Ray guns made from junk are the "weapon of choice" these days for former policeman Sean Boyd. Central Otago reporter Lynda van Kempen visited the Clyde man, who is making his living as a junk artist.
The Galacton Warper, the Zeplina Power Module, the Plasma Distillinator and Cyborg Stellanating Receivanator all had their origins in a Clyde garage.
Sean Boyd's junk art business has "exploded", he says.
The 43-year-old recycles all sorts of things to create science-fiction/Steampunk-style ray guns, lamps, jetpacks and "odd curiosities".
The items are bought by collectors all around the world. Prices average about $750 but can reach $3500 and each item has a "ridiculous and humorous story attached to it that is based around the item being requested by a fictional character and unfortunately the item never functions as planned and so ends up being for sale on this site as an ornament only".
His ray guns are designed to look and feel real - some look new, while others are scratched, worn and dented "as if they were discovered during an archeological dig on Mars".
Boyd is earning a crust as a self-described junk artist - a far cry from his previous jobs as a policeman and then a probation officer.
"Every piece is a one-off and I get inspiration from looking at whatever material I'm recycling - using my imagination to see what amazing creation it could be turned into.
"The time it takes to make each item varies from a couple of hours to up to a week, toing and froing, adding bits and pieces."
One of the ray guns produced for the Otago Daily Times photo was created from a mix of items that included an old New York teapot, a laundry tap, a sink tap, a vase and a metal holder for a citronella candle.
Central Otago WasteBusters, a recycling operation based in Alexandra, is where he gets his source material.
Boyd has always been creative but his path to becoming a full-time designer and artist was a convoluted one.
Along the way were a wide assortment of jobs, including takeaway cook, oyster farmer, and security person for the Chelsea Football Club.
At the age of 17, while living in Auckland, he decided to join the police.
"It was the last year of the old cadetship scheme, where people aged 17 to 19 could join up. I was 63kg at the time and they looked at me and said: 'Come back when you've got a chest.'
"I looked at reapplying when I turned 21 but decided I hadn't had enough experience of life so thought I'd do some more stuff first."
That "stuff" included living and working around Europe. When he was 26, he finally joined the police.
"I had a great time and it was an exciting career and then I worked on the [Mt Wellington-Panmure] RSA murder [in 2001] as an attachment to the CIB. That was a game-changer for me. I resigned and went back over to the UK for three years."
Returning home, he went back to policing, working first in Balclutha and then transferring to Alexandra, where he spent five years as a constable.
"I have no regrets about joining the police. It's a great career for anyone and is unique in offering so many opportunities under one umbrella."
The five-year stint in Alexandra was enough and he took another "detour", working as a probation officer for a year.
"I wanted to make a difference and believed a large percentage of the offenders we dealt with were artistic and thought if they were involved in creative things and had a creative outlet, that would steer them away from offending. They had abilities but were using them in the wrong way.
"If we focused on their personality type and found out what made them tick, instead of just labelling them as an offender, I thought we could help them more."
His views meant he "butted heads" with the establishment, so he left the probation service to start up his junk art and design business.
"I'd always had a passion for that and had been doing my junk art on the side and it has been going from strength to strength, so it grew to the point I could earn a living from it."
Coupled with that, he had already come up for an idea for a new snow sled, which was the catalyst for a separate business, one that has also proved successful.
This year his sled business - Snolo Sleds Ltd - was third-equal in the national ANZ Flying Start business plan competition.
"I wanted to have fun in the snow and I don't ski or snowboard and any sleds I found were so lame, so I thought I'd make one that wasn't lame."
The United States is his biggest market for the carbon-fibre sleds he developed and he has designed a new one, which will hit the market in January.
"It's a really sexy beast," he says of the new design.
Being his own boss is one of the biggest perks of Boyd's new career, which also fits easily around his duties as Dad to daughter Elliott (6) and son Olly (9).
"Now I can do my own thing and even if my ideas and designs seem strange and a bit out there, it doesn't matter . . . I can run with them."
