The Final Layer When I first decided to build the facade from foam, I expected to finish it with fiberglass. I could already imagine the experience: trouncing around the basement in a Tyvek suit, sweating my guts out, applying fiberglass resin over an enormous doorway and then spending countless hours sanding it into the correct […]
It Has to Make the “Pssshhh” Sound (Part 8)
There was one question everyone asked when they learned I was building a science-fiction airlock: “Will it make the pssshhh sound?” Everyone asked. It did not matter that the door had unusual geometry, custom graphics, glowing arc reactors, a control panel or an actual mechanism capable of moving two heavy pocket doors. Apparently, none of […]
Call Me “Stickers” (Part 7)
In the Pixar movie Cars, Lightning McQueen earns the nickname “Stickers” because his headlights are not real. They are just stickers. We can call them decals, vinyl graphics, identification markings or visual communication elements. Those terms all sound much more sophisticated. But, in the end, they are just stickers. That does not mean they are […]
A Bump in the Build (Part 6)
Seven Years in the Making There is a dangerous moment in every project when it begins to look finished. It isn’t finished, of course. It may not even be close. But it looks enough like the thing in your imagination that cutting it apart suddenly feels wrong. This project had several of those moments. The […]
The Arch That Turned a Steampunk Build into a Doorway
The two illuminated pillars were finished. The buttons worked. The lights cycled, breathed, and pulsed exactly as intended. But something was missing. Placed beside the existing doors, the pillars looked like two impressive props. They did not yet feel like a complete entrance into another world. The original design called for an arch spanning the […]
Building a Steampunk Identity Machine for VBS
The request sounded simple enough: build something with a big button that the kids could smash. For most of Vacation Bible School, pressing the button would produce a red light. On Friday, after the children had worked through the week’s lessons, the same button would finally produce green. Of course, once you add young children […]
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