Anpanman

For me, living in a house with a toddler who speaks Japanese means a whole lot of two fantastic things: My Neighbor Totoro and Anpanman. So when I found myself with a spare circular frame from a broken mirror at work and a circular side table top slated for the trash, I knew what I had to do… paint an awesome flying Anpanman! The donut-ey action superhero!

Post Apocalypse Armor

What’s a college student to do when they have a stack of file shelf dividers, an old karate white belt, a rivet gun, and too much time on their hands pre-Halloween? Why build armor for a post-apocalypse orc costume, obviously!

Inspired mainly by pictures of layered armor, I created a series of overlapping rings a bit like a lobster’s tail using riveted-together shelf dividers. The torso hangs from a pair of shoulder straps made from an old karate belt. For the chest and shoulders, I created a V-shaped piece and then a set of overlapping guards for the upper arm.

Not content with a metal shell, I racked my brain for what I could add to it that would make it scream Mad Max! Lo and behold, I’m pulling off the freeway to head into the college when I see a shredded tire on the side of the road. Bingo. (Note to the wise: many tires actually include steel wires in them for structural support. These wires are very sharp. Don’t ask how I know.)

Once I had the tire bits set up in a V shape to go over the chest piece, I (literally) tied it together with the hubcap, onto which I spray-painted a cheery happy face. It matched the upside down vampire teeth I used for tusks and the green camo facepaint rather nicely.

Torso Front
Torso Front
Layered Torso Armor
Layered Torso Armor
Chest and Arm Armor
Chest and Arm Armor
Tire Shoulder Pads with Hubcap Decoration
Tire Shoulder Pads with Hubcap Decoration
Smiley Face on Hubcap
Smiley Face on Hubcap

Woodworking

I don’t do much woodworking, but I’ve had a special place for it ever since my dad and I built a tank and an aircraft carrier back when I was a kid. We stole a paintbrush from my mom’s art supplies to make the barrel for the tank, which I don’t think she was terribly happy about. Still, it was a fun little project that I treasure to this day.

Woodworking