I have not forgotten the project. I knew when I started this I would only be working on it a bit at at time. I filled in the corrugated part of the cardboard with PVA glue. This has helped reinforce the edges, and will help prevent them from collapsing from being handled.

The next step was to install the barrel. I'm using a half inch PVC pipe to make the barrel. This makes it a .50 caliber handgun, just the thing for dealing with those pesky cyborgs. I drilled a hole in the front of the gun large enough for the pipe, then glued a short section of pipe down inside. You want the pipe deep enough for the insides to disappear in darkness. The barrel sticks out a bit more than on real pistols, but that's OK.


After that, sanded off the corners of the grip. Not a lot, just enough to make the edges feel round when I hold it. A Dremel tool makes this go real quick.


The last thing I've done is cover the entire thing in foil tape. This will give the gun the right texture. I was careful on the large sections to use single pieces, without lots of overlapping and criss-crossing, because those lines will show up once it's all done. I left a seam between the slide and the frame, like on real semi-auto pistols. I'm not overly concerned with the mess I made on the grip, as I will eventually be wrapping that.


The next step will be to add the trigger and bits of detailing, like sights, a fire mode selector, and random bits of texture so the gun doesn't appear so plain. I am considering creating a hand guard instead of a trigger guard. I think that will give the gun a unique profile. After that, it's time to paint and weather the gun. Accessories can be made after the pistol is finished and glued on later. Part 3 will be up once I have enough done to make a decent post.

I have been decorating my home off and on, as time and money permits, since I moved in three years ago. But I began thinking about how I wanted to decorate when I moved back to Orlando after college. I never intended to do much with my apartment, but I didn't want to live in a college bachelor's pad forever, so I started thinking about what I did want for the time when I had my own home.

I have always wanted something fantastic; something beyond the ordinary world. I remember one of my first thoughts being of some of the decor in Disney Quest. There were dark blue carpets with arcane mathematical symbols drawn out in gold. The decorations were made of bronze and had a retro space look (think of the way the 60's thought the future would look). The ceiling was dark and had fiber optic lights embedded in it so it looked like a star field. It was a whole other world.


Another major influence was the Lord of the Rings movies. I love the look of Bag End and Rivendell. That realistic fantasy look Peter Jackson got in the Lord of the Rings movies summed up how I wanted my house to look.




Later, I thought of Islands of Adventure. Specifically of the Lost Continent and Port of Entry portions. The Port of Entry had the feel of an Arabian bazaar, the kind of place Sinbad or Aladdin would be found. The Lost Continent was a mix of mythical Greece and Arthurian legend.

The last bit of inspiration for decorating came from the video game Morrowind. The architecture was fantasy without being the standard medieval fantasy style, something I appreciated in the game.

Now, my house doesn't look like any of these. It would be quite difficult to weave all these disparate styles into one cohesive whole that looked good without being over the top or garish. I don't think I have the artistic vision to manage such a thing, much less the skill to implement it. But despite the different looks of these games and movies and theme parks, there was a common thread: they were all representations of far off, exotic, fantastic lands. These are the places where the stories happen. These are the locales through which heroes and villains move. These are where adventure takes place.

My home has more Asian influence, from my own real life adventures in the far off land of Thailand, and not near as much of the fantastic element as is found in my sources of inspiration. Still, I am pleased with the direction my home is going. My goal has always been to create a home that feels like it is from the stories. The kind of home where it wouldn't look out of place for a knight to hang up his sword, or an archaeologist his whip, or for a party of dwarves to stop by on their quest for long forgotten gold. The kind of home where you start your adventures, and keep the relics and treasures you acquired on your past ones.

I have always had trouble articulating my vision. Part of that was simply that early on, I only had a vague notion of what I wanted. I saw many things and thought, "that looks neat, I want my home to look like that." But with such a mish mash of styles that didn't give anything coherent to work with. And as my ideas solidified, I realized that I wanted something a little stranger than merely adding accents from a far off culture or ancient civilization. Decorating in a Mediterranean or Oriental style, or with faux relics of ancient Egypt, is not that unusual. Indeed, this is largely the approach I have taken. But I have always wanted something beyond this world; something beyond the edge of reality and into fantasy. That's just too weird for most people. I am a geek, and am familiar with people's reactions and rejections when you show interest or excitement in something that's not normal. So I tend to keep my mouth shut about my hobbies and ideas. This has made describing what I'm trying to do difficult. It has also made implementing my idea problematic, since what I want doesn't actually exist in the real world.

Still, I like how it's turning out. The base furniture and architecture isn't fantastic, and at the moment, I am adding pictures and souvenirs from my travels. I like the exotic, traveled look it gives. But I still need to find more stuff that has that fantastic element to it. Many of the items I've decorated with can be found if you travel the world (or order off the internet), but I want a few things from places you can only travel to in your imagination.