Some of the very best letters I get come from people who have built things to give as gifts, a case in point:

Dear jake,

I really have enjoyed your site, especially the bus conversion.  I really like how you talk about using found objects and have so many pictures showing your process as you work on your projects.  My husband showed me your site last year and proceeded to drool, so when he got dual monitors for his edit system and needed a monitor stand, I knew just what to do.

. . .

Yours in Mad Science!
Amy

You sure did Amy - Awesome work! Thanks!

Much more after the cut.

My good friend Rich Nagy built this beautiful brass widescreen monitor and has put it on eBay!

This is a one-of-a-kind 22" widescreen LCD built by Richard Nagy aka "Datamancer" of www.datamancer.net. This display was built to compliment the brass keyboards I build and sell on my site (keyboard not included in this auction...just the LCD).

The frame is solid 1/4-inch brass that has been sanded and polished to a high shine. The base features a mixture of brass and black marble with a small brass "cord catch" to keep the power and data cords tidy. The LCD buttons have been moved to the rear of the monitor and remade from brass.

This particular LCD is going to be seen in an upcoming, modernized, arthaus/indy/slasher remake of the old Nosferatu silent film along with a custom keyboard that has runes on the keys. The film is being made by Red Scream Films LLC. and looks like it's going to be really cool.

The Steampunk Keyboard looked terribly anachronistic sitting in front of my Dell 1907FP flat panel monitor and while I hesitated to tear open a $300 monitor that was still under warantee, art must be served.