Category: Woodworking

Original designs by the HipMonsters team!

Wand: Flame Tamer

Dryad and Harpy

Every wand we craft has unique mythos and a special spell. This wand is called the Flame Tamer.

 

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand with rosemary

Mythos

Flame Tamer was created on a hot sunny day which gave its power to control fire. 

Special Spell  

Control fire.

First, create a circle of fire. Then speak the incantation:

ignis coercere

While waving the wand in a circle then thrusting the wand through toward the flames.  Focus your mind on an animal, like a hawk or a wolf, that you are most aligned with. The fire will assume the shape of that animal and will obey your commands. 

It is 16 inches long.  This wand was made from pine and was soaked in rose petals and red clay. it was spoke shaved with a small bend in the middle. 

Happy Casting!

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand

Wand: Scarlet Sunset

Dryad and Harpy

Every wand we craft has unique mythos and a special spell. This wand is called the Scarlet Sunset.

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand with a book

Mythos

Scarlet Sunset was crafted as the sun was setting so its magic is strongest at night. For difficult spells, it is recommended to wait till a new moon. It plays well with fire and can even use fire as a healing energy to cure people and creatures.

Special Spell

Incendium Purgatio (Fire purification) 

It is 14 3/4 inches long. Made of poplar grown in the Hip Monster’s realm. The wood was spoke shaven straight, soaked in oil with a rosemary and chives blend then polished with bee’s wax.

Happy Casting!

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand with a book

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand with a book

Wand: Night View

Dryad and Harpy
Every wand we craft has unique mythos and a special spell. This wand is called the Night View.

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand in a garden

Mythos

The wand Night View has a darker side. Made of poplar and dyed in dark herbs she is ready for night time adventures!.

Special Spell

Noctem Visus (Night Vision)

It is 13 1/2 inches long. Made of poplar grown in the Hip Monster’s realm. The wood was spoke shaven straight, soaked in oil with a blueberries and mint blend then polished with bee’s wax.

Happy Casting!

wooden dyi wand with fake hand wooden diy wand

 

DIY Ukulele

Lutin

Inspired by our trips to Hawaii, the sisters team decided to make their own working DIY ukulele. We ended up making a whole lot of them because it is a good way to practice some woodworking skills. We advise using wood that isn’t to hard for the sides, because that makes drilling the center hole a lot easier.Supplies for a DIY Ukulele

We are missing some photos between the required supplies and the final clamping – sorry.

DIY Ukulele- clamping the front and back
Clamping the front and back together

After lots of cutting and drilling, we clamped the front and back together. We used a big drill bit to drill the center hole after measuring for the right spot. Make sure that you don’t put two keyholes directly on top of each other, leave room for the strings to go down.  

DIY Ukulele
Ready for painting

We put the keys in and glued the bridge on. We double-checked out measurements a lot so the strings would all align. We also made sure to sand it a lot, you don’t want to get a splinter while playing music. 

DIY Ukulele
Top View
DIY Ukulele
Close up of the end with the bridge

(The keys and bridge came from a set ordered online) 

DIY Ukulele
Painted in a color scheme with sparkly paint

Here is an indestructible DIY ukulele capable of fending off a troll. Made from poplar and bound together with the magic of the ages, its music will impress even fairies.

Happy Creating!

 

Puzzle Box: Dovetail

Lutin

This puzzle box was inspired by Roy Underhill’s Woodwright Shop. Based on an early American grease pot design it is crafted out of poplar. It measures 8 inches by 3 inches, just big enough to hide special jewels or a secret treasure.

Handcraft Wooden Puzzle box DYI
Puzzle Box

The clean dovetail is essential to making this puzzle box work.  Ideally, you want to use a harder wood than you used for the box.

Handcraft Wooden Puzzle box DYI
Dovetail close up
Starting a dovetail for a puzzle box
Measuring a dovetail

Use a chisel to measure the width of a dovetail.  Cut two sets of parallel line and carefully remove the outer edges, then cut it off the wooden beam.

DIY wooden puzzel box
Cutting the lid and lock.

Make use to secure the wood and cut very slowly to get a clean cut. If using a Japanese saw let the weight of the saw do the cutting, instead of using lots of force.

DIY wodden puzzle box
Drill a hole after cutting off the lid

We tried drilling the hole before cutting and found out the pieces did not align tightly.  Even a thin blade takes a lot of material from a piece of wood.

