B.Light Design

Gabe Barcia-Colombo presented his DNA Vending Machine at TED recently. I had the pleasure to fabricate the DNA cases.

Great job Gabe.

Apartment Therapy ran another video, this one on applying a milk paint finish. I’m pretty new to milk paint, but it’s kind of hard to screw up. You paint it on, you sand it off. The trick is to keep working it till you get your desired finish.

Apartment Therapy ran a great video of one of my favorite finishes, tung oil and wax.

Apartment Therapy ran another how to video. This one is how to build a simple end table out of scrap wood.

MAKE Magazine ran an article I wrote on my experiences testing the Belly Button Book.

Take a look.

Thanks Matt.

A quick how to build a toy robot head out of a tomato paste can.

Materials: tomato paste can, bolt, end cap nuts, caster

Take caster apart

The part you need

Cut off end of bolt with hacksaw

Make sure end caps fit

I made two 1/4″ diam holes in the can using a metal punch (basically a hole punch for metal), you can also use a drill. Holes are roughly 3/4″ from the bottom and spaced 1 3/4″ from each other.

Put it all together. Attach one end cap and thread bolt through one hole in the can. Place caster piece inside of can, thread bolt through both holes in caster piece. Thread bolt through other hole in can. Attach other end cap to other end of bolt.

You can draw on eyes, cut holes, or add lights. Anything goes. You now have a swiveling, nodding tomato paste robot head.

Next step, add a body

I’ve been building robot toys for the past couple of months, I’ve been calling them Robot Recipes. The toys are made up from tin cans, the idea is to have the robot made from a meal or drink. Meet Tea Bot - body is an Earl Grey tin, head is evaporated milk - the latest Robot Recipe.

I’m particularly proud of how the head is coming along.

The three bots are painted.

The three latest robot toys, mid-build.

An amazing project that I had the pleasure to be a small part of called Wear (though it will always be Sono-tron to me) is in the middle of a Kickstarter.

Wear is an affordable, attractive, lightweight wearable assistive directional microphone designed to improve quality of hearing.

Please donate if you can.