One more. This is a Maru ni Kikyo kamon (Japanese family crest).
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Mini guitar amp made from an old speaker enclosure I found on the curb. I used the etched disks (post above) as dial plates for the volume & gain controls, and also for the guitar cord jack.
This is a Ruby amp (circuit & description here) powered by (2) 9 volt batteries. I used Paul’s stripboard layout. I’ll post a pic of the innards shortly.
Side note: The bookshelf speaker enclosure was formerly the property of my late neighbor Bill Crawford, who died a few months ago at a ripe old age of 100. Besides being one of the original residents of our neighborhood and an all-around great guy, Crawford was one of the founders of Missouri’s conservation movement and was a lifelong leader in our state’s conservation science. Crawford was instrumental in developing the MO Natural Areas System in 1977, which became a model for the protection of original landscapes. This build is a tiny salute to Bill Crawford.
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Nice. I should try out my library’s vinyl-cutter.
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Beautiful, deep reliefs. Thank you for publishing your process and results!
I hope you are being very careful with the vapors and particulates, it is surprising how little zinc it takes to kill a child or pet.
I hope to do some similar work in brass plates, so I suppose i will have to come up with a fume exhausting system.
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Yes, I should have mentioned “well-ventilated area” – anytime you work with chemicals this should be a given. However, the etch action takes place in the electrolyte, so metal ions should remain in solution or precipitate & sink to the bottom. Copper sulfate itself is not particularly dangerous (unless you’re a tree root), but copper ions are definitely not good for pouring down the drain. A chunk of steel wool will allow copper to plate out. Rinse well and allow the sludge to dry out, then put in a container and dispose of according to your local regulations.
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An old dining table was looking banged up, ugly-brown and hadn’t responded well to years of hot things being placed on top. I stripped it, sprayed the legs gloss black and poured a resin top of red and gold.
The edge masking wasn’t enough to hold back the tide, so about two litres of expoxy ended up on the floor. End result still an improvement.
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Lid finished…
Most of it is Blackheart Sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum), but the strip of darker timber in the middle is Australian Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon)
African Olive (Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata) for the knob.
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I haven’t had a lot of time lately to do anything; I’m dealing with an illness and I took a part-time job that took a surprising amount of my energy. But my friend who worked for Bungie asked me please please would I help her make a cosplay from Destiny 2 for PAX this week:
Here’s the concept art of the character for comparison; there were still a couple pieces that needed gluing when I took the photo:
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Tthat’s the kind of thing I’d love to have. I hear some spray paint shops are also getting into the business of powder coating furniture for durability’s sake.
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Another lidded pot:
Camphor Laurel and pink calcite.
Now working on this piece; dithering over whether to do another one with a lid, or to just do a bowl instead.
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Make some spoons, man! So many bowls and no spoons! 
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Spoons require whittling…
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I needed an 8’2" porch rail. So I grabbed a 10’ log from the woodpile.
Oh noes! Reaction wood!
Look at that slab coming off… black walnut is pretty stable stuff, but clearly this was a limb, and one with some weight on it. That piece at the near end snapped of its own accord from the internal stresses.
I’m still going to be able to use it, but I’ll have to accommodate a slight curve and arrange it so that the tension works to strengthen rather than weaken the total structure.
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Goofy little rainy-day project:
This skull is a new acquisition… Weirdly, I found it next to the bike rack at my office. (I work in proximity to the ag dept at a midwestern state university, so it’s not quite as weird as it could be. But still.) Took it home and cleaned it in Biz, then dried a few weeks in the sun. Squirrels were already starting to gnaw it, like the chewed-up one in the background. I usually just clear-coat them, but this time I got fancy.
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All that dithering paid off.
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