When My Brain Leaks, the Drops Drip Here.

Andrei the CPU Slayer

2013-06-10T09:29:00.002-07:00

A while back I was contacted by one of my repeat gnome customers with a proposal. He manages a troubleshooting team at Facebook headquarters and wanted a small desktop statue to commemorate the achievement of one of his subordinates. It turns out that they were upgrading some aspect of the login system (something that you'd never notice as a user of the site) and kept finding a glitch at odd

The 2013 Bay Area Maker Faire is Over

2013-05-28T12:11:00.001-07:00

The weekend of May 18th ant 19th was the 8th annual Bay Area Maker Faire. Like so many times before, it featured all sorts of people sharing ideas and showing off their art projects, unconventional conveyances, giant robots, and more. There were all manner of oddities and the folks who love them. I put on my usual display (slightly improved since last year) and spent the whole weekend

Making my Warhammer 40,000 Imperial Guardsmen Costumes

2013-05-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

Space Marines are huge. In the game mythology their armor is power assisted, which allows them to move their several tons of mass with all the grace and fluidity of a dancer. While building the Space Marine costumes, I didn't have access to any of the technology of the 41st millennium. As a result, I had to settle for making them not weigh tons. I also had to have people follow them around to

Unseaworthy Vessel of the Week: Winnebago

2013-05-21T18:24:00.004-07:00

The other day I was out of town when someone decided to try and park an RV next to my boat: According to witnesses, the driver was backing down the boat ramp to launch a trailered boat he was towing behind the RV. As the boat floated off the trailer, he put the vehicle in park but didn't set the parking brake because "it tends to stick." I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that would've been the

TEN Days to Maker Faire!

2013-05-08T10:27:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be returning for the third year in a row to the Bay Area Maker Faire on the weekend of May 18th and 19th. If you're anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, or indeed the entire West Coast, you really ought to head over and check it out. The whole thing keeps getting bigger and better. If you've never heard of it, you should check out the website. There will be art, science, and

Rapid Prototyping and the MkIII Ironman Helmet

2013-04-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

A while back I won an Objet30 3D Printer in a contest on instructables.com. This is an amazing machine that turns a digital 3D model into physical object by slicing it into very fine layers, then printing layer after layer of a photosensitive resin on top of one another until it has built the entire thing. I've been watching 3D printing technology develop over the past couple of years, but this

Showing Off for the Bay Area Young Makers

2013-04-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago I was asked to be a featured maker at the April monthly meeting of Young Makers. This is a program that matches young people aged 12-17 with adult mentors who coach and inspire them to become innovators and craft a variety of projects to exhibit at the Bay Area Maker Faire (which is coming up fast). The group meets once a month to discuss their progress and exchange ideas. At

Making the STA-52 Light Assault Rifle From Killzone

2013-04-14T17:48:00.001-07:00

A while back, I got a message from a very talented 3D modeller named Hugh Holder who had made a pretty decent digital model of one of these: This is the STA-52 light assault rifle used by the Light Assault Infantry troops of the Helghan Empire. From one title to the next in the Killzone series there are some minor changes in the design, but nothing significant. With the 3D modelling done,

Need to Stir Up Some Cash

2013-03-29T01:55:00.001-07:00

A little while ago I spilled a glass of wine on m keboard and now I can't tpe that letter that comes between "X" and "Z" anmore. So, after almost five ears of faithful service, it's time to replace the laptop. I've also got to get m dog Bain some significant dental work, some expensive maintenance is coming due on the car, and m annual airfare budget is going to increase dramaticall in the near

Coming Soon: Bayonet Attack Gnome!!

2013-03-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

I've finally got the first batch of these angry little guys out of the mold: As you can see, painting is still in progress: The first few should be ready to deploy in about a week. Then they can harass your other lawn gnomes: They'll be joining the other nine Combat Garden Gnome variants already available in my Etsy shop at http://etsy.com/shop/thorssoli. Thanks for looking. I'm still

RvB Caboose Helmet Casting

2013-03-06T09:44:00.003-08:00

I've written about the building of the prototype helmet for this project here and here. The prototype was a relatively easy build, but the end result was an MDF helmet that was a bit heavy and could potentially be damaged by moisture of any kind including mere humidity. On top of that, I'd made the visor so it was impossible to see through. The solution to all of these problems: make a mold

UFO Sightings in the Workshop

2013-03-03T10:00:00.002-08:00

I've got a few dozen things in the works right now, so I haven't had a lot of time to spend writing about them. Here's just a few of the UnFinished Objects rattling around in the workshop right now... Since I'm on a roll with Warhammer 40,000 stuff, I've decided to make a Voxcaster to go with my Imperial Guard costumes. It's nearing completion: I'm also working on some other small bits and

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Build Part 9: Taking to the Field

2013-02-10T23:12:00.000-08:00

In case you're just now tuning in, here's the other parts of the Space Marine build: Part 1: an Overview Part 2: the Backpack Part 3: the Boots Part 4: the Rubber Bits Part 5: the Helmets Part 6: the Hands Part 7: Badges and Trim Part 8: Guns But the absolute best part about any of these builds is seeing the response they get when they're out in public. Here's a few pictures and videos

