Personal Projects
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Here you will find a number of personal projects highlighted below, loosely broken down into sections. Accompanying the photos you'll find some context for the projects.
Ranging from painting, puppets, sewing, design, and more, I have accumulated a lot of base level knowledge in many different areas that can relate back to work done for themed environments. Many of these projects started as a far-fetched idea utilizing knowledge or equipment that I didn't already have, or have experience using. I've learned a lot about how to use Cricut software/hardware, a Brother Embroidery Machine and Inkscape, a Photon Mono X Resin Printer, Resin work in general, internal puppet mechanisms, intricate prop wiring, and foam carving. |
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Starcruiser Side Projects
One Year Aboard the Halcyon
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For the anniversary of 1 Year open, our Pastry team on board the ship was tasked with making a themed cake design for the celebration. They reached out to our team, due largely to having seen my work on the Pumpkin found further down the page, for some assistance to complete their vision for the cake; the impossible dream of having a sliding door inside the cake. With some assistance and research I developed a plan to prove it was possible. Along with the door, they also wanted some light features to reflect the elements of the ship represented.
I ultimately utilized and modified a child's STEM project to create the door mechanism and assisted with wiring and lighting the cake with nOODs, LED strings from Adafruit. We also modified a model of the CSL Logo that is on the top of the cake to attach the LEDs to and backlight it, mimicking the one found in our main terminal corridor. In the photo of the cake, you'll see the bottom layer with a lit ring to mimic the bridge doors, the layer above lit on the interior to show off the hidden figure revealed when the door opens, and the top-most layer with the back-lit CSL logo. The tech elements in those sections were done by myself with some assistance from a few other members of our Tech Team. I am honored to have been able to have a hand in this beautiful design crafted by our Pastry/Chef team who executed their vision beautifully. |
A Very Halcyon Holiday
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For the December holidays, we wanted to bring in some decorations with a Halcyon themed twist. I got everything together and designed a wreath as well as made some giant popcorn garland to go around a large cabinet in our control room.
The wreath hung on the door into the room and covered up a sign we use to designate if we are in show or not, so I wanted to make sure the wreath could be used for the same purpose. I made a reversible sign that said "Happy Halcyon Holidays" on one side and "In Show Please Keep the Noise Level Down" on the other. I also wired the lights in the wreath to have points connecting to either side of that sign which was magnetic. From there, I connected the magnets on the Holiday side so that they'd complete the circuit and the lights would turn on when the sign was flipped to "In Show". |
The popcorn garland was made using large blue ornament balls and great stuff which I then painted to mimic the spicy cheddar popcorn that can be found onboard the ship for our passengers. This had the added affect of representing the colors of the Halcyon, blue and orange, without any additions necessary.
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Shug Drabor and D3-O9
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For Halloween onboard the Halcyon, the crew hosted a pumpkin decorating contest and my design concept of Shug Drabor, the founder of Chandrila Star Line and builder of the Halcyon, in his early days working on D3-O9, our ship's concierge droid. This set-up consisted of me cutting into the foam pumpkin and adding lighting and sound that was controlled by a RaspberryPi controller which my roommate did the programming for.
I put together a short script of a conversation between Shug and D3 that one of our performers and their partner recorded the voices for which I then cut together. I soldered different lengths of LEDs together to accomplish the eye and mouth lights properly, along with a small strip that powered my fishing-line fiber optics to add a spark effect to Shug's welding. Between my roommate and myself I was able to work out the proper timing to add into his coding for the mouth lights to flash in a cadence as D3 spoke to match the videos of how she actually speaks. I modified one of the animated Babu Frik dolls that can be bought in Galaxy's Edge to look like Shug Drabor using the couple images we have of him from the comic books. Finally, I painted one of the random "Star Wars-esque" tools we had lying around to look like a small portable welder for the doll to hold. The video of the final test of all the pieces working together (as one) before it was dropped off can be viewed here. |
Character Posters
To add extra theming backstage and help encourage our cast to recycle, I designed some propaganda-style posters with the characters from the ship combined with some themed phrases. Our First Order Officer got "Recycle Right, For the Order!" Our up-and-coming musician duo got a phrase referencing the song they write together, "We all share One Galaxy, Recycle Right." Gaya, our Galactic Superstar performer got "Be a Galactic Superstar, Recycle." For another potential poster, I finished the remaining cast of Equity performers and two of our Passenger Services team (both costumes) and put them all on one poster together with a an addition to the Together, As One saying that our Saber Trainers teach, "We Recycle Together, As One." All of these bits of fanart are compiled from photos sourced online and mis-mashed together to get the poses referenced. I've included the non-recycling versions of each poster here as a reference.
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Puppets
Champ Puppet
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Artificer Puppet
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For a gift exchange in 2021, I was given someone who loved The Muppets as well as their Dungeons and Dragons character. With those things in mind, I decided to try my hand at building a puppet of her character. Armed with a description, a not quite correct reference image, and a reference to the person's favorite Muppets for what type of puppet I would make, I set out to make my first from-scratch puppet.
Following Adam Kreutinger's free puppet patterns and video tutorials (after failing a few times making my own from his video tutorials), I patterned out this adorable Artificer, Trix. Trix has removable arm rods in each hand. Her gloves are removable as well and have slots for the rods to passthrough. I didn't quite finish the iron wrench prop, but Trix also has magnets in the gloves and hands to hold things, as well as poseable fingers. The goggles on her head can come down to rest on her nose or remain on top of her head via magnets as well. The mouth access through the back needs some work if I were to recreate this puppet, but for a first full build, I am pleased with the result. All the credit to her base foam and felt structure goes to the free patterns that Adam Kreutinger has available on his website. |
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Splash art for Mobile Game - Juggernaut Wars.
