Hey Maestro, Nespresso!

It is done. Not perfect, but done, as the saying goes.

Here's what I learnt along the way:

The plastic it's made of is porous. The spray varnish I used seeped in and all but disappeared. Repeatedly. I gave up after three coats.

This also means that my Weldbond didn't bond. I resorted to the old 'add some spots of superglue' trick. Alas I forgot how quickly it dries: so one side panel's a bit wonky.

The reservoir's tricky. I used a photo of a real Nespresso reservoir I pulled off line and cloned together before printing to size onto photo paper. It looks OK as long as you don't get too close.

I would have happily spent some extra money on the piece if the reservoir was printed separately in a clear plastic. Or if it had been left off: I was contemplating sawing it off and replacing it with a piece of clear straw but suspected that would have ended in complete disaster, so left it as it was.

But, overall, I'm happy with the end result. And that I actually finished it.

And especially that I've set it up in the corner of that Airbnb scene that I've been struggling with for a couple of weeks. I'm hoping that's a good sign that I'm all wired up on it all fired up on it...

Saved by the sales bin

My plans to finish this week's Finish it off Friday challenge (a 3D-printed Nespresso machine from Shapeways, designed by Marion Russek) were foiled when my printer ran out of ink to print the water in the reservoir, Happily, when I popped into Officeworks to buy some, and had my usual rummage through the bargain bin, I discovered the perfect solution for the side pieces:

Presentation folders with teeny tiny corrugations on them, for 50 cents each. I bought several to add to my stash. (The roll of gold gift wrap was a $1.40 find at IKEA, but that's a different story...).

When I went to paint the relevant pieces of the Nespresso machine silver, I also realised I'd run out of silver paint (or, at least, seem to have mislaid it) but found a silver calligraphy pen which actually turned out easier in the circumstances. 

 I printed out a dodged-up photo of the reservoir my my new ink, to glue to the back of the machine, and cut the side and front panels from the folder cover.

 I spray-painted the panels matte silver and was quite pleased with the result.

Now I just have to wait for things to dry before I do the final assembly...

Finish it off Friday: needing a quick win

It's the Friday before the Friday before Christmas closedown (if that makes sense?) and I'm* feeling time dragging.

Especially when I knew that today was 'Finish it off Friday' and I hadn't planned anything.

So when I got home I decided that I needed a quick win so I could fulfil my (personally-inflicted) blogging commitment and move quickly onto the 'sprawling on the sofa with a glass of wine and a good magazine' part of the evening.

(Sadly, I realise that my box of unfinished kits looks pretty much the same as it did almost two years ago...)

Marion Russek's 3D-printed Nespresso machine fitted the bill nicely.

A bit of printing, gluing and spray varnishing and I should be done.

(*And, probably, everyone else!)

Playing with plastic (spoiler: it didn't go well)

I wanted so much to like the IDO3D pen set I won. It sounded like something that would be really useful for miniatures, and great fun to boot.

But it wasn't. At least not for me. It was difficult and sticky and time consuming and messy and frustrating.

I had some vague ideas of what I wanted to try making with the pens, and started with a tray.

The first surprise for me was that the ink wasn't as dark as I'd thought it would be. The green pen came out more the colour of radioactive sludge that the green I'd expected. 

It was impossible to keep the lines straight, and when I 'coloured' in the middle of my shape, there were a number of air bubbles. At this stage I was thinking that I hadn't quite got the technique as it was my first try.

The pen also leaked. Another thing I put down to my lack of experience.

I followed the instructions, and used the UV spotlight included in the set to dry the plastic shape.

Then I tried adding another layer of ink around the edge to start building up the sides of the tray.

 It didn't go well. I realised that this pen doesn't cope with building up, so my tray would have to be built in five parts and then combined. Not something I felt like doing. So I dried the end result and peeled it off the backing.

Which left a big sticky patch, which surprised me. The instructions had said to dry the shape for 30 seconds, and I'd dried each corner for that length of time (as the shape seemed too large to be covered completely by the light to dry all at once). This meant that drying this one piece took two minutes.

