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Tombstones were made for a Cub Scout Funday Haunted house we built.

They were made from scrap styrofoam rescued from some packing cases. The shapes were sketched out onto sheets of newspaper, and then transferred to the foam. The outline was cut using a hotwire cutter freehand. The text was created by using a hotwire foam 'engraving tool' to melt the incised letters through metal interlocking stencils. Other decoration was created freehand using the engraving tool.

Once the shape was finalised, the whole tombstone was roughed up with very course (80 grit) sandpaper to take off all the corners. The stone was then painted with two coats of light grey acrylic paint.

Detailing was carried out with slightly watered down black paint in the text and other grooves. The final touch was to spatter the stones with black acrylic watered down heavily and flicked from a paint brush. The paint finish looks acceptable from a distance, but doesn't stand up to close scrutiny!

New Projects
Jan 2012
Steampunk inspired lamp. Base is a gym stand salvaged from a skip many years ago. Base pipe salvaged from a scrap yard. The remainder of the fittings were new, 3/4" BSP malleable fittings. The lot was aged by rusting using salty water and then coated with metal laquer to seal it. The mains cable is covered with a bootlace, and at present the unit is dimmed with a variac, but I intend to put together a suitable dimmer.
Hamilton Printer's Cabinet Restoration Click picture for more details Nov 2011


This control unit was built particularly to control a couple of confetti cannons I have built. The intention is that the unit can be used to control any low voltage units. It consist of a box that used to contain a gunsuight, fitted out with a number of switches salvaged from surplus or scrap equipment. An aircraft circuit breaker and XLR socket along with key switch allow the unit to be isolated and protected.

Set of stocks built from scrap timber. Pin hinges used to secure legs to make it simple to collapse down for storage.

Tombstones were made for a Cub Scout Funday Haunted house we built. They were made from scrap styrofoam rescued from some packing cases. The shapes were sketched out onto sheets of newspaper, and then transferred to the foam. The outline was cut using a hotwire cutter freehand. The text was created by using a hotwire foam 'engraving tool' to melt the incised letters through metal interlocking stencils. Other decoration was created freehand using the engraving tool. Once the shape was finalised, the whole tombstone was roughed up with very course (80 grit) sandpaper to take off all the corners. The stone was then painted with two coats of light grey acrylic paint. Detailing was carried out with slightly watered down black paint in the text and other grooves. The final touch was to spatter the stones with black acrylic watered down heavily and flicked from a paint brush. The paint finish looks acceptable from a distance, but doesn't stand up to close scrutiny!

Examples of some of the projects I worked on whilst at the Exploratorium- Table tops for exhibits to be fixed to and a butterfly display box