Shapeshifting Toy Robots Part 2

June 5, 2025June 16, 2025 Lutin

Here are some of our old creations that we forgot to post about. These are some of our wooden shapeshifting robots, inspired by Transformers.

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

Making these do not require a lot of materials. you just need six rubber bands, four lego car wheels, and a small piece of wood.

First, measure and cut two small pieces of wood to be the outside of the car and the legs. Measure and drill two holes that the lego wheels will fit securely in. Make sure that you leave enough space in between the holes for the wheels to fit.

Attach two of the wheels and cut the piece to the right size. Repeat to make another leg, making sure that the wheels on both legs align.

Next, cut two arms and drill small holes in the top that can fit a rubber band.

Cut a small body out of wood that

Now time for assembly!

Here is one robots in alt mode.

Both robots transformed

Front view.

Happy Creating!

Carved Wooden Seals

February 25, 2025February 25, 2025 Lutin

These are old carvings that we forgot to post. We were inspired by the Chinese wax seals and wanted to practice wood carving, so we decided to make our own unique wooden seals.

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

Chinese wax seals

Here are some of our favorite seals. Most were purchased at a little store in the middle of San Francisco’s China Town right off of post street.

Crafted WaxSeals Alligator Inspired by Claude the Alligator, we decided to make an alligator seal. Its tail curves behind it and opens its jaws wide. The stamp would go on the bottom.

Crafted WaxSeals Alligator

This is the side view, where is shows off its tiny feet. There is some texture on the tail to replicate an alligator’s scales. At first the tail was indicated with a shallow grove but the carving was hard to make out or we opted to cut a slot to highlight the tai more clearly.

Crafted WaxSeals, Cat

This is the other wooden seal, which is a cat. The cat is perched on top of a wooden column, with its tail curved down the side.

Crafted WaxSeals, Cat

This carving captures the shape of a cat, with its pointed ears and curved body. We tied a red string around its neck like a collar to add a pop of color.

At the bottom of the seal, we added a stamp. We made the stamp out of an eraser and carved on the ancient Chinese character for ocean.

Here are the two wooden seals together!

Happy Creating!

Wooden Toy – Alligator

February 4, 2023November 15, 2023 Lutin

We decided to make a special present for our teachers at school. One of the teachers really loved alligators, so we decided to make one for her out of wood.

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.

So we set out to make one out of wood. First we cut the wood into the rough shape of the toy.

Using a drill press to create a wooden toy alligator

Next, We drilled the wood that we cut. We cut lots of little pieces so the tail could move. We also drilled a small hole in the center of each small piece.

To smooth the edges we used a wood plane. Then we sanded each piece with fine grain sandpaper. For the details on the head we made rough cuts using an alligator saw then sanded repeated to get the shape we wanted.

A handcrafted wooden toy alligator We laid out the final design before threading the wire through the holes we drilled.

Threading a pipecleaner through pieces of wood for a handcrafted wooden toy alligator

Here we are threading the wire though the holes. We used pipe cleaners to get a snug fit. This will make the toy alligator flexible but will also hold its shape well.

Here is the completed alligator! We named him Claude after the alligator in the San Francisco Academy of Sciences.

Happy Creating!

Shape Shifting Toy Robots

May 1, 2020October 15, 2024 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).

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.

The robots transformed!

Happy Creating!