Kali Costume Part 4: Wardrobe, Hair, and Make-Up

2013-02-06T11:47:00.000-08:00

This is the fourth and final article describing the various parts of the Kali costume which I built for Hi-Rez Studios to promote their recently released game "SMITE." In case you missed the other parts, you can read them here: Part 1: Chest Part 2: Arms Part 3: Props With those bits out of the way, I'm going to detail the making of the skirt, the armbands, the shoes, and the hairdo, as

Recent UFO Sightings in the Workshop

2013-01-31T10:33:00.000-08:00

I've been busy as hell getting things ready for the upcoming Hobby Expo on February 9th at the Petaluma Community Center. With all of the goings-on, I haven't been writing as much as I'd like, but I still want to share some of what I've been up to. First, I'm almost finished making a handful of STA-52 Light Assault Rifles from the Killzone series. Here's the stack of raw castings: That odd

Touring Rancho Obi-Wan

2013-01-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was invited to join friend Fon Davis of Fonco Creative for a tour of Rancho Obi Wan, Steve Sansweet's museum where he houses the world's largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia. I'll admit that I was initially skeptical about going and looking at a barn full of old Star Wars toys. It turns out I had no idea what I was in for. Steve Sansweet worked as the Director of Content

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Build Part 8: Guns Guns GUNS!!

2013-01-04T03:25:00.003-08:00

It's been a while since I've written about this project. If you're only just joining in and you'd like to see the other parts, here's the rest: Part 1: an Overview Part 2: the Backpack Part 3: the Boots Part 4: the Rubber Bits Part 5: the Helmets Part 6: the Hands Part 7: Badges and Trim The next thing was to make the armament for these massive warrior gods: For details on how they were

Jen in Carbonite

2013-01-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

A while back a friend of mine asked me if I could help him build a replica of Han Solo encased in carbonite to hang on the wall in his basement bar (which he'd themed to look like the throne room of Jabba the Hutt). So while I was sitting in the cafe one morning, poring over photos of the original prop, my friend Jenny wandered in and asked what I was doing. So I told her. "Can you really

Magnetic Poets: a Commissioned Project From Way Back

2012-12-16T14:02:00.001-08:00

Sometime last year I was contacted by a producer for a group called Magnetic Poets. The way he explained it to me, they were building a "transmedia" production, a coordinated release with live concerts, online videos, and impromptu street performances that would involve some pretty impressive logstical and technical choreography. Central to the production were the Magnetic Poets themselves, a

.50cal Machine Gun Gnome

2012-11-30T00:09:00.001-08:00

I've got a batch of these guys in the works right now: It'll still be a while before I post any of them for sale online, but for now I'm hoping to have a handful of them painted up in time for the Bazaar Bizaare this weekend. See details of the event here: http://www.facebook.com/bazaarbizarresf

Kali Costume Part 3: PROPS

2012-11-24T12:01:00.001-08:00

I've already written a couple of articles about building the Kali costume for Hi-Rez Studios multiplayer game SMITE. Part 1: Building the Rack of a Goddess Part 2: It's Hard to Find a Model with Four Arms Since she now has four arms, it's time to give her something to hold onto. In most traditional depictions, Kali is shown carrying a sword or trident, a severed head representing the human

Combat Garden Gnome Minesweeper

2012-11-20T10:47:00.001-08:00

After months of putting it off, I've finally finished the latest addition to the Department of Gnomeland Security, the minesweeper: Armed with nothing more than a metal detector and grim determination, this little combat engineer moves into the minefield ahead of the other troops, often under enemy fire, to ensure the way ahead is safe for his fellow gnomes: Naturally, his occupation causes

Recent UFO Sightings in the Workshop

2012-11-19T00:33:00.001-08:00

Here's the latest collection of UnFinished Objects I've been working on in the shop... First up, I've decided to make myself a replica of the Ironman Mk2 and Mk3 costumes as seen in the first Ironman movie. Most of the work is being done by Lopez the Robot Whittler and Jarvis, my new Objet 30 Pro 3D printer. Here's the right shin and boot parts: While the robots are making my Ironman parts,

Halloween Project 2012: GHOSTBUSTERS!

2012-11-06T10:22:00.004-08:00

If you were out and about in downtown Petaluma for Halloween, there a good chance you stumbled across a handful of Ghostbusters while you were out. Here's a few of them: If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you've seen me mention my friend Matt several times. This particular project has been on his to-do list for quite some time. In fact, this year marked the fifth

Recent UFO Sightings in the Workshop

2012-10-30T02:03:00.002-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything substantial, so here's a quick rundown of UnFinished Objects (UFOs) hanging around in the shop lately... First up, I've cranked out a couple new Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines. One is a Pre-Heresy version of the Dark Angel: That one's pretty, but the better one is Captain Titus from last year's video game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine by THQ: