This Summer, in the Making

Don't miss another blog post: join my mailing list here! 

I know 'Summer' may not start in March, however here in California it always seems to be summer. When I say, "This Summer", what I really mean is "Since I Have Moved to California, Until I Moved Back to Michigan", but that title isn't as snappy. So here we are: this summer, in the making. 

This Summer, in the Making: 2017

The following LONG blog post is sort of a 'clip show' of what I have made during my time in California. I learned a lot of new skills I did not have before, and take them home with me. (3D modeling, 3D printing, painting, weathering, sewing, leather working, Arduino programming, and countless others I will use back home in my shop.)

I know this is a LONG post, but I like to think there is plenty of things that will make you say 'oh wow'. It is quite long and I promise I will never have a post this long again, I was just very excited to share all of the neat things I made with you! Sorry again for the long post, see you at the end IF YOU DARE!

If you ever think to yourself 'huh, that is neat... I want one of those', feel free to contact me at rcook1701@gmail.com. Everything you see here, I can make for you too! My rates are very reasonable and I am more than willing to work with you! 

March

As mentioned before, my first 3D printed piece ever. The Maze from HBO's Westworld. Green PLA. 

My first multi-piece prop I printed and built was Han Solo's DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol from the Star Wars universe. Green PLA, painted and weathered. 

This prop was even shared on Adam Savage's Tested.com's facebook page, which as a Maker, I had a total fanboy moment. 

April

On a beautiful, sunny, Fresno day, Fresno Ideaworks hosted a Mini-Maker Faire. My project was asking people what home meant to them. They would write their answer on a small piece of wood and add it to the tableau, in the shape of California, their 'home'. Also, had an astromech friend stop by, I took countless photos and made some contacts for future projects.  

Ended up with one small hiccup, that I fixed. Figured I could fix the mistake, rather than reprint the print. 

Still to this day, the longest, most anxious print I have ever done: Jyn Erso's A-180 blaster pistol. The 19.25 hour print was the white grip, slide, trigger and guard. The rail on the bottom, and black barrel still needed to be printed. 

Black and white ABS, painted and weathered. 

I am sad to leave it in California. 

Have you ever made something so ugly, its actually beautiful? I did that this spring with this TV stand made out of upcycled chess boards and Venetian blinds. 

May

May turned out to be a slight obsession with NERF weathering. I picked up a few blasters and tried my hand at weathering paint jobs. 

I made contact with a few Live Action Role-Play (LARP) groups here and California and managed to get some of my pieces into their games for play. 

This summer I had the opportunity to make the pilgrimage to Maker Mecca: Bay Area Maker Faire.  

Always a great opportunity when you get to meet some of your influences: Grant Imahara, Adam Savage and Bob Clagett. Again with the Maker fanboy moments! 

At Maker Faire, I signed a waiver as long as my arm, and got a chance to 'play around with' (their words, not mine) blacksmithing, helping to create my very own heavy metal feather. There were a few other odds and ends I got a chance to do at Maker Faire, but this, by far, was the coolest!  

Metal working: a new flight of fancy of mine. 

Just for giggles, I put together my own copy of the book used to activate the Winter Soldier in Captain America: Civil War. Quick, easy, and nerdy. 

Mission Report: December 16th, 1991

June

Just another day at the office. 

Had a chance to work with Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (UROV), and Arduino programming. Still very much a work-in-progress for me, but I have a project, or 3, I want to use these skills for. 

Rules of Acquisition # 47: "Don't trust a man wearing a better suit than your own."

From the Star Trek universe, primarily Deep Space Nine, a set of Gold Pressed Latinum, going left-to-right: 'ingot', 'strip', 'slip.' Black ABS, finished and painted gold.  

This summer I developed a curriculum called 'Space Lab' where students would spend 2 weeks in a mock space station exploring physiology, science, programming, and engineering. The neat thing with having students in a mock space station, is I needed to build one. Built out of 1 1/2 inch PVC, I can set up the station in about 2 hours, and have it ready to work with students. 

Another NERF project I was able to work with was this mod above. 3D printed barrel, plus a weathered paint job makes it look that much better. 

