This Gram-stained photomicrograph depicts numbers of Bordetella pertussis bacteria, which is the etiologic pathogen for pertussis, also known as whooping cough.

Makers, a call to (non-dominant) arms!

I’ve just recently gotten my TDaP booster shoot (Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis) and it occurred to me that many of you may have forgotten this over the course of the last decade.

That’s right, a tetanus booster is recommended every 10 years and, with the advent of the TDaP back in 2006, I would highly recommend getting your shots.  Pertussis (whooping cough) has been making the rounds plus, as a maker, you may well be using materials and equipment that could expose you to tetanus.

This post is not to fear-monger, but it is a gentle reminder that we come into contact with some pretty dirty stuff and it could be worth your while to get vaccinated.

I was able to get this shot for free, courtesy of my local health department, so check for something in your area and get safe!

The design work took several months and the actual creation of the piece took about a week, working 12-16 hours a day.  The frame is made from CNC routed aspen (thanks, Jason H.!) which is a rather “fuzzy” wood and required two days to hand finish, including the use of a set of needles files to smooth out the inset edges.

The acrylic panels were hand-stained with Gallery Glass stain and simulated liquid leading. They’re not quite finished yet, but I plan to complete the staining within the next week.

I’ll also be using this as a backdrop for various events including the Sustainability Summit coming up as well as the Concinnity sci-fi/gaming convention on April 5th. Additionally, this might be making its way to Embellishments in the Grand Avenue Mall for a window decoration.

I can’t wait to make another one!

We sometimes experiment too much….

Apparently, this is what happens when the entire makerspace chants, “ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” at once….

Y’know, ’cause we’re all fancy like that.

Once we got our occupancy permit, we had to consider how to display it.  A simple plastic frame seemed a bit above us, so I was asked to design a laser cut frame instead.

The frame was designed in 4 layers (5, if you count the acrylic) in Illustrator CS5 and cut on our 60watt laser cutter out of one of our favorite materials, 3mm thick Baltic birch plywood. If you’re wondering why the permit doesn’t fit perfectly, some unnamed culprit gave me the wrong measurements, but I still think it looks great.

Since I firmly believe that makerspaces enhance and contribute greatly to the world we live in, I came up with the corny, soon to be lampooned phrase, “Official Permit for the Milwaukee Makerspace to Make the World a Better Place”.

And that is what we intend to do.

Hopefully, we can use this as a backdrop for events like the Art Jamboree.

I’ve been toying with the idea of room dividers for a while now. I don’t exactly have use for one, but I think they look neat and it’s basically a blank canvas. Drawing inspiration from my Clockwork Boxes, I decided that a gear motif would best suit the makerspace, thus giving me a new use for the piece: as a backdrop at events we participate in such as Art Jamboree and the various Maker Faires.

There are 3 of us in this photo. Really.

The actual screens were cut out with a large-scale CNC router, while the frame was ripped from 2×4’s, with a dado groove down the center for the screen to slip into. Thanks, Jason H.!!

Assembly went well, although there were a few hiccups.  The drill bit wasn’t long enough, so some minor splitting occurred at a couple of spots. The frame was slightly warped and so needed to be clamped and glued before being screwed together.

After allowing the paint to dry overnight, myself, Matt W., and Jason H. assembled this thing just prior to heading to the Art Jamboree at the Hilton in Milwaukee.

EDIT: I’ve just entered this into the Furniture Contest that Instructables is running. Click the link. Vote. Be thanked. :)

Happy New Year!

It occurred to me that I haven’t posted about my latest laser-etched wall-hanging yet.  This piece was inspired by a trip out to a couple of Milwaukee cemeteries.  I’m slowly learning what to look for when preparing photographs for laser etching.

Total time to etch and cut was about 3 hours.  Both the front and back pieces were treated with teak oil, lightly sanded, then rubbed with a clean cloth to bring out a little sheen.

This piece is the sister to one I had posted about here.  Put side by side, the tree on the right merges with the tree on the other piece to create a unifying effect. There are two other pieces that I’ll be doing for this series which will have the tops of the branches visible to unite all four.

Happy holidays from our makerspace to yours!

“So, have a merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, kwazy Kwanza, a tip-top Tet, and a solemn, dignified Ramadan.”

-Krusty the Klown

This is my newest piece, cut and etched on our 60 watt laser cutter.  Both images are from pictures that I took out at a couple of graveyards.  I inverted the image in the background so that the sky was nice and dark and the trees were bright.  Unfortunately, this washed out a lot of the tombstones in front, so I’m going to try re-etching this piece before I offer it up for sale.

The back piece took approximately 1 hour, 20 minutes to etch as a 11.5″ square.  Additionally, I found that the margins are a bit off on the cutter.  The left margin has shifted around 1/8″-1/4″  to the right, so the piece wasn’t perfectly centered.

Art for charity’s sake

When Raster mentioned the event, “Red, White, & Black: 100 Square Feet of Art“, I thought I’d take part.  The general idea is for artists to pick up a 12×12” piece of wood and “art” it somehow, transforming it into a mini-masterpiece for an auction to support pets in need.  The auction takes place on December 7th, so be sure to stop in.  They’re featuring live music and food along with a raffle and the auction.

Taking a cue from some Art Boxes I’d been working on, I decided to use a similar vine motif with an orchid etched in the center.  After studying it for a while, I thought it needed depth, so I laser etched a photograph that I took out at Boerner Botanical Gardens for the backdrop.

Still not content, I wanted the darker shadows of the vines to play along with the lighter picture behind, so I cut several half-inch blocks to raise the top piece above the back piece.

The back has been treated with teak oil while the front was stained with Bombay mahogany satin stain.  The blocks are put specifically in each corner in order to maximize the amount of light that hits the back piece.  I may add a few extra spacers for support in the coming days.