovative, and inspiring Make experience that we could not stay away from! Vote today. And stay tuned for an awesome Chickenbloggiversary Skallop giveaway. (The crowd goes wild!)
Option 7: Roominate.

This one is about girls and science, technology, engineering, art, and math. There it is again: S.T.E.A.M.M.! So what have the women of Roominate come up with, to inspire girls to pursue education and careers in engineering? Let's see if we can Kickstart their plans!
Option 8: Neverending Maker Magic.

Vote for the random, the unique, the wild and wonderful neverending magic of Maker Faire, and I will post just a glimpse of the fantasies come true that ride, glide, slide, and guide their way throughout the Faire.

Okay. Vote! I gotta go clean out the RV now. Wha-whaa. I'll just console myself by pretending that it's really just fun preparation for next year's Maker Faire.