DIY wodden puzzle box
Finished box

Remember to carve out the dovetail before cutting the lid and lock. Be prepared to make mistakes- that is all part of the process. For the locking slider make sure it is angled to secure the lid. We made that mistake more than once, so we used the wood that we made mistakes on for other projects.

Handcraft Wooden Puzzle box DYI
Fully opened

To make the dovetail pop, we typically use a darker stain. To make it harder to unlock, you can paint the whole piece to hide the locking mechanism.

Happy Creating!

 

Shape Shifting Toy Robots

Lutin

When the sisters team discovered Transformer comics (Go WindBlade!) they wanted a whole city of Transformers to play with. While that was way too expensive, they could build their own shape-shifting toy robots out of wood.

Supplies for a hand crafted DIY robot that transforms
Getting Started

Borrowing from wooden dolls, we settled on a design with rubber bands attaching the arms and head to the body and a bolt to attached the legs enabling the robot to shift forms.

Making DIY wooden transfromjng robots
Drilling to holes

First we cut and drilled all the wood based on a working design.

Assembling a hand crafted DIY robot that transforms
Assembling Begins!

We used lego wheels for the robots that transformed into cars.

Fitting rubberband a hand crafted DIY robot that transforms
Fitting the rubber bands

Attaching the rubber bands proved difficult.  We used a jewelry tool to thread the rubber bands through the holes in the wood (many broke in the process).

Assembling a hand crafted DIY robot that transforms
Final Touches

A few more adjustments, including sanding the edges, and widening holes.

A hand crafted DIY robot that transforms
The robot is complete!

By using springs in the legs, the toy robot can hold a standing position.

DIY wooden transfroming robots
The assembly line

After we perfect a design, it was just a matter of creating a assembly line to crank out droids! We did some that turned into cars, some that turned into bugs, and some that turned in to other forms!

DIY Wooden Transfroming Robots.
Transformed

The robots in alt form.

DIY Wooden Transfroming Robots.
Robot form

The robots transformed!

Happy Creating!

Wooden Monster: Allie

Lutin

The HipMonsters team does not like trees going to waste, so whenever we stumble upon a piece of wood too rotten or misshapen to be used for our projects, we create a wooden monster!

steampunk, monster, woodcraft
Allie!

Born from a dead branch of a juniper bush, this monster is built to protect a child’s room. It is very possessive and will only allow one monster in the room at a time. Perfect for making sure human children have a restful nighttime sleep.

Wooden Monster, kid-made, front view
Allie from the front.

We made Allie’s eyes out of two styrofoam balls.

Wooden monster kid-made- rearview
Allie from the rear.

Allie was one of our first monsters and is at the front of our house very Halloween!

Happy Creating!

Staff – Twisting Wave

Lutin

When we go hiking, we sometimes pick up some good pieces of wood to make into staffs or other creations. We found this one in a park close to our house, it was made from a fallen eucalyptus branch. Every staff we craft has a unique mythos and special spell. This staff is called the Twisted Wave.

wooden diy staff, woodcrafting

 

Mythos

The staff Twisted Wave craves unexpected journey and visitors. Travelers should only journey with Twisting Wave if they want to encounter potential friends, it is a peaceful staff, and does not like engaging in battle.

Special Spell

Amicitia (Friendship)

 

 

 


wooden diy staff, woodcrafting on a blanketwooden diy staff, woodcrafting,on the floor

Twisting Wave is 5 feet high, perfect for navigating tricky terrain. The wood was spoke shaven, soaked in oil with a red clay then polished with bee’s wax. 

Happy Travels!

 

Wand: Crimson Lava

Lutin
Every wand we craft has unique mythos and a special spell. This wand is called the Crimson Lava.

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand on a crystal

Mythos

The wand Crimson Lava pulls in the magic of volcanos so needs an especially strong witch or wizard to wield its power.  It is said to have been crafted on the Big Island of Hawaii during a large eruption.

Special Spell

Accive Sassa Liquefacta (Summon Lava)

It is 13 1/2 inches long. Made of poplar grown in the Hip Monster’s realm. The wood was spoke shaven straight, soaked in oil with a red clay then polished with bee’s wax. 

Happy Casting!

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand with a crystal

Handcrafted DIY Wooden Wand