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Description given by the Player of Trix.
"She’s a ginger with short frizzy hair, and she often wears her hair in a half-up-half-down style. She has goggles that she wear atop her head, and she wears brown corduroy overalls over a white button-up. She has gloves that are human-sized, so they are a bit too big for her. Trix’s boots are brown with a steel toe, and her weapon of choice is a large iron wrench." The Player's favorite Muppet is Kermit, but also Gonzo, Rizzo, and Rowlf were called out. With the majority of their favorites being hand-rod puppets vs live-hand, that was what I went with for Trix. |
D&D Related Projects
Pinocchio Lamp Figure
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This Pinocchio figure came from an idea that stuck with me after watching an episode of Dimension 20's Neverafter series. In that horror themed game, the players are each taking on a familiar Fairy Tale character in a world overtaken by darkness. At a certain point in the game, Pinocchio's warlock magic is described as manifesting in golden strings of light extending from himself as his puppet strings reaching out. His book glowing also came up more than once. With that image in mind, I wanted to create an approximately life-sized version of the character with a book hovering above, lit, and strings that would also light up coming out of the book.
He is largely made from hard foam and PVC piping coated in a plaster mesh or air-dry clay. The book above took a few tries before I landed on 3D printing the pages out of clear resin, and it's cover and interior pages both pull from the designs of original English printings of the Pinocchio story. On the book itself is a small ring with the Dimension 20 D20 logo painted inside where a publisher mark would be. The ring acts as the conductor for the touch activated lights inside the book and used as strings.
For his strings, I looked at fiber optic options, but ultimately stumbled across nOOds--LED strings that come in almost 1' long lengths on the Adafruit website--which worked perfectly. I linked up to 3 strands together to get the length to each joint. The eye hooks that the LEDs attach to are conductive enough that I didn't need exposed wiring, just wiring enough to reach the base of each hook.
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Original Character Art by Volcano Digital Art
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Battle Map Wreaths
Cliffside Map with Lit Dice Edge.
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 Ship Bow Map with Lit Dice Edge.
I had the crazy thought once to create a vertical battle map that could function as a wreath or a display for miniatures. The initial concept was the cliffside map made from a flat wooden wreath circle with styrofoam attached, carved, and coated with an epoxy coating. From there I painted it to look like a cliffside and added trees, moss, and various accessories made by me to create a pathway up the cliffs. Around the outside, I laid down small fairy lights and covered them with a variety of transparent dice for the light to shine through. It turned out very well and stood up to the Florida climate for over a year before it was retired inside. In fact, the elements didn't do any damage, the movement of it hitting into the door as it opened and closed was the main cause of damage and just knocked many of the dice loose and needing to be re-glued. For a project that wasn't expected to last on a door, it worked very well.
The second of these terrain wreaths I made was gifted to a friend and based around her pirate character who had recently come into the ownership of a ship. I tried my hand at an underwater scene and crafting the bow of the ship using the same techniques from the original. |
Cassius' Spell Book
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For one of my favorite Dungeons and Dragons (5th Edition) Character concepts is a paranoid wizard named Cassius who is on the run from a powerful government. He was entrusted with secrets by a professor to guard and he keeps them tucked away in a journal/spell book that he keeps--everything inside written in his own code.
For this book I wanted to come up with a coded alphabet to translate everything into. The base for that can be seen in the photos. For any spells copied into his spell book I translated them 1 to 1 with his coded alphabet. Any of his personal journal entries were double coded with the alphabet and the use of a Shift Cypher that was coded to the date of the entry as well as the page number it was on. For the symbols accompanying each spell I searched for some symbols relating to the components needed for each spell and many incorporate alchemy symbols and other bits that relate to what the spell does.
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Ollie's Journal
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Another character I played for quite a while is Ollivandra, an Aasimar Warlock/Artificer who was obsessive about taking notes on everything--she wanted to keep records of all her adventures and everything she learned. With this in mind, she crafted her own journal before leaving on her first adventure. I decided I would do the same to use as a practical journal during the campaign for all of her notes.
I used scrap leather that matched her teal/white/and orange aesthetic and sewed in the packs of paper with a heart pattern up the spine to fit her happy and optimistic personality.
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Miscellaneous D&D/Gaming Projects
With the release of Dimension 20's show, A Court of Fey and Flowers, I wanted to put together a cosplay of Rue, an Owlbear fey. I began work on a mask to portray the Owlbear form made out of cardboard layered and sculpted for the shape. Glued fur on top that was dyed and painted in with details. Eyes remain unfinished, but the base is half a clear ornament that will have a black mesh added so it can be seen through, but appear black.
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A number of years ago, I knit an ugly Christmas sweater for my dog with a Dungeons and Dragons theme that I designed myself. I went through and knit the main body of the sweater and came back in to sew in the knitted design on top. The design has a large 20-sided die, multiple weapons and shields, and 2 dragons at the top and bottom crisscrossing across the sweater.
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Ollie's older brother, Dodger, was a Tiefling Cleric who was played by a friend and had a rogue-ish quality to him. His magical focus was a lucky coin on a chain, and he followed the goddess whose domain was fate. Ollie and Dodger had a very "Oliver and Company" vibe in some ways, and that became something we played on a bit. As a gift for my friend who plays Dodger, I designed this small embroidery related to Dodger.
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Much of our game room at home has a hexagonal design to mimic a D20, so these shelves were the perfect addition over our game shelf. To bring them in with theming even more I had the thought to paint them like Settlers of Catan terrain tiles. This is an in-progress photo of the desert tile as the project is still in progress.
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