Dallas Makerspace Show and Tell - March 2017

I made this while I was hanging out at dms this week. It’s a leaf-cut amethyst CZ, along with some freshwater pearls and Austrian crystal. The gold color is for a birthstone, but I think it looks striking with the deep purple of the focal stone. I shaped the frame around the setting to complement the shape of the focal stone and its orientation. The metal is 14k-gf.

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My (grand)nephews, ages 1 and 2, will be the lucky recipients of a fabric/soft book I have been making for the past several months. I got a lot of ideas online, especially Pinterest, and then modified and built on those. The “book” has 15 pages of fun learning activities, and a “tote bag”. It is bound with rings so the pages can be separated between the two boys, or divided up for more age-appropriate groupings.

Some of the pages are simple while others are gloriously complex. The textures page has a piece of “reversible” sequins - one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen and it just begs to be touched - thanks to @Kriskat30 . In addition to the obvious sewing and quilting, this involved a lot of laser cutting, applique’, and embroidery programming/ stitching. The laser makes applique’ a lot easier, especially with synthetic fabrics. I mean, check out the fingers and toes of the frog on the tote bag. I could not have done that by hand.

And lest anyone ask, these are RLS (real-life scale) - about 9" x 8". No miniatures of these are even remotely contemplated!




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Again. Everything everything everything you do is amazing.

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Printed these little raven skulls and then attached jump rings to them to make a keychain. I think I need to learn how to do jump ring soldering too to feel secure in the joints that I’ve made though. If anyone wants one (even of a different skull), let me know (PM or reply).

-the purring dork

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Wow. What lucky Grand nephews you have. These will be treasures that they can hand down to their children.
You are simply inspirational to us all. Thank you for sharing these with us.

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Dog skull would be neat.

Although I haven’t done a keychain one, I have done a life-size wolf skull in the past (full screen for details).

    

    

-the purring dork

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Looks pretty cool. At one point in time I looked to see if there were any animal parts on thingiverse and they were all kinda crap. That one is well done though. Did you scan a real skull or model it?

Here is my project that I made yesterday on the plasma cam and tig welder to raise the skull up about an inch from the flag.

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Nice job using the tools at DMS to make something very cool. Gonna hang it on a flagpole or wall?

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Thanks this will be a wall hanger for my office.

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The wolf skull that I printed is from 3DKitbash and the wolf skull is one of their free models on Thingiverse ( http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:768695 ). Really easy to print and no support required and it uses printed pins to lock the pieces together (although I usually add super glue too). Most of their models are really high quality although some of their skulls are designed with plaques in mind (flat back).

I have done additional work with modeling/cleaning up CT scan data of a skull but it takes forever to deal with support if you’re not careful.

-the purring dork

I laser-cut some templates for a couple of leather projects:


And made a couple of corner-radius templates (2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5 and 5.5mm corners) in the same fashion:

And made a wallet using one of the templates:


(3/4 oz veg tan Tandy cowhide, Angelus Army Tan, 4mm stitch spacing, 0.6mm Havana Cigar Ritza tiger thread)

Templates have been donated with CA blessing, I’ll be writing a post in the Leather category with more info and links to build-along projects.

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Oooh. Pretty! I’m wimpy about stitching because of my hand strength, but these are very tempting. I’ve wanted a passport cover for years.

What a generous thing for you to do.

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Thanks! When I look at it all I see is an uneven dye job and the places where my stitching went wonky. :smiley:

And the templates were made from a piece of scrap acrylic I had at home that was destined for the trash - win-win!

We need to start a club where we have contests about how hard we can be on our own work. :slight_smile:

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I made a decorative pillow from a handwoven and embroidered shawl I brought back from Guatemala. Pleased with the way it turned out. Discovered that pillow inserts from Crate and Barrel are extremely well priced for the quality. This one is a combination of down and fiber. I chose it so that the fabric, which has a relatively open weave, would have better support.

The pillow has a zipper in the bottom so that I can change it up or have it cleaned.

One of a kind decorative accessory for $25. $15 for the insert, $5 for the shawl (I know, Guatemala is a long story. That was the asking price, which I paid.) and $3 for a zipper. Will pop $2 in the CA coffers for thread.

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Hey, nice job and great idea. I have a similar shawl I brought back from Guatemala also. It has been sitting in my craft room awaiting useful re-purposing.

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I forged an herb chopper from a used farrier’s rasp during Open Forge last Sunday.

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Is this kept at your Colorado place for chopping “Colorado Herbs” ? :smiling_imp:

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