July

One of the most dramatic changes I have ever experienced with a face-lift of a prop were these Starlord Blasters from Rubies. Both of the blasters were right handed (Rubies only makes right handed ones) so I had to modify the grip and add a 3D printed fin. Painted and weathered.  

"They call me... Star Lord." "...Who...?" 

Not exactly screen accurate, however in the style of Starlord's holster rig. I custom printed the triangle pieces and the pieces the blasters snap into. Super strong magnets hold the blasters in, and make for an easy quick draw. Beautiful prop that I made as a commission, that I would like to make a pair for myself.  

Shiny!

I am not exactly sure what came over me one day, truly on a whim, I printed all 12 pieces of this pistol: Jayne's 'Boo' pistol from Firefly. Printed in Pink ABS, painted and weathered. Will be a nice addition to my Jayne Cosplay.

August 

Small details really make a big addition in the Cosplay world. 

Quick and easy commission to add to a friends cosplay: Han Solo's droid caller from his belt. Printed in black ABS, painted with silver. 

I might not enjoy Doctor Who, but I enjoy their props.

Another prop I have talked about before: River Song's Alpha Meson Blaster from Doctor Who. 

Two BIG new skills I have gained this summer is sewing and leather working. Previously, I have talked about my leather working projects, I am looking at touching on some of my sewing very soon.

I had a few lightsaber commissions come across my desk. Luke's from Return of the Jedi above left, and Luminara Unduli from prequel movies and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Left printed in black ABS, right printed in white ABS, finished and painted.   

Used to pinch your nose to equalize pressure.

A pair of Valsalva devices, talked about previously on my blog. Printed with color changing PLA, green to yellow. Dipping my toe in the waters of high altitude pressure suits. 

September 

My first 100% modeled by me print. The Varon-T Disruptor from the Star Trek universe, was talked about here. Printed with black ABS, painted and finished. 

This is a project I am going to do a full blog post on, however here is a little tidbit. This summer, I bought a 1849 Colt Pocket Pistol and wanted to see if I could model it myself, and print it. Keep an eye out for this future post. 

WaffleArmstrong is his gaming tag. 

For my younger brothers 20th birthday I printed him a handle for his Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons. Printed with color changing PLA, green to yellow. 

Talked about in last weeks blog, I finally assembled, painted and finished Shaak Ti's lightsaber hilt from the Star Wars universe. Printed with white ABS, added a 3/4 inch PVC core, painted and finished. 

Just when you think that you are ready to move back to Michigan, packed your workshop up, you get one more quick turn around commission: Count Dooku's lightsaber hilt. This was one of my quickest turn around on a prop with some of the biggest headache: for some reason the spools of filament did not want to cooperate. I had a few snags, so it would not feed and I had a spool run out, which on a 2 hour print, unless you catch it and restart it immediately, will continue to 'finish' going through the motions.

10 hours of failed prints, of the same piece

However, that being said, this ended up being one of the most pretty lightsaber hilts I put together this summer (4 all together), each one looking a little bit better than the one before, just like anything you build multiple times. I even set my alarm for when the print was done, so during the night I would wake up and put a new print on, or adjust my print. 

Printed in white, pink and black ABS, finished and painted, I completed this final commission in 26 hours from 'hey, I want this thing' to 'hey, this thing looks amazing!' The 'down' time of the printer was zero, because of the printing of the pieces and fixing the mistake pieces as well. 

The final thing I made this summer was a way for me to get my things home, the frame on this trailer. Another something that is so ugly it is beautiful. By the time this blog post hits the web, I will already be on the road back to Michigan! 

This summer has been amazing! I have meet some of the most amazing people who have helped show me that I can make things, not just for myself, but I can share them with the world as well as teach the world these skills too. I have gained countless new skills, and am excited to take all of them back to my shop in Michigan. My shop 'closed' right now, before I left I pushed all of the benches against the wall and piled storage on top. In the coming weeks, I will share the journey together of digging it out and getting it set back up, as well as building out an 'office' space as well. 

If you stuck with me this far I greatly encourage you to sign up to join my mailing list! This will ensure that you get a reminder each week when I make a post to this blog with exciting new content and showing another piece of the journey we call making. 

Until next week, Ill keep making... Well this week driving, 2400 miles give or take. Thanks for checking in.