What can Prototype Builder Tommy “Bones” build? Keep reading to find out!

Tommy “Bones” has worked on the build line at Inventionland for less than a year, but during this time, he has continued to mold into the position as well as the creative work environment.

“Everybody was so welcoming,” Tommy said.

As you probably know by now, our 61,000 square-foot creative design facility sparks the interest of many, but for Tommy in particular, it was a job posting that he found on Craigslist that first piqued his interest in working at Inventionland.

“It’s funny how I got this job,” Tommy said. “I saw the ad on Craigslist and it said ‘Model Maker’, which struck my interest,” he said.

It was those two words – “Model Maker” – that made Tommy feel that this job listing could potentially be a great fit for him, largely because of his own personal hobbies and interests.

What are those hobbies, you may be wondering?

“In my free time, I build models,” he said. “Mini cars, model rockets, dioramas and space stations! Space stations are what I build the most of. It was the materials that I was collecting that kind of spoke to me, so I just started gluing things together. I started building in college and I’ve been doing that for a really long time.”

Tommy said that he has been collecting reclaimed materials for years and he uses those collected materials for his model-making, molding and casting projects.

“I just like the idea of reclaiming materials and reusing things that somebody else would throw away,” said Werner. “It’s like uncovering a treasure. Seeing the gift and treasure in something as simple as a Chapstick tube or a bottle cap and using that stuff… it’s creating a new intention for what it was previously used for.”

It’s creative minds like Tommy’s that can turn something seemingly ordinary into something extraordinary.

Just take a look at his space-inspired creations!

Scratch Build Lunar Satellite Model

Space Station

Scratch Build Spacecraft

“Space. It’s just fast. There’s no end to it. It seems so pioneer to me,” Werner said.

For these space-age works of art, Werner said that he used anything he could find.

“Printer parts, medical supplies. Whatever somebody throws away, I try to use and salvage,” he said.

Werner discovered and collected a lot of his material at a place near Pittsburgh’s Construction Junction called A Creative Reuse, where he often finds lots of materials he can use.

“For those space stations, I used little vials, plastic adapters and tubes and put [them] together. They had garbage bags full of these types of things, so now I have this great surplus that somebody threw away,” said Tommy.

Speaking of great surpluses of useful materials, Werner was intrigued when he first began work at Inventionland and saw the “Magic Bins” that house an abundance of materials that the build line can utilize for various projects.

For Werner, the “Magic Bins” reminded him of the plethora of materials that he has at home. But that’s not all; the creative energy he saw in his fellow Creationeers was something he could relate to.

“These people build like I build!” he said. “It’s so easy to come to work here, because you get to do what you love. Not too many people can say that. I get to work with all of these fantastic people that have so much more knowledge than I do and [I] learn from them and work with them. The cooperative that we have here in itself is unique, on top of the very unique working environment.”

If he’s not at Inventionland building something, you might find him at home working on his space creations or even model cars, another interest of Tommy’s.

“I’m very interested in making models and within my process of how I make models, I don’t want to build and make it look like the front of the package. I want to make it look weathered and old and have chipped paint and rust, and everything like that,” said Tommy who said he appreciates the authentic and vintage aesthetic this gives such projects.

They are all works that he can enjoy, and others can enjoy as well.

“I show in galleries and just have really cool things hanging around my apartment – things I like to look at,” he said.

Copyright Inventionland, 2016