Smart Mirror – Made By Louis

This is Lou’s proudest achievement to date, and his most enjoyable project so far. In it’s ‘off’ state, it looks like any other vanity mirror, with a lovely walnut frame which he made from leftovers lying around the garage. But press the little chrome button on the side of the mirror, and it is transformed into a clever smart mirror, with little customisable widgets appearing within the mirror.

The mirror is in fact a piece of glass covered with a ‘one-way’ film on the front. Behind the glass is a computer monitor screen, and this is connected to a Rasberry Pi computer which he programmed to run all the widgets. The Rasberry Pi and power supplied are all neatly built into the back of the mirror so there is a just a single power cord. The Pi connects to the wifi to run the widgets, and can display fun things like the weather, messages, or what music track is currently playing in the room. This was his Christmas gift for Daisy.

Set of Knives – Made By Louis

I was blown away when Louis’ surprised me with these set of knives that he’d made for my Christmas present. They have walnut and blue resin shaped handles.

Resin Wine Bottle Stopper – Made By Louis

Louis made this resin wine bottle stopper from spare resin and walnut he had left over from a table project. He turned the shape on the lathe and polished it to make a lovely gift for his Mum on her birthday.

Chopping Board – Made By Louis

Louis used a bit of free time at school in his DT department to make this lovely chopping board as a gift for his Granny. The pattern is laser etched into the board, and the board finished with Osmo oil. Big shout-out to Louis’ DT department at St John’s school in Marlborough – the best teachers and technicians you could ever wish for.

Cheeseboard – Made By Louis

This cheeseboard was Louis’ first experimentation with pouring resin. He bought some beautiful old oak from ebay and then made a mould for the resin pour. The resin has a lovely metallic swirl which compliments the fabulous patterns within the oak.

Film Reel Speakers – Made By Ed

This was a very simple and quick ‘one hour project’. I salvaged some old loudspeakers from the bottom of a builder’s skip, and luckily found that the speaker drivers were in perfect working order. I had to repair the wiring slightly, and then used two old film projector reels (left over from my days working at Dolby where we had our own cinema) as the bases. A few holes needed to be drilled and metal spacers used as little feet. The end result is a rather unique pair of loudspeakers with a heritage history from the days of cinema film projection.

Steam Punk Shot Dispenser – Made By Louis

This was a little project to make Louis’ teenage parties with friends a bit more fun. It is a spirit drinks dispenser made from plumbing parts, in the shape of a little guy with a back-pack holding the dispensing gun. It all works a treat.

Steam Punk Candle Stick – Made By Ed

Whilst Louis was making his spirit dispenser, I also quickly made a rather more grown up (i.e. dull) candlestick holder from the same plumbing parts. The copper tubing is polished and then spray lacquered so that it retains the shine, and everything sits on a piece of oak that was lying around.

Drift Wood Clock – Made By Ed

Another ‘one hour project’ – this uses a left over small circuit board that I soldered components onto to make a digital clock/thermometer/alarm. This circuit board was then cut into an old piece of timber, and the whole of the front of the timber covered with a thin veneer to hide the clock behind. The clock is bright enough to shine through the veneer to give the impression that the veneer itself is lighting up as a clock display.

Steam Punk Propeller Clock – Made By Louis

To create this funky and quirky clock, Lou wood-turned a block of oak, routed the front to house a clock mechanism, formed acrylic propeller blades, and then mounted the whole thing on a metal stalk and wood base. I’ve no idea what his inspiration was for making this – you’d have to ask him – but it certainly turned out to be quite a unique clock.

Resin Beach Shelf – Made By Louis

Outfeed Work Bench – Made By Louis

This was Louis’ A Level project at his school. They had a requirement for an ‘out-feed’ table to attach to their existing saw table. He designed the product, welded the frame, made the top from an old scrap door, and made internal draws from left over bamboo floor boards. This is hopefully a project that will be used for many years to come at the school.