DIY Ukulele

May 2, 2020July 29, 2025 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.

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

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.

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 thoroughly to get off all of the splinters.

The keys and bridge came from a set ordered online. We glued it securely to the body with wood glue.

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!

Color Splash Collection

May 2, 2020July 29, 2025 Lutin

Embracing color and elegance, our Color Splash necklaces will bring joy to those who wear them.

Wooden Jewelry, Necklaces, Color Splash — Color Splash Collection

Our collection of Color Splash necklaces are made from poplar wood and painted with acrylic paint. They are on a silver chain and use silver wire as a bail.

This necklace is called Ocean Color.

This necklace is called Midday Sun.

Happy Creating!

Puzzle Box: Dovetail

May 1, 2020July 29, 2025 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.

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 lines and carefully remove the outer edges, then cut it off the wooden beam. To help draw the parallel lines, we used a marking gauge. This also made sure that all of the dovetails we made are the same size.

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.

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.

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. We also made a small indent on the bottom of the box so that the bolt doesn’t stick out.

Happy Creating!

Shape Shifting Toy Robots

May 1, 2020July 29, 2025 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

Inspired 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 for easy attaching.

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).

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!

The robots in alt form. For the ones with wings we cut two wing shapes out of a thin sheet of plastic and attached them together.

The robots transformed!

Happy Creating!

Wooden Monster: Allie

May 1, 2020July 29, 2025 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! We try to let the original shape of the wood inspire the final result. This pieces of wood was split like a giant mouth, so we decided to make it into an aligator.

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 and drew in her pupils with sharpie.

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

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

Happy Creating!