DIY: Combine function and whimsy with this Etch A Sketch coffee table
The DIY blogs are littered with tutorials on how to make your own coffee table using everything from pallets and suitcases to barrels and old windows. But what if your coffee table could be entertaining as well as beautiful? Caleb Kraft has done just that with his working Etch A Sketch coffee table.
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According to Caleb Kraft for Make Magazine: "I’ve had this project kind of bouncing around my brain for a long time. I wanted a coffee table that worked like a giant etch a sketch. On the visual side though, I didn’t just want a giant etch a sketch. The image of a zen garden kept popping up when I would envision this project.
After a bit of research, it would appear that I wasn’t the only person who had these ideas. There are some other really cool projects out there like the Zen Table and the giant motorized zen display you can see at Maker Faire . Both are incredible, but both are also motorized, rare, and expensive.
Ultimately, I wanted mine to work just like an etch a sketch with two giant knobs you could turn to move the ball bearing through the sand."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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