I took a jewelry making class when I worked at an arts & culture center. We mainly worked with metals, which I wasn’t expecting but thoroughly enjoyed.
I found this fox design on the internet and loved it, so I totally stole the idea to make my own. I also made the chain links from metal wire. I really like the look of the chain, but it would come apart a little too easy, so I definitely didn’t master the skill.
Made in 2017.
I wanted to make some Gyotaku fish print, which is a traditional Japanese style of printmaking. My BF caught me some fish to do this project. I had four trout to try it out on. I definitely got better as I went along, so I’m happy I went from smallest to largest fish.
The tricks I learned were to use way less ink than I thought I needed. Blotting with paper towels really helped, too.
Made in 2018.
This was a big project for me. I had dreams for these coasters and spent a lot of time and energy on them.
And it never went anywhere, so now I have a bunch of sets of these coasters under my bed.
I wanted to make a set of coasters that were locally themed, but all unique. The “M” mountain was a watercolor picture, where I had blocked out the M digitally I believe. The Hotel Baxter one was a rubber stamp carved out. I created a background for it, colored it in, and did each letter stamp individually. The T-Rex was another stamp I made, and added a background with digitally created constellations. The topographical map was a bit of a cheat for me – I just found a map of the reservoir and printed out copies. Otherwise I spend a lot of time on each individual design.
I bought bathroom tiles from Home Depot, used Modge Podge to stick the prints to the tile, and then used two part epoxy to cover each tile. The epoxy was time consuming and messy. I had to constantly watch each tile and blow hot air to get the bubbles out so the coasters would be smooth. I then cut four little squares of cork board to hot glue to the bottom so that the coasters would have feet. Finally, I created coaster holders using MDF wood.
I made a little over a dozen sets. I gave two away as gifts, that I kind of regret doing.
I had planned to sell these at a farmer’s market, or some other craft fair, but chickened out. I have poor self esteem and am a terrible salesman. They lived under my bed for a long time.
Years later, a boyfriend convinced me to sell some of the sets. He sold one through Facebook. I also had some sets stored at his house, and his roommate’s untrained dog destroyed a set. After that, it hurt my heart, so back under the bed they went.
I’m still very proud of the craftsmanship I put into them.
Made in 2016-2017.
This was my second year entering the Gingerbread House contest for the downtown Christmas Stroll again. My plan was originally to have a spaceship abducting a cow next to a gingerbread barn, but alas my baking skills were not up to speed. Instead, I crashed a little spaceship next to the barn, and made a bunch of tiny fondant farm animals, and was very happy indeed.
I didn’t win again… Someday I will win the gingerbread house contest!!
Made in 2017.
I wanted a more portable version of an arcade machine. Also, my brother was visiting for the holidays again, so I thought it would be a fun tradition to make another arcade machine with him.
I also love the look and folksy feel of cigar box guitars, so I thought I would combine these ideas into one.
I had a cigar box laying around from old instrument projects – I think my dad had just gotten it from a cigar shop. I also ordered the Raspberry Pi Zero CanaKit, plus an assortment of arcade buttons, a joystick, and motherboard kit from Amazon (whatever was cheapest). I also got a small electronics fun kit for any small parts I may need.
I thought drilling the holes was going to be the easiest part, but projects always prove to be harder than you expect. The holes for the arcade buttons were 1 1/8″ if I remember correctly, so I set of to the store for a forstner bit to drill it. The guy helping me at Ace Hardware talked me into a cheaper spade bit. This ruined my first cigar box – this bit did not work at all with the type of wood and project I was working with, and tore the box up. I had to go back to the store for a forstner bit, quite cranky at having wasted time, money and a cigar box.
Once I got the simple carpentry business of drilling holes done, we hooked up all the buttons, which was easier than it may look in the picture. Everything is labeled to make it easier. The hard part was configuring the Raspberry Pi Zero to run the emulator correctly. Johnny did most of the programming bits with it, because it immediately frustrates me to try.
We got it happily running. You just have to plug it into the TV via a mini HDMI cord, and plug the power cord in, and it will run games straight from the box. I was disappointed at the gaming limitations of the Raspberry Pi Zero (you can only get the earliest systems on it), and how confusing it still is to get games on it. But I do like the idea of portable arcade machines, too, and might explore this avenue more.
Made in 2018.
I wanted to enter the Christmas Stroll’s Gingerbread House making contest. My theme for the house was “bears ransacking a cabin.”
It did not win but it made me very happy.
Made in 2016.
I made a BMO card with one of my favorite quotes from them.
Made in 2014.
This was my Les Paul electric ukulele build.
This project was years in the making. I wanted to make another electric ukulele, this time modeled after a Les Paul guitar. I got blueprints and scaled it down to size, gathered materials, and then moved away to Ireland for a year to get a master’s degree.
So this project naturally went back on the project list/shelf as I did adult things like finish college and get a job.
Eventually I picked it back up though. The body is made out of reclaimed cedar that my dad had picked up in the garbage pile of a cabinet shop.
I absolutely adore how the wood looks joined together. I think it’s so pretty, and immediately knew I couldn’t paint it. The neck is hard-as-rock maple, and rosewood for the fretboard. I didn’t bother adding frets, because that’s a lot of work and I don’t have the proper tools.
I freehanded the head, which I regret doing, because you can tell. I routed out channels/holes for the electric bits, and used Les Paul style electric pickups for it. Next, I added all the bits together and stung it up so it worked.
There was something off about it, so I took it to the luthier that was in the building that I worked in. If I had been more together, I would have definitely used this resource more, but I was still overwhelmed with doing all those adult things, like establishing a career. The luthier helped me see that my action was way too high, and helped me lower the strings.
The ukulele is heavy and unbalanced, and doesn’t sound great, but I think it is so pretty that I’m very happy with this project.
Started in 2014, finished in 2017
I felt like making my own deck of cards. I carved out the number and symbol stamps, as well as a Three Hares design for the back. I cut out all of the cards from card stock, rounding out the corners, and stamped each card.
Definitely not regulation.
Made in 2014.
Made in 2013.
Maker in Montana 