Carved Wooden Seals

Please note, that this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs. Please read our disclaimer.

As presents for our teachers this year, we decided to make a series of stamps. we chose cats because we like cats  We prefer using a Japanese saw because it gives us a clean cut and is much easier to use.

Making Wooden Seals

To get the basic cat shape we do rough cuts with the saw, then use a craving tool to  clean up the edges.  The make sure the vice does not cut into the wood we used scrape from an old pair of jeans.

Making Wooden Seals

To get the ears we need to create a negative space between the slanted edges we just cut. The do this we first cut several slots making sure to stop just short of the end of the slanted edge. You do not want got beyond that point or the ears will more like bunny ears than cat ears.

Making Wooden Seals

You want to have several slots cut to to make removing them easy. If the slots are too thick when you try to pop them out (the next step you could instead break off the ears.

Making Wooden Seals

Once we have cut the slots we use a chisel to pop them off. Make sure to go slow and start with the center slot. When you pop off the ones next to the ears make sure to have the flat edge of the chisel pointed towards the ear. Most of the time this works like a charm but sometimes the wood refuse to cooperate. If this happens to you try you best then try using other tools like a flat head screw driver. Worst case use the chisel to cut the out and if nothing works just start over.

Making Wooden Seals

Then we used the chisel to clean up the rough parts between the ears. Two of the seals in this batch had slots that broke off half way making the clean up job a bit hard. Go slot and do not use force. If the chisel is sticking it is either at the wrong angle or you are trying to carve out too much in one go.

Making Wooden Seals

We use a rasp to finish it out.  You can use sand paper as well but we like how you can shape thing with a rasp.

Making Wooden Seals

Next we used a spoke shave to round the edges of the square dowel to make it more cat-like. Again, do not force the tool. Just use a gentile motion while applied light pressure. If you use too much force you can cut into the wood.

Making Wooden Seals

Then sand to get the finished look. And remember to take the time to sand it right.  After all the work it took to get here you do not want to spoil it by not having a clean surface for painting.

Making Wooden Seals

For a finishing touch we made a cut all the way around the seal to create a neck for the cat, We made sure the cut was not too deep and went evenly al the way around the body.

Making Wooden Seals

We then used a craving tool to widened the cur being careful not to cut too much out.

Making Wooden Seals

Here is a line up of all six seals ready for painting!

Making Wooden Seals

For each seal we picked three different colors to create a unique theme.  We used acrylic paint for these seals but you can us wood stain or oil paint if you prefer.

Making Wooden Seals

This one reminded us of lava!Making Wooden Seals

We painted the layers over time to make sure each color stood out and did not blend in with the rest too much.

Making Wooden Seals

All six seals with their paint jobs finished!

Making Wooden Seals

The seal for the seals was made of an eraser.  We used wood carving tools to engrave them. Make sure you do a reverse image of what you want printed!

Making Wooden Seals

Here are the seals with their seals.Making Wooden Seals

We attached the eraser to the seal using hot glue. Make sure to score the bottom of the wood seal and the eraser so you get a strong bound.

 

Happy Creating!

Wood Carvings: Pony

Please note, that this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs. Please read our disclaimer.

This quick creation was inspired by Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony. We love Pinkie Pie’s bright outlook and humor!  When we found a scrape of bright colored faux fur in our recycled fabric box we all thought of her right away.

Carved toy pony
This is a side view

We used balsa wood for the body and faux fur for the mane. It took a while to carve since ponies have a specific body shape. We first drew the basic outline on the balsa wood then cut out the rough shape with a saw. To make sure we did not damage the wood we wrapped it in leather when it was in the vice. Then we used wood carving tools and sand paper to finish the shape. The head was the hardest part to get right. Ponies have a very specific look to them. We used a wood carving tool with a groove to get the fur just right.

Carved toy pony

The mane was stapled on to the body then pulled over to cover up the staples. To give it a bright color we used a red wood dye. The dye also showed off the pony’s carved fur.

Wooden little pony

After a quick comb our little pony was ready to roam the world!

Happy creating!

DIY Moss Terrarium

Please note, this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs. Please read our disclaimer.

