Category: Crafts

B-Gifts

I made some stuff! It was only after I started this post did I realize this was all given to me by Bernard!

The kuma crystal puzzle was much trickier to assemble than I expected but goes together well and locks together with a plastic screw! He fits in the palm of my hand and now sits in the new curio.

A kiwi kit he gave me after NZ! It took milliseconds to assemble and is probably the easiest puzzle I’ve ever made. But is it lifelike?

And lastly another kiwi, this time from the same people that made the tuatara. A lovely little kit, and impossibly cute when complete. I’m going to believe this is what real-life kiwis look like πŸ™‚

I’ve got loads of other craft/model kits to make. There’ll be many more posts like this as the year continues…

Birthday Aquisitions #5: The Rest

A few months ago KLS and I found this in a local arcade:

I was dazzled, not just by the fact it was the worlds largest Pac-Man, but by the fact it used a giant bank of LEDs for the display:

So imagine my surprise when Florence sent me this for my birthday:

It’s a Pac-Man clock using LEDs for the display! And it animates!

The animations are of Pac-Man being chased by or chasing the ghosts, and are perfect recreations of the arcade sprites and colours. All using just LEDs:

I love it and it’s proudly displayed in my study! Thanks Florence!

Now I know we’ve been doing the birthday thing for days now and it’s obscene how much stuff I got but this next item – speaking two weeks down the road from my actual birthday – has turned out to be the thing I have used the most:

Yep, a ‘gherkin fork’! I have taken to occasionally buying gherkins and they’re just not the same unless eaten with a quality long fork. Yes I know it’s metal and yes I’m a weirdo that doesn’t like metal in his mouth but for this fork and a delicious gherkin I’m making an exception!

Mum and Dad: maybe I’ll bring one to Oz next time to replace the one that ‘got lost’ πŸ™‚

There’s a few other gifts I was going to list today (a sterling engine, the new Zelda, some tools…) but they will likely get their own posts eventually. I’ll end with one last item, very recently received in the mail from none other than Bernard:

A 3D Rilakkuma model! As with the Pac-Man clock had I known this existed I would have bought it for myself already!

So there you have it: a mostly comprehensive series of posts documenting much of what I got for my birthday. Too much to be true, and – since I bought much of it myself – tailor made for me. 

I’ll end with a request: Of all the items I listed this week, what item(s) would you most – or least – like to own yourselves? 

You never know. If it’s a Guy N Smith novel maybe I can make your wish come true πŸ˜‰

Cardboard Tuatara

I got this for Xmas from someone who had recently been to NZ:

It’s a craft kit of a tuatara!

All cardboard, with minimal instructions and included glue:

It took me about 10 minutes to assemble:

I should have taken an in-progress shot. I’ll remember that when I make the other kit πŸ™‚