I decided it was a good first effort/ learning experience and moved in to my next idea: a lattice-work fruit bowl.

Using the plastic support, I drew a circle and then a lattice within it. The ink from the edge of the circle dripped down the side of the support, and the ink on the inside lines spread across, filling the spaces between. 

Once again, I found the actual colour of the pens to be disappointing, and the end result sticky and floppy.

Before I gave up completely, I decided to test the ability to build a 3D object by 'gluing' several flat pieces together with the ink, then drying the joins. By this stage I'd washed my hands several times with soap and warm water to try and get rid of the stickiness, without success (although I did succeed in making the taps sticky, the basin sticky and the towel sticky: don't even ask about my camera and keyboard!)

I drew some basic crate sides and dried them. And dried them. And dried them. And dried them Five shapes times two minutes per shape equalled ten (very boring and sticky) minutes in total.

Then I tried to attach them to each other.

Granted it did work, but the result was wonky and floppy and sticky, rather than the square and rigid and smooth that I'd imagined.

After telling myself that I couldn't expect perfection on my first try, I decided to check out the reviews on Amazon, which pretty much agreed that it wasn't me that was the problem.

If you want to learn more, here's a good review on YouTube.

Would I recommend the IDO3D pen set?
No.

Am I glad I didn't have to pay for this one?
Yes.

Would I give my set to a friend's children now I don't want it any more?
Only if I hated said friend. I'm not even going to donate it to the op shop. I'm not that mean. I will keep it, though,  in case I want to try again to see if my technique has improved and the stickiness is less of a problem on a second attempt...

Getting there eventually

 Back in October last year, I entered (and won!) a Spotlight Facebook contest with the prize of an IDO3D pen set.

It's been sitting on my desk ever since, waiting until I had the time and energy to focus on it (and the clear space to photograph it). Having had a whole weekend at home, I made the time to clean up at least part of my studio so I have space to work again. Which also meant space to unpack the IDO3D pen set and see what it's all about.

For such a large box, there's not very much in it:

instruction and tracing sheets, plastic forms to work on, two pens and pen tips, and a spotlight.

I start with the bits that need putting together before use.

The pens come with caps for shipping: unscrew these and screw on the tips that come with the kit.

I was a little surprised that the pens seem to be full of liquid plastic. I expected them to have some sort of extrusion instead: probably through my familiarity with 3D printers.

 Next, insert three AAA batteries into the spotlight.

(Unless they're not charged, in which case pop them in the charger and write a blog post while you wait for them to charge. *sigh*)

To be continued...

Finish it off Friday: In the can

The spray can, that is.

In a Shapeways order before Christmas (how could I not redirect some of my grocery budget when shipping was free?) I bought a milk crate. And when I was wondering what today's Finish it off Friday challenge would be I remembered this photo I took at Lyneham shops a couple of months ago and instagrammed:

and the 3D-printed spray paint can kit I bought at last year's AMEA Convention:

I figured it would be a suitably gentle return to Finish it off Friday.

So I spray painted the cans silver.

 Removed the lids from their printing base (a nasty job, which was followed by much sanding to try and make the lid tops flat.)

 I spray painted the lids various colours.

 And when I'd removed the cans from their printing base and sanded them, came up with an ingenious solution to hold them steady while painting the bases...

And in case you're beady-eyed enough to notice that there were four spray cans in the kit and only three in the scene, this is what I did with the missing one:

Yes, I know the label is a bit dodgy but I couldn't be bothered creating a better one from scratch. Perhaps I'll do that later today. Or perhaps I'll collapse on the sofa with a book and a glass of wine...

A quick coffee

 At your favourite cafe.

An early morning start

Well hello! You're here early: we're just opening up. If you'd like to wait a couple of minutes the coffee machine will be ready to go and we'll have the seating out.

Here, let me move these chairs so you can grab a water while you wait.

Perhaps you'd like to grab the comfy bench?

There's lots of room...

Or maybe hide down the back in  the corner?

Of course if you'd prefer to grab a seat outside, we'll have them out in just a tic.

A slight sidetrack for the sake of street art

Because you can't have a laneway cafe without a paste-up or two, can you?