What do you do if you break a pot? This fun DIY moss terrarium will teach you a great way to decorate your space with recyclable materials! It will brighten up your space and help you avoid throwing away useful pottery!

moss terrarium

Let’s make a moss terrarium! The first step is to pack in as much mud as you can without the mud falling off. You can press in flat shaped rocks for stairs and platforms, then put more mud on top of it for more support. To create stairs, find similar sized rocks and stack them on top of each other, with space in front of it.

moss terrarium

Here is what it first looks like after you attach the platforms. We used slate as our rock, because it is very flat. We also put some rocks along the side of the pot to look like the side of a cliff.

moss terrarium

Use a paintbrush and water to clean mud off of the rocks and the front edge of the pot so it doesn’t look too dirty.

moss terrarium

Next, before the mud dries, walk around outside to gather mosses and small plants. Gently tear the moss to the right size and press it into the mud. More is more, so put moss on every available surface to make it look more like a forest. If the soil is too dry, or not sticking, slowly add water in small amounts.

moss terrarium

For the small plants, poke a small hole and press it in. Put more moss over the exposed soil around it and press. If it is too small, first make a ball of mud around the roots of the plant and then press it in.

moss terrarium

Gently water all of the plants with a mister or with your finger. Do not dump too much water all at once or you will kill your small plants and/or sweep away the rocks and mud.

moss terrarium

You can also add some small decorations on the terrarium to create a landscape or a scene. Make sure to water it regularly! But if your plants die, you can use the same method to replace them!

Happy creating!

 

 

 

SF Zoo Fundraiser Jewelry

To support the San Francisco Zoo, the HipMonsters’ sisters team, and a neighborhood friend decided to sell jewelry to raise money and awareness. Their efforts were a great success, raising nearly 400 dollars in two days of work, thanks to the generous and kind people of San Francisco.

Here is a selection of just some of the jewelry sold! The jewelry is made with molding clay and painted with acrylic paint.

Thanks again to our neighbor friend and all the kind people who donated!

Making of Number Six and Number Seven

After finishing Number three, we wanted to make smaller and lighter walking robots. Leveraging what we had learned from building our first walking robot, we made two mini robots, Number Six and Number Seven!

Please note, this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs.  Please read our disclaimer.

Because we had a completed robot design it was easy to make sure we had all the parts we needed before beginning. Since Number Six and Number Seven were smaller we were able to spend about the same amount of money but use lighter steal parts. We hoped the reduced weight would make for better walking performance.

making a robot

The steal tubes also had bolt threads as apposed to pipe threads. Pipe threads are “V” shaped which made it difficult to get a piece tightened pointing the correct direction. With bolt threads we could use a nuts to tighten the connection between the tube and the pivot joints however they were positioned.

Working as a team the assembling went fast and in less than a day we had the beginnings of two robot. One trick we have learned is to use the floor as an assembling space. We are cramped for space and using step stools can be tricky in a workshop so the floor tends to be safer.

Here is a completed frame. It cannot stand yet and has to be held up. Here we had the initial knee designs. The knee design was important when we were developing the first walker. Later we switched to a tube in the piston rod that acted more like a spring to prevent the leg from over extending. What is critical in our approached is letting the robot fall forward but stop the fall before the robot is in a position it cannot recover from. The sister team learned this trick from a class at school where the teacher said when humans walk forward it is more like a controlled fall.

Now we start on installing the air pistons. We had to repeat this process many time because we kept switching around to position of the pistons and the direction of the air tube couplings. If the pistons are not the same on both side the robot will veer to one side and if the coupling are facing apposing ways the tubing becomes impossible to arrange.  We have found facing the coupling up is typically the best orientation.

We did have to modify the piston attachment by removing the peg. This did require a parent’s help as the clip that secured the peg was difficult to remove without breaking it.

making a robot

Next we began attaching the pneumatic air tubes. When measuring make sure to know were the pneumatic solenoid valve will be attached and account for the full movement of the legs. It is best to do one tube, test it, then do the opposites side. We found as we added tubes we had to change the initial lay of of the tubes. The tube work is a bit of an art form much like wiring a control unit.

