Alphabet weaving designs by Lee-Kuo

As Lee-Kuo was sitting in his classroom, the student next to him asked if he was bored, because Lee had just drawn the whole alphabet on a test sheet. These are amazing creations drawn with great skill and care. It is one single thread that creates each letter, take a look at the letter B which Lee made one evening. He never stops making his parents proud of him, fantastic Lee-Kuo.

lovely drawings of weaving patterns from Lee-Kuo

lower case letters

amazing alphabet weaving patterns drawn on the back of a test sheet

close-up of the marvelous drawing skill and idea

a different version using 3 pins and his woven letter B

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Popsicle stick CD rack

I designed this CD rack for my students. It’s made entirely from popsicle sticks. You will need a special 15 mm thick stick if you wish to make one. After the first design for my students I designed the special curved rack for my 10 CD music collection. They look great!!! and are very easy to make.

a very easy popsicle stick cd rack designed for my students

this was my first design which is very easy for young children

this is my second design specifically for my 10 CD music collection

a happy student with her CD rack

another happy student with his CD rack

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Head Over Heels – The maps

A long time ago when I was a teenager, I played with my Sinclair Spectrum. The games were lots of fun and it was so easy to program your own music and scrolling games. Head over heels is a classic isometric game and this is a magnificent, beautifully rendered version ported for the mac by RETROSPEC. The graphics are simply superb and the music never gets boring. What you will find here are hundreds of screenshots sewn together to create the maps for each level. I did this for my son who was very small at the time and so now he decided he would like others to benefit from having the maps.

BLACKTOOTH click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

MOONBASE HQ click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

MOONBASE 1 click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

MOONBASE 2 click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

DUNGEONS click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

SAFARI click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

EGYPTUS click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

BOOKWORLD click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

FREEDOM click on the picture to open the map, please wait, it is really big!!!!!

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Popsicle stick treasure box

This is not an original idea but nevertheless a wonderful craft for children to make. With just one packet of 50 large sticks you can make this beautiful treasure chest for those small things in life. I have made this craft with all my students and they still use them today.

a very simple popsicle craft for children and adults

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Crochet finger dusters

Here is another wonderfully simple but very cute crochet project for the weekend. My wife made these to give away as gifts and they really are useful for dusting small objects. The pattern comes from a Japanese crochet book. Until the next post, happy crocheting.

a great gift for friends, crochet finger dusters

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Pyramid maze, designed by Lee-Kuo

When the winter vacation began, Lee-Kuo designed another wonderful maze, this time in the shape of a pyramid. He used the exact angles as the pyramids of Giza and we created a 3d model to help us make the paper model. It was not easy drawing the paper model especially with many strange angles but we succeeded. After we made it many people have had lots of fun trying to get the ball through the maze. Click here for the 3d model

the pyramid base with strengthening bars

the side with strengthening bars

the base and first level walls

level 2 and walls

level 3 and walls

the top

the finished pyramid maze

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DIY, 1 Watt 8Ω Hi-Fi amplifier

After making the speakers we needed an amplifier to drive them so we found this lovely little project on the internet. All the components were easily available and we etched the PCB ourselves. It took 2 afternoons over the weekend to completely finish from etching to switching on. It sounds great and Lee-Kuo is really pleased to have sound from his iPod. For lots more projects including this amplifier click here.

inside the black box

view from the front

view from the back with all connections

Wow!! what a great combination, and so easy to build

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Mini miniature golf, hole 13

We finally finished hole 13 and here it is. It’s called “left turn” and is not easy to get a hole in one. We took the dimensions from a 3d model we made, this makes it so much easier to find the correct angles and lengths. Until the next hole, good putting.

hole 13, in Lee-Kuo's beautiful miniature golf series

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Mini 10W 8Ω speakers for DIY amplifier

Lee-Kuo found a new pair of speakers in our local electronics shop, which gave him the idea to build little speaker boxes and drive them with a self built amplifier. He designed the box with a bass port at school and we did a quick rendering in Cinema 4d to see if it would look good. I cut the wood and sanded it in about half an hour and Lee-Kuo did the soldering and electrical connections. We are really pleased with the results and they sound really powerful.

all the pieces for the mini speaker

the cinema 4d rendering before we made the real thing

the real thing

the final set-up with the 1 Watt self built amplifier

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Paper weaving

I find something so simple and easy to make like paper weaving, is great for children to get into mixing colours. I prepared all the strips of paper in many colours and cut the origami paper. My students then weaved the paper and made a frame from popsicle sticks. They look great hanging on a wall.

paper weaving made easy

one sheet of origami paper and strips of coloured paper

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