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Jack-o'-lanterns, a pet monster and a sleigh

Three seasonal builds from 2019 and 2020 that only ever lived on the old portfolio page: scorched pallet-wood lanterns, a light-up monster and a plywood sleigh.

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A light box glowing red with a monster silhouette behind a small girl, on a shelf beside skeleton figures and a pumpkin-headed statue
A light box glowing red with a monster silhouette behind a small girl, on a shelf beside skeleton figures and a pumpkin-headed statue
By Daniel Hollands
2 min read
Jack-o'-lanterns, a pet monster and a sleigh

As part of my ongoing restoration of maker.rip, I’m writing up the projects from the old version of this site that never got a post of their own.

Three more rescued from the old site’s portfolio page. They don’t have much in common beyond a holiday each.

Jack-o’-lanterns

Seven tall jack-o'-lantern lanterns made from scorched pallet wood, with triangular eyes and jagged mouths cut into them, lined up on the workbench

Built with sale on Etsy in mind, seven of these were batched out during a week off using reclaimed pallet wood. The finish was achieved using a blowtorch to scorch the surface, then sealed with a waterproof varnish. Each one has a different face.

Three of the lanterns in the sun on a garden wall, each with a different cut-out face Close-up of one lantern's face: two triangular eyes, a small triangular nose and a crooked mouth cut through the charred pine

They were my first ever Etsy listing, and my first ever sale. For lighting I tested some flame-effect LEDs driven by an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express, with a script that sets them orange and randomly fades them in and out. Better looking than plastic tealights, and safer than candles.

Three of the lanterns on the grey garden table under the pergola, with a ginger and white cat sitting in front of them

Pet monster

A black square frame with a red panel, showing only the silhouette of a small girl, on a desk with the light off

Each year I like to build at least one Halloween project, so for 2020 I took a concept I’d originally had in 2016 and evolved it. The general idea is that the monster is the girl’s imaginary friend, only visible to people that believe, hence it being invisible until you switch the light on.

The same frame lit from behind, revealing a large furry monster silhouette looming over the girl The lit frame on a shelf beside three skeleton figures and a pumpkin-headed statue

Plywood sleigh to display Christmas gifts

A plywood sleigh with curled runners and scrolled sides on a workbench in the workshop

Commissioned by my friend Emma, who was inspired by a desktop ornament, this is a simple build designed to display Christmas gifts. It’s about 900mm long and around 500mm wide and high, built from three 1220×606mm panels of 12mm plywood from Wickes. The sides were shaped with a trim router following a template I cut out of MDF with a jigsaw, which worked on one side and took chunks out of the other. It comes apart to store flat, which is handy because I couldn’t think of how I’d fit it in my car any other way.

A ginger and white cat sitting inside the unpainted plywood sleigh on a living room floor

Emma painted it herself, with plans for an LED garland.

The sleigh's sides painted bright red, drying on a board balanced on a sewing machine stand in a tiled hallway The finished sleigh, red with silver runners, full of wrapped presents and gift bags against a red wall

I then built it again from MDF so I could document the process for an Instructable, my first, submitted on the final day of the First Time Authors contest. One of 185 entries, one of 19 finalists, and a runner-up somewhere in the bottom ten. The top prize was a DSLR. I got a t-shirt.

other-builds
maker-rip-restoration halloween christmas etsy instructables plywood pallet-wood
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