MSRaynsford

I was contacted to make some stencils for fabric painting, much the same as this super massive stencil. These are just A4 sized test pieces with an intricate triweave pattern and a diamond pattern. I believe they may be destined for a Batwoman cosplay.

Another build for 'From Shadows', this time they wanted a device that could be used to track down other devices scattered around the field. I came up with a solution that used the ESP8266 to create a wifi network (nodes not shown) and these gadgets that scanned for wifi networks and reported the RSSI. The closer you are the stronger the signal strength and you know you're heading in the right direction.
The gadgets were supposed to have a modern mystical feel so I made them from fluorescent perspex, the sheet was sprayed with black and the details cut through. The whole front panel was lit from behind with UV led's so the glow only shone through the cuts. I also felt it would be good if the gadgets had to be held in both hands, under the thumb prints are two tactile switches which need to be firmly pressed to keep the device on. I think this might have caused a bit of thumb ache from the players while they were initially looking for the nodes, it certainly made taking…

I delved into the realms of a Cyberpunk LRP system this weekend just gone. It was good fun and there was lots of opportunity to make techy objects for the game. This game featured airsoft weaponry so strength is another issue to consider The first item is a shield unit, energy shields take an hour to recharge once they've served their purpose. This unit times the hour for you, leaving one less thing to remember while you're running around doing everything else.
The unit is made from a mixture of acrylic and wood, the whole thing has been vacuum formed with a sheet of HIPS plastic to make it waterproof and robust to being shot. A large clip on the reverse makes it easy to attach to other pieces of kit (quite a lot of people wore military gear with lots of webbing/straps). The lower silver panel is actually a push button, it was intended to require a firm squeeze to operate to prevent it from being triggered accidentally. 

A rotating ring of blue LED's shows that the shield…

I took these strandbeest kits to EMF camp, I blogged about them coming soon and I've been selling them at craft fairs and on my webstore. I just realised that I've never explicitly stated that they're available now. Get there while there is lots of time for Christmas, rather than two weeks before and we're all left hoping the postal service does it's job.
The kit features the ESP8266 micro controller so it's a great little project for learning about those. The device starts it's own wifi network and then serves up a webpage to your browser which you can use to steer the walker around. It's open source software so you can modify it as you require, but the Wemos D1 is supplied, tested and programmed, so even if you don't know anything about software you can make it work.
If you've already got a plastic kit then you can purchase the electronics on their own as an upgrade.

I've been doing a few craft fairs recently and wanted something a little bit more 'gifty'. These 'shut the box' games have turned out really well and have been a surprise hit with kids too. The concept of rolling a number on the dice and then flipping down a number of tabs equal to that total is very similar to the 'number bonds' they are being taught at school (7=1+6 or 2+5 or 7+0). The tabs have little pins that sit into the vertical bars and the lid works the same way with the walls of the box. They're up in my etsy store now. 

I found some images of some very overdue projects, these projects came in while I was in the middle of my kickstarter fulfilment and absolutely sucked up every last moment of my time. I even ended up taking a pile of parts on holiday with me just to get them completed in time, definitely a mistake I won't be repeating. It's a collection of 20 owl heads, and 55 remote control cars, 200 hours of work with a 4 week deadline, with one week on holiday and kids home for the holidays. :(

I had a local craft fair this weekend, I wanted to add a few extra/new items to my range so that my stall would be very different from last time. I've seen lots of variations on this wine box so I thought I would make my own version. The living hinges at the top allow the sides to be pulled close and the lid closed, it also a great place to put a handle. The fretwork patterns down the sides make them unique to me as well as the custom labels attached to the side. (svg here)

I didn't sell very many and I'm not sure any were going to be used as wine bottle boxes, one lady wanted to put plants in it and another was going to put fairy lights in hers. Neither wanted the the custom labels so I'm pleased they were only held on with blue tak. It's definitely given me food for thought with the next craft faire looming.