BoingBoing Part 2 - The Reboingening!

…And I was wondering why my cutting boards were flying off the shelves faster than I could repost them on Etsy (8 sold in the last 24 hours…I’m taking back-orders now for Space Invaders and only have 1 Triforce left in stock). The Internets have smiled on me, and I am grateful. Thanks to everyone that has been supporting me and sending nice words my way. I have really been enjoying this. It is actually going so well that I am doing research on how to become a small business. 1337motif could soon be going legit!  Check back soon for The Big News.

So it turns out when you spend 40+ hours just making the parts you will need to make a full Space Invaders cutting board as pictured in the previous post, you have essentially priced yourself out of the market before you have even thought about assembling the final board. So here I am with 9 “logs” of space invaders aliens, (you know that fancy sushi that has pretty designs in it…or maybe those sugar cookies you can buy in a tube with hearts or stars or something in the middle…that’s what I mean by logs), and nobody that wants to spend $500 on a cutting board (seriously…I thought you guys were my friends). So what did I do?

Introducing 1337motif’s first foray into the exciting world of handmade jewelry! Woot!

That’s right, necklaces. I am thinking about also making key chains, hair clips, and whatever else I can think of. I think they turned out really great. I gave a set to my lady-friend for her birthday, and I think they look even better on her than they do sitting on my desk. I’ll be putting some of these up on my Etsy store, so if you want to be cool like my girlfriend (and who can blame you), check it out.

In other news, I am working on a set of Space Invaders coasters as well (I know I should move on to a new game, but these aliens lend themselves so well to pixel-art…stay tuned for Mario themed swag in the not-too-distant future). Possible other big news very soon, but I don’t want to talk about it until it’s for sure (mysterious, no?).

That’s right folks, the Triforce cutting board is finished, and I’ve got to say, it is sweet. Check out these pics, and while you do, keep in mind that if you want to have the power, wisdom and courage of the Golden Power at your fingertips during your kitchen-adventures, I’d be happy to help make that dream a reality. E-mail me at cameron at 1337motif.com or check out my Etsy store.

And here’s one with a chef’s knife for scale (the board is about 12 x 17 x 1 1/2).

I have really enjoyed making these, and have already started on my next project, which will be a full layout of the Space Invaders arcade game (partial plans below…I’m still figuring out the right sizes for the barriers). As usual, I would be willing to make one of these for anyone that wants one, but they should be aware that I’ll probably have to charge significantly more for this one than previous designs because of the time it will take to make them. I’ll post a picture and more specifics when I finish the first one.

I have also thought of a lot of other ideas for possible video-game themed pixel-art cutting boards (Pac-Man, the ghosts /cherries/whatever else from Pac-Man, Mario, mushrooms/flowers/the leaf from Mario, etc.), as well as Space Invaders coasters and Donkey Kong bookshelves, and the only thing it would take for me to actually make one is for someone to be willing to pre-order so I don’t end up with half a dozen super sweet cutting boards and no money for rent (I’m not sure that my landlady would be too stoked about getting paid in old-school video game housewares).

I am almost done with the first set of 5 triforce cutting boards, and I have to say, they are looking pretty sweet. They are taking quite a bit longer than I expected them to, but I am still pretty stoked about them. Here’s a picture of them about an hour before I stopped working on them today (plus a glimpse at part of our workshop…exciting, no?).

These are going to be totally awesome when they are done, and I am jealous of those of you that get the first several copies (I’m sure I’ll make one for myself eventually, but I’ve got some other sweet ideas, and seriously, how many cutting boards does one man need). As usual, interested parties should contact me at cameron at 1337motif dot com.

Ok, not the whole thing…but still. I am just about to leave for a week of vacation with my family, but I figured before I go, I might as well whet everyone’s appetite for the Triforce cutting board. Here’s what I have so far (keep in mind, it’s only part of the board, and it’s still got dried glue all over it). Actually, the final product will be about the size of the placemat that the triangle is sitting on, so that works out nicely.

It is going pretty well, and I have my first batch of 5 of these babies a little more than halfway done, so when I get back next week, I’ll be able to finish them off and send them out to the lucky people that e-mailed me first (more will follow, but I didn’t want to start out with a batch of 15 and then find out halfway through that I was doing it wrong). If this picture makes you need one of these, send an e-mail to cameron at 1337motif dot com, and I’ll get back to you when I get back in town. I’m charging $125 plus shipping per board (Space Invaders boards are $100…I know the Triforce ones seem simpler, but they actually require three additional steps, and take a significantly longer time to make).

