Small Light-Up Stand
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    In Electronics
    Posted

    Small Light-Up Stand

    I was thinking about ways to get a little bit of extra light to the bottoms of some small objects I have been photographing recently (particularly dice), and to get light passing through translucent objects in a way that would highlight them. I envisioned something that used a piece of clear acrylic to transmit the light to the subject while not having an opaque base in the way.

    This prototype is the result. The base is several layers of laser-cut walnut, glued together and finished. There is a cavity for the light and a lip that supports a piece of diffuser material and a 1-inch acrylic cube.

    The electronics are pretty hacky. I recently designed some 3D-printed lights that hold LIR1254 rechargeable cells, a Chibitronics Circuit Sticker, and a tiny surface-mount switch for use in making rechargeable versions of my paper icosahedra. This is a variant of those with three Circuit Stickers (for more light) and the switch mounted upside down  (for access through a cut-out in the base). This could be done more elegantly with a custom circuit board, but this seemed good for a prototype.

    Since I have only made opaque Jesmonite dice to date, I used some resin dice sent to me by friends to try it with translucent objects. The darker purple one is from Rosey Cricket, and the lighter one is from Silverleaf Dice. If you like dice, you should go check out all the wonderful pieces they make.

    A one-inch clear acrylic cube sits in a small square layered walnut stand, which lights the cube and the 42 millimeter 20-sided die sitting on top of it from below. The die is a swirl of two shades of blue with metallic copper numbers. Shown against a defocused background of handmade paper with fiber inclusions. Side view.
    Small Light-Up Stand
    A one-inch clear acrylic cube sits in a small square layered walnut stand, which lights the cube and the 42 millimeter 20-sided die sitting on top of it from below. The die is a swirl of two shades of blue with metallic copper numbers. Shown against a defocused background of handmade paper with fiber inclusions. Three-quarter top-down view.
    Small Light-Up Stand
    Side view of a one-inch clear acrylic cube sitting in a small square layered walnut stand. The stand lights the cube from below. There is a bottle cap with a Celtic spiral design engraved on it leaning against the stand to show scale. Shown against a de-focused background of handmade paper with fiber inclusions.
    Small Light-Up Stand with bottle cap for scale
    Three-quarter top-down view of a one-inch clear acrylic cube sitting in a small square layered walnut stand. The stand lights the cube from below, but the light is off in this image. Shown against a background of handmade paper with fiber inclusions.
    Small Light-Up Stand (off, top view)
    Small light-up stand with a standard 22mm 20-sided resin die in shades of deep purple with gold flakes and numbers.
    Small Light Up Stand with a D20 made by Rosey Cricket
    Small light-up stand with a standard 22mm 20-sided resin die in shades of purple with gold numbers.
    Small Light Up Stand with a D20 made by Silverleaf Dice
    Top-down view of the base of the small light-up stand with the acrylic cube and diffuser removed to show the electronics: three Chibitronics Circuit Stickers arranged in a trefoil and wired together.
    Small Light-Up Stand Electronics
    Bottom view of the small light-up stand. A small square of very thin plywood fills the opening, and has a cut-out to allow access to the tiny on/off switch.
    Small Light-Up Stand Bottom
    Electronics removed from the base of the small light-up stand showing three Chibitronics Circuit Stickers wired to a small rechargeable coin cell, stuck to the bottom panel with putty.
    Small Light-Up Stand Electronics
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    Wood Inlay Floppy Disk Tack Pin
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    In Other Projects
    Posted

    Wood Inlay Floppy Disk Tack Pin

    A small (24mm/1in square) pin that looks like a 3.5” floppy disk made from inlaid pieces of walnut and oak, sitting on a plain blue floppy disk.

    I made these little wood inlay save icon pins as gifts for April birthdays.

    I traced a photo of a 3.5″ floppy disk in Inkscape, scaled it to 1″ (~24mm) square, then separated the pieces and kerf corrected them. I laser cut and engraved the pieces from 3mm thick walnut and oak. I assembled the pieces with wood glue, gave it a light sanding, then finished with wipe-on polyurethane (three coats, with a very light sanding between coats and at the end). The tack backing is attached with construction adhesive.

    After consulting with a friend who wears a lot of pins, I got a collection of backings, including the traditional butterfly backs, rubber backs (softer and less irritating for skin contact), and locking backs (to reduce chance of loss).

    There is a 2-minute making-of video:

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    Celtic Key Pattern Washi Tape Tack Pin
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    In Celtic Art, Other Projects
    Posted

    Celtic Key Pattern Washi Tape Tack Pin

    A small square (25mm and about 3mm thick) is carefully wrapped in a bright printed Celtic key or maze pattern in purple, red, and metallic gold. It sits on one edge next to a roll of washi tape with the same pattern against a background of off-white fibrous handmade paper.

    I am working on some larger projects, but I had this idea for a quick pin with one of the new washi tapes. This is a 25mm square of Baltic birch carefully wrapped with the wide Celtic key pattern washi tape. I used a bit of wood veneer attached with 3M Very High Bond film to lock the tape down, and attached a tack pin back with construction adhesive.

    I made a quick one-minute process video, too:

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    By
    In 3D Printing
    Posted

    Elongated Dodecahedra Models

    Apropos of nothing in particular, I was playing around with a shape I have seen a bunch of people talking about recently, the elongated dodecahedron. It was easy to create in Blender, and I thought I would share my model in case it was of use to anyone else.

    Elongated Dodecahedron Model
    Elongated Dodecahedron Model

    This is a set of blender and STL files for an elongated dodecahedron. This is a well-known solid that has been modeled and used for all sorts of things, including as 4-sided dice, for decades.

    Size: 264kb
    Download Now!
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    7cm Print Frame
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    In Acrylic, Celtic Art, Other Projects, Printmaking
    Posted

    7cm Print Frame

    I made a frame so I could put one of my Celtic knotwork frog prints up over my desk. The frame is several layers of laser-cut walnut and a square of museum-grade UV acrylic. The back attaches with strong magnets.

    Small Celtic knotwork frog printed in green on a copper square, with a white mat in a walnut frame.
    Framed Celtic Knotwork Frog Print
    Back side of the 7cm walnut print frame showing the four round magnets in the corners and an engraved Evermore ambigram in the center.
    7cm Print Frame (Back)
    7cm print frame, open with the back off, showing the UV acrylic, magnet closures, and the black inside of the back panel.
    7cm Print Frame (Open)
    7cm print frame, open with the back off and the matted print in place, magnet closures, and the black inside of the back panel.
    7cm Print Frame (Open with print)
    Frog Celtic knotwork print in a walnut frame hanging on the wall over a desk with a small clock, a netsuke of a skeleton playing a mokogyo, a silver tissue box, and a few Retro 51 pens standing point-up.
    Framed Celtic Knotwork Frog Print Hung

    There is a 4 minute video about making the frame:

    If you have 7cm prints you want to frame, the cut file for this is in the free Subscriber Archive.

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