Wand
Sunday, 01 May 2011
My wife has been reading the Harry Potter books to our kids. So, naturally, my son wanted the $30 crappy plastic officially licensed wand when he saw it in the book store.
Rather than buy it, I made him one from a stick that he picked out in the yard:
The 9V is a bit bulky but I think we’ll be able to fashion a housing that isn’t too obtrusive.
Rather than buy it, I made him one from a stick that he picked out in the yard:
Construction
I dremeled a channel to run the wires from an LED at its tip to a switch and power at the base. Initially I used a 3V coin cell because it was light and not bulky. Then I remembered I had a pager motor lying around, so I added that into the mix at my son’s request. Unfortunately the coin cell wasn’t able to drive the LED and the pager motor so I switched to a 9V battery instead. (Also, I couldn’t find the coin cell holders that I know are around here somewhere…)The 9V is a bit bulky but I think we’ll be able to fashion a housing that isn’t too obtrusive.
Books
Thursday, 03 March 2011
I couple of friends asked me on twitter what iOS development books I’d recommend, based on my experience building Notesy.
I grabbed a shot of the books I still had in my bedside table and sent them along with a few comments. But digging them out made me realize just how many technical books I’d managed to cram into that little Ikea cuboid.
Here’s them all hanging out on our bed:
— and that’s not counting the multiple years’ of Wood magazine I also have in there. I think it’s safe to say I’m a geek.
I grabbed a shot of the books I still had in my bedside table and sent them along with a few comments. But digging them out made me realize just how many technical books I’d managed to cram into that little Ikea cuboid.
Here’s them all hanging out on our bed:
— and that’s not counting the multiple years’ of Wood magazine I also have in there. I think it’s safe to say I’m a geek.
Pittsburgh Glass Center ||
Sunday, 30 January 2011
After enjoying ourselves at the Christmas-themed “Make It Now” event at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, we knew we had to go back. They put on another event for Martin Luther King day, and this time Carter and Mary came too. All three of them made fused glass tiles:
That’s Cameron’s tree on the left, Mary’s design in the center and Carter’s kitty-cat on the right. Mary preferred hers prior to it fusing, as she’d used a lot of zig-zag pieces of glass. I think my favourite is Carter’s cat.
That’s Cameron’s tree on the left, Mary’s design in the center and Carter’s kitty-cat on the right. Mary preferred hers prior to it fusing, as she’d used a lot of zig-zag pieces of glass. I think my favourite is Carter’s cat.
Pittsburgh Glass Center
Friday, 10 December 2010
After hearing from friends who’d been in a class at the Pittsburgh Glass Center I’d been looking forward to making it down there myself. I wanted to take Cameron, but from their site it looked like she wouldn’t be old enough to attend most of the classes. Luckily they do “Make It Now” quick classes with holiday themes, and those don’t have an age restriction. I signed us up for the blown glass ornament class as soon as I could and started counting down the days until we went.
It being such a quick, busy, and kid-friendly, class we didn’t get to be too close to the furnaces or the hot glass, but we did get to pick out our colours and do the blowing. I chose green and yellow, and Cameron chose red and blue. Our teacher did all the hard work but it was still a lot of fun. We’ll be going back for sure.
On the way out we spotted signs for a “fused glass” glass that was also open for kids. This is where you take a glass tile and arrange various pieces of glass mosaic fashion on it, with a dab of glue to hold it in place. They then heat the tiles in the kiln to fuse the glass together. Cameron chose to do a square snowman and it came out perfect!
It being such a quick, busy, and kid-friendly, class we didn’t get to be too close to the furnaces or the hot glass, but we did get to pick out our colours and do the blowing. I chose green and yellow, and Cameron chose red and blue. Our teacher did all the hard work but it was still a lot of fun. We’ll be going back for sure.
On the way out we spotted signs for a “fused glass” glass that was also open for kids. This is where you take a glass tile and arrange various pieces of glass mosaic fashion on it, with a dab of glue to hold it in place. They then heat the tiles in the kiln to fuse the glass together. Cameron chose to do a square snowman and it came out perfect!
Carter soldering too!
Sunday, 07 November 2010
After Cameron trying out soldering at Maker Faire in September, Carter decided he’d like to give it a go too. Cameron was also keen to make another kit, so I picked up he ClockIt for her and the Lectro Candle Kit for him.
Both of them soldered really well — at least as good as me (not that that would be hard) — and both their kits worked first time. I was particularly impressed with Carter while he soldered the ATtiny95 onto the board: he seemed to know when to clean the tip, when to apply a little dab of extra solder and so on, all without me needing to provide much in the way of guidance.
Both of them soldered really well — at least as good as me (not that that would be hard) — and both their kits worked first time. I was particularly impressed with Carter while he soldered the ATtiny95 onto the board: he seemed to know when to clean the tip, when to apply a little dab of extra solder and so on, all without me needing to provide much in the way of guidance.