MAKER MONDAY: Dollhouse today, bookshelf tomorrow

Dollhouse

If you’re thinking “Holy cow, that’s a big dollhouse,” you’re right.

Devon exercised his burgeoning woodworking skills on this house for our 8-year-old daughter, who plays with a mix of 18-inch dolls and smaller dolls. We knew she wouldn’t be able to resist crawling inside it, so he mounted it to the wall.

We like the idea of a dollhouse that will evolve into a bookshelf once she has replaced these toys with the 3D-printed tabletop variety.

Adults don’t stop playing with dolls. We just give them armor and spell resistance.

Devon’s build is adapted from the one on Ana White. He made a few changes, including the addition of roofing that he cut on our Glowforge. Over the next year, I will work with our daughter to decorate the inside.

MAKER MONDAY: Double, double, toil and trouble

We thought it would be fun to show you some of the projects we’re working on that aren’t related to 3D-printable gaming terrain. This curio is a work in progress, but it’s coming along nicely.

Most of this project consists of found items. We inherited the curio itself from Devon’s grandmother, and he removed the doors. The wands and other ceremonial items are from my collection, and we decorated bottles to look like potions. Some of the bottles are from our craft-supply stash, while others came from a trip to a Denver-area vintage/antiques store called Brass Armadillo. The skull on top is my good friend Steampunk Bob, who used to hold Crystal Head vodka. We gave him a makeover with Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks and a 3D-printed eye patch.

The coolest part is the glowing bottle on the top left. Devon filled it with mineral oil — which is non-conductive — and fairy lights, which he wired into the wall behind the curio so we never have to change batteries.

NEW RELEASE: When the walls are closing in, print a door

Stone doors and windows

“When God closes a door, he opens a window, but it's up to you to find it.” — author Jeanette Walls

Windows aren’t good alternatives to doors unless you’re breaking and entering. And what happens if God opens a window on the 10th floor? Also, closing the door and hiding the window seems like a dick move, but who am I to question God?

But I digress. This post is about terrain.

Check out Devon’s new release, which expands on the S-Series by adding a full set of doors and windows. He also updated the existing dungeon stone set with 1-inch wide arched windows and doors.

Visit our Patreon page for details and links to the free files.

Get in, gamers! We're doing bug stuff!

Welcome back, gamers and makers! We’re eager to get back to showing you some of the fun things we’re doing -- and hear about how you’ve been occupying yourselves during a hard couple of years.

Our games shifted entirely online at the start of the pandemic, so creating terrain for in-person games we couldn’t play has been both sad and an exercise in hope. But we’re about to start an in-person Starfinder campaign (Attack of the Swarm) with a few friends, and we couldn’t be more excited to be playing games in meatspace again. 

Devon and a friend have been working on a dice-roller app. It’s not ready for primetime yet, so I won’t link to it, but I’ll keep you updated. It’s been useful for complicated high-level rolls, making our high-level campaign run much more smoothly online.

Devon has been maintaining his regular monthly schedule releasing 3D-printable terrain files. You can find them for free at Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory. If you like them, please consider supporting our Patreon.

If you’re playing online, what apps are you using? We’re using Miro for our tabletop and Zoom for communication. These apps allowed us to complete Skulls & Shackles, a Pathfinder campaign that ran for three years. Online gaming is better than no gaming.