Thanks to everyone that has been excited about this stuff. I think it’s pretty great when people can geek out over something like a cutting board, and it’s really been fun for me to get to be mildly internet-famous for a few days.

So I am at work today when I get a call from Peggy telling me that Matthew has just called her from New Haven (Connecticut) to tell her that my Space Invaders cutting board is on BoingBoing!

CRED EXPLOSION!!!!

I was shocked. I left work early to go manage comments, send e-mails, call friends and family that would know what a big deal getting posted on boingboing would be, etc. Since this afternoon, I have had at least 6 people contact me wanting to buy the Triforce board, and one wanting to take the extra copy of the Space Invaders one off my hands. I’m so stoked. HUGE THANKS TO MELISSA, who submitted this to boingboing in the first place.

I just recently finished my Space Invaders cutting boards, and I have to say, they turned out awesome. I don’t have my digital camera with me right now, so I can’t post a picture just yet, but they are seriously sweet (and I made an extra one to sell, so let me know if anyone’s interested). So now that I have finished that project, I am about to start on the next thing, which is aTriforce cutting board. So here are my current plans:

So I have one question for all the Zelda geeks out there (and anyone else that might have an opinion). In the original Legend of Zelda game, thetriforce is a right triangle (as in a 45,45,90 triangle) made up of four smaller right triangles (or I guess technically three smaller right triangles and one right-triangular void). In every other Zelda game, comic, bad cartoon, t-shirt, tattoo, etc. that I have ever seen, the triforce is an equilateral triangle. So the obvious question is, which one do I use? My natural inclination is to go with the equilateral triangles, because that is by far the most common version, but I could see an argument for the original as well. Either way, it’s gonna be rad to the max for sure, and I’ll probably make an extra one of those, too, so speak up if it turns out that this is the one thing that you feel has been missing from your life.

My sister and her boyfriend got me these sweet wall decals for Christmas (from thinkgeek.com), and I have only just finished putting them up after a month of vetting their positions with my friends.

I think that they are awesome, and that they go especially well with my Tetris bookshelves.

My roommate and I are pretty in to this whole 8-bit aesthetic (in our last apartment, he spent 3 months painting his room like the Bubble Man level from Mega Man 2…sadly, that had to be painted over during the move). I have a couple of other ideas on how to continue with this motif (a…leet motif if you will), including plans to make a really nice walnut and hard maple Space Invaders end-grain cutting board (12.5″ X 18.75″). Here’s a rendering I did using Google’s SketchUp (free CAD software) to get an idea of how it will look.

There’s something really appealing to me about geeking out as much of my domestic stuff as possible as I “grow up”. And now, in the interest of crass commercialism and self-promotion, I am going to make at least one extra of these cutting boards, and if anyone would like to join me in reliving their youth through video-game-themed kitchen accessories (or bookshelves), we can talk deal. I am also trying to figure out if it would be possible to make a triforce cutting board, so if anyone wants to fund my endeavors by buying one, that would be sweet.

I don’t know if this is interesting to anyone but me, but if I only post on here when I have something incredibly fascinating to say, I’ll never end up posting anything, so here goes. For the past several months, woodworking has been essentially my only creative outlet, and I have really been enjoying getting to make some things that I have designed myself (not that making furniture with/for my dad’s business isn’t satisfying, but making my own stuff is really cool). It started with the Tetris shelves, and since then I have turned a couple of bowls on the lathe, and for Christmas, I made a table that was commissioned by a friend for her husband. The bowls, while very nice, are not terribly exciting, but the table is another story. A friend called a couple of months ago asking if I could make something like this for her husband for Christmas. I thought it was an awesome concept, but since the thing is going to be a table 99% of the time, I figured I ought to spruce it up a bit. This is what I ended up with.

More pictures after the cut!

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So I have had a few people ask me if I have considered making these bookshelves commercially available, and the answer is emphatically yes! One of my part-time jobs is scheduled to come to an end sometime in January or February, and I don’t have anything lined up to take its place at the moment, so if anyone would like to order a set of these, it would actually work out pretty well for me. Feel free to contact me either through the comments here or via e-mail if you are interested, and we can work out the details (wood type, color, quantity, etc.).