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I Turned My Workshop Into a Fantasy Cave

August 7, 2026 · 26 min · 664 views

Tony Stark built his first suit in a cave, with a box of scraps. So before finishing my own Iron Man suit, I spent two weeks turning one wall of my tiny workshop into a fantasy cave.

There are sculpted foam rock panels over a folding glass door, black industrial pipes for shelving, live edge teak shelves, real gauges and a 3D-printed art deco vent cover. There are glowing underground "mushrooms" made of COB LED strips in aluminum channels, and vibranium and palladium cast out of epoxy and LEDs. The unfinished suit hangs from chains in the middle of it all, just like in the movie.

Why a cave

I wanted my workshop to look like me. Woodworkers build beautiful wooden shops. Cosplayers cover their walls with helmets and swords. Mine had to reflect my inability to pick a single hobby, so it needed a theme and a backstory worthy of a D&D campaign: a room carved under a mountain by an exiled mage, found and claimed by someone who refuses to choose one discipline.

Also, Tony Stark built his first suit in a cave. The suit is the reason I lost 40 lbs (18 kg) in the first place, so it was getting a cave too.

What went wrong

The wall I wanted to cover is a folding glass door, and the Thai sun melted the double-sided tape holding my first plywood panels. Then my SawStop decided slightly humid sawdust was a finger and fired its brake twice. That cost me $300 in brakes and turned the table saw into a very expensive bench. Track saw it is.

The French cleat plan for removable panels died from