Cephalopod Productions

steampunk scroll wheel

Tom PM — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:42:25 +0000

Yes, I’m back blogging here, and I’m pretty happy to be. Because that means I now have some free time to put on projects, rather than on school stuff only. As usual, I’ve kept myself busy throughout the semester with a bunch of projects. I will write other articles on these projects soon, but for now I present you the last one I worked on : a steampunkish scroll wheel (something that serves the same purpose as the scroll wheel on your mouse but bigger, smoother and who turns by itself for a little while when you give it a spin).

First inspired by a post on Make , I decided to build this little thing because it would be quite useful in some of the programs I use usually and because I wanted a project to try the new dremel tool I just bought. But rather than making one like all the other ones you can see on instructables, made in a plastic box and merely kluged together, I wanted mine to look well in addition to work well. That’s why I choose brass and maple wood as the main materials for it, note that all the hardware, mouse circuit, counter, piece of brass, well, all the things that composes this project were salvaged from old radios or recuperated from various sources. Next are some build pictures, because we all like that kind of images…

album commission

Tom PM — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:03:10 +0000

No posts for along time here…been busy on my new webcomic and the usual university stuff. Also, during this period of time i got a couple of new commissions, one of them being the production of a limited edition run of albums for a friends of ours. This commissions consisted in making approximately 200 cd covers by hand using stencil and screen print. The albums were made on recycled cardboard on which we sprayed the background color with a hand-cut stencil. To save us some time, we worked on large cardboards (32″ x 40″) on which we could make 15 albums at a time. Actually, we’re pretty much done with the screen printing and we are moving on into the cutting, folding and gluing part. If you are interested, you can listen to the band’s music here : http://myspace.com/lesscieux

Now some in progress photos :

I finally started a webcomic

Tom PM — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 14:32:53 +0000

yup, and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for years! But finally, I decided I could afford to waste a bit of my time every week contributing a webcomic. I just realised it when i looked at the little comics I did recently and the rate at which I could make them…so let me introduce you to : a special set of circumstances: a slightly absurd webcomic about random situations.

a special set of circumstances

I will posting there once a week, on a random day. Hope you enjoy and spread the word!

musket and pistol props

Tom PM — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:08:20 +0000

here are the last props I did recently. They were commissioned by a guy who wanted them for a piratey halloween costume. The musket and pistols were based on the design of real antique pistols. Materials used are pine wood, maple wood, pvc tubing, styrene and metal sheet.

leather work

Tom PM — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:53:13 +0000

I did a bit of leather work too, something I had promised a friend a long time ago. And now I finally got around making his commission…

It is made completely of recycled leather and I used repurposed bearings for the goggles themselves, all sewn by hand with a lot of love…

futuristic laser pistol prop

Tom PM — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:43:14 +0000

Another thing that kept me busy these days and that I just completed recently is another futuristic prop I did for my enjoyment. it is some kind of laser pistol ans I inspired myself a bit from the fallout game weapons for this one.

It is made mostly out of mdf (as you will see because i took some rare build pics) and it was made in multiple pieces that could be painted and assembled after, to make things easier. I also added a little green led in the barrel that is switched on and off by the little metal switch on the top of the gun…last little feature is the unscrewable “cell” that is attached under the gun…here comes the pics :

coffin-shaped armoire, commission project

Tom PM — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:14:12 +0000

This is the main project that have kept me in the workshop these days…it’s was commissioned by a friend of mine for her new apartment. It is made entirely of pine wood and mdf, the sides are made using traditional panel and frame construction and the back is shiplapped. I think it is my most ambitious project to date and I’m really happy of how it turned out in the end considering that it was made in a very short period of time, my friend had given me a deadline 2 weeks after the commission.

some photos now…

cyberpunk computer prop done

Tom PM — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:04:07 +0000

I’ve been buried under projects recently, one coming after another and this happening during the back to school period just didn’t help to keep me updating this blog…anyway, now I’ve got photos and a couple of finished project to show up and some progress pics too.

So first project, one I already blogged about here is my cyberpunk inspired props, here are some final shots of the computer prop-thingy. It is made mostly out of mdf with two color styrene sheet screwed either side of the main mdf piece. there is a green led inside illuminating the little circuit board and the fan is working too.

cyberpunk project

Tom PM — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:15:23 +0000

I have seen blade runner recently…for the third time and really this movie is inspiring. So I started a little project with friends that revolve around a cyberpunk universe. The project in itself is a photoshoot that would need a good batch of props. And it is of these props that this post will talk about. I only have photos of one of the many props that I’m maing for this shoot but I thought it could interest someone to see how I was making them. So the pictures you see here are of the construction of a little computer thingie prop…

new england architecture

Tom PM — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:37:46 +0000

These last days I’ve been on a trip to new england…more specificaly to boston, salem, newport and the surroundings. I got there mainly to take photos because I’m a real architecture geek and new england’s architecture has always attracted me. I was also interested in trying to capture the feel of gloom, decrepitude and age that is present in Lovecraft’s stories, like the shadow over Innsmouth. So I took my camera, bought some film and got down to new england to try to achieve this goal. Upon seeing the photos, I think I was able to get that specific feel and I’m quite happy of the results. The only thing left to do is to find how am I going to use these photos, they sure will make awesome props…

Here are some of my favorites, put in black and white and aged a bit…feel free to use for any prop project that you might have or any other thing you could think of.