Ideas for projects, new and never formed

Ideas for projects, new and never formed

“What are you making next?” 20131020_205846-1

That’s a question I hear a lot and it is a very difficult question to answer. It’s a deeper question than you may think. If you read my article on my technical process [link here] you may realise that it has layers.

The simple answer to the question is a list of bullet points with all the things I want to make and have been commissioned to make, but we aren’t here for a simple answer, are we? A more complex answer might go a little bit like this…

As I blunder through life, drinking coffee, reading comics and wishing I was the Doctor, (4th), with a real TARDIS, one of my anchors is pop culture. Fandoms are my thing. Doctor Who, MARVEL, Supernatural, I think I just made a SuperWhoMAR thing. I’m in deep, so deep in fact that I wear my fandom on my sleeve, or in the case of my Captain America shield, on my back. What I am saying is that I make things. Some people display their enthusiasm for their OTP by writing, others through cosplay. I have to make stuff. It’s my strength. So basically, I WANT TO MAKE EVERYTHING.

Bullet points

  • Full size TARDIS
  • Captain America shield
  • Mjolnir
  • Working exoskelton
  • Loki’s staff
  • TRON cycle
  • Space Marine armour
  • Set of Hawkeye arrow heads.
  • Quidditch snitch
  • IRON MAN glove and fore arm plus helmet all connected and working
  • Supernatural Angel Blade
  • Working Stargate
  • Death Star desk globe
  • Locke and Key keys

The list goes on…but, as you can see, some of them I have already made, others are in the pipe line and some are not possible using current technology, so I choose.

Perhaps we should look at this from another angle? What am I currently so excited about that I can’t breathe? I had the idea not so long ago, after seeing some reference pictures, of making a full set of Hawkeye’s arrow heads, the weird ones both from the film and the comics. All machined from steel and in little display boxes. Made in singles, small sets and even a full set of them. I can’t stop thinking about this and it is killing me that I am too busy to get round to making them, yet.

Something else that excites me but is so far, just out of reach is a Death Star desk top globe. Just like one of those world globes that you can spin, but it’s the Death Star. I need it like burning. As you can see, I spend way too much time thinking about this, dreaming about things in pop culture that would be cool to see in real life.

But what’s actually coming up next? Loki staff anyone? The short one from the Avengers movies. This one jumped the line a little because of a friend of mine who cosplays a terrific Loki. Just mentioning this stops her breathing. It has hit all the marks, do I want one, yes, is it cool, yes, do other people want one, yes, is it going to be difficult to make, yes. So in collaboration with Sunday Cosplay [link here], the long process has started. A 3d model is being drawn up. That will turn into a 3d print, which will be redone because the first one is never right. Then it will be refined and re-made and materials will be chosen. Machining will happen and a prototype developed and then thrown away because I wasn’t happy with it. Eventually, after many mistakes and much refining there will be a shiny Loki staff in my hand and I will be pleased, for a moment, just for a moment.

I know this won’t stop and for as long as I can, I will make things and if I am lucky, make things for other people too. So what would you like to see me make? What is it that you need to see in real life so much that you can’t breathe thinking about it? Let me know and it might just happen.

Next time; Working with others

Allan, AKA “The TARDIS Guy”

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