Here is a close up of the all the piston installed.

 

making a robot

Here is another view of the tubing being fitted and a close up of the pneumatic solenoid valve. Make sure to do clean, straight cuts with a sharp scissors to assure not leakage when attaching to the couplings.

making a robot

Here is a front view of a completed design for Number Six and Number Seven. For testing we used a leather book strap so we could reposition the components as needed. We also tested a number of different air pumps. This pump, which we did not use in the final design, was the quietest and used the least amount of power.  Latter, we switched to another model because this model kept shutting off after prolonged use.

DIY Robot

Like with other designed we used a garage door remote controller because it reverse polarity to the pneumatic solenoid valve which switches the air flow from one leg to the other enabling the robot to walk. It is the small black box in the center of the robot.

DIY Robot

The battery we secure to the underside for protection (the light blue box under Number Six). Instead of doing lead acid battery for Number Six and Number seven, we switched to a 12V 6Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery from our lead-acid battery due to it much lighter weight and increased amps.

DIY Steampunk walking robot Number 6Here is Number Six walking in our yard.

DIY Steampunk walking robot Number 7

Here is Number Seven walking in our workshop.

Steampunk DIY walking robots

And here we have all three robots, Number Five, Number Six, and Number Seven going for a walk together! The larger robot is Number Three. Number Seven is in front and Number Six is on the left.

Happy creating!

Making Mandrake Roots

Inspired by the character Professor Sprout (from Harry Potter) and this wonderful article, we set out to make our mandrake root for Halloween.

Please note, this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs.

Please read our disclaimer.

Mandrake roots are a mythical plant that has a root that looks like a person. They scream when they get pulled out of the ground, and hearing the screams can knock you out, or even kill you. They are featured in Harry Potter, but were invented before that. For more information, go to the article above.

The supplies
The Supplies

For our mandrake roots, we used a type of foam-like clay called Foam-Mo. Foam-mo is really useful for making organic details like plants and animals. It air-drys and can be painted, but has to be sprayed with a plastic spray, or else it will disintegrate. We recommend using several layers of the under-coat spray for maximum protection. We painted the mandrakes with acrylic paint.

DIY mandrake root

Make sure to use a nonporous surface for a build table or the Foam-Mo will stick to it once it dries. We used old cutting boards.

DIY mandrake root
Making the arm

To make the mandrakes, we made ovals for the head and body, and tubes for the legs. We also rolled out thinner tubes for the tree branches and flattened small diamond shapes for the leaves. We used a pencil to made the lines in the leaves and to make the eyes, lines on the body, and the mouth. Remember, no two mandrakes are the same, so make them all slightly different.

DIY mandrake root
Attaching the arm

Foam-mo is pretty delicate, so we needed to be careful when attaching stuff. To make it hold it’s shape, we used stuff to prop up the mandrake roots while they were drying. to make the edged look like roots, we gently pulled out thin strands of Foam-Mo at the end of all of the limbs.

DIY mandrake root
After painting

After the Foam-Mo dries, we sprayed it with a plastic spray and painted it with acrylic paint. We painted them all slightly different shades of brown and green.

DIY mandrake root
A potted mandrake!

Please DO NOT water your mandrake, even if they tell you to! They are definitely not waterproof.

DIY mandrake
Side view
DIY mandrake root
Out in nature

Happy creating!

Upgrades to Number 3

Since we discovered how to make Number 5 move, we decided to upgrade Number 3. We tried to preserve as much of the original design as possible, so we didn’t mess with the decorations or redesign the frame. We also made the legs stronger so the robot could support itself easily and won’t fall. Professor Brockenhoff was very pleased with being able to more effectively scare strangers!

Please note, this material is provided for informational and fun purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs. Please read our disclaimer.

We started off by disassembling number three.  Given how Number Three was designed as a framework, it was pretty easy to take apart.

Robotic Arm being built

Number 3’s Arm being Upgraded

We wanted to upgrade Number 3 to make it move. Since walking with two legs is incredibly hard, we decided to only make the arms and hands move. We first used hinges to upgrade the hands so that they could open and close. Next, we had to replace the fixed joints with movable joints. Borrowing from extra part from Number Five, we added flexible joints for pipes to power a air brush. The added weight of the metal join required use adding more support for the legs.  We tried plastic joints, but they failed durning testing.

Then we attached lightweight linear actuators to the joints to move them.  Given we wanted more controlled movement and a quieter robot for our front parlor, we opted for electronic verse pneumatic power.  We attached the linear actuators so that when they extended, the arms reached out and when they pull back, the arms bent.

And finally, for controls, we used a remote control unit for garage doors.  Since we need the polarity to switch (the wires reverse, positive/negative to negative/positive) to have the linear actuators go in and out we had to make sure the control unit reversed the polarity not just turned the power off and on.

And now you see the update Number Three testing its arms with Professor Brockenhoff at the controls!

Happy Creating!

 

Color Splash Collection, Summer 2023

The Summer 2023 release of the Color Splash Collection is in!

Wooden, colorful necklaces

Made from wood and painted in acrylic paint, each necklace is uniquely painted and secured with a silver wire. The color pallet is rich and drawn from nature. The wood is rough cut to give a natural, unrestrained look and feel.  Look below to see each necklace in detail. 

wooden necklace

Sea Foam

wooden necklace

Lava Flow

Wooden Necklace

Night Ocean

wooden necklace

Red Night

wooden necklace

Summer Pond

wooden necklace

Orange Sunset

wooden necklace

Night Waves

All jewelry made at HipMonsters is crafted and designed by kids. Each is made with love and inspired by nature, science and a love of creating something new.

Happy creating, and wearing!

The Making of the Hand of Glory

Inspired by Harry Potter, we made our own Hand of Glory out of Foam-Mo and paint for Halloween.

Please note, this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs. Please read our disclaimer.

Foam-Mo is a foamy clay that we use for many of our projects. It is great for making organic stuff like plants and animals. After it dries, you spray it with a plastic coating to make it last longer. You can paint over the plastic coating.

For our first attempts, We used our own hands as a model to make them, but we felt like they didn’t look very much like magical objects. They were also very flat and 2d looking, not like the real hand of glory at all.

For our final hand of glory, we made the fingers more long and skinny to make it both more realistic and creepy. To get the shape, we rested it over a bowl to dry. We also added more texture to make it look more like dry skin instead of making it smooth. We also defined the knuckles more to make it more creepy. like it is trying to grab you. We also added more of a wrist to make it more like it is in the movie, and so we could easily mount it.

Once we finished the hand, we made a wooden stand for it to be mounted on. We stained it and sanded it to make it look distressed, and made a wooden plaque. We attached the Hand of Glory to the stand by screwing it in.

DIY hand of glory
The completed Hand of Glory

This is it completed! It is a great addition to our Halloween decoration cabinet, just don’t touch it, unless you want it to grab you.

Happy Creating!

Wooden Deer Sculpture

This is our wooden deer sculpture, made as a Christmas present. We only used wood from our yard to make it more meaningful. We always save leftover wood, so we can use it in our woodworking projects instead of wasting it.

DIY Wooden toy deer

This is the back view of the deer. As you can see, we attached the tail, limbs and antlers by drilling holes and fitting them into the holes, like a peg. We attached the head and the neck by drilling a smaller hole inside the neck and the body, then used a strong piece of aluminium wire to connect them together. To make the tail look more realistic, we rounded the end of it and drilled the hole at an angle instead of straight down.

DIY Wooden toy deer

The head was made from sanding part of a tree branch. We chose that branch because it already looked like a deer head, so we didn’t have to work on it very much. It even had little indents for the eyes! All we had to do was sand it, trim the ears, and drill two small holes for the antlers.

DIY wooden toy deerWe attached the antlers of the deer by taking small branches from our birch tree and putting them in the holes that we drilled on the head. The antlers were very important because it would help people recognize this as a deer. We had to find branches that were strong so they won’t break, but small enough to look realistic. Luckily, birch trees shed a lot of branches, so it wasn’t too hard to find perfect branches.

Happy Creating!