Whenever I see really cool projects like this Portal gun, I always feel like maybe I should have taken metal shop in high school or something. It also makes me realize I have no idea how to work with materials of pretty much any substance. To that end, I’ve always thought about learning how to vacuum form plastic. There’s a great site I found on creating a cheap (<$50) vacuum former you can use at home. Might make some of these crafts achievable. There’s a great walkthrough on Instructables for it (by the same guy). Here’s the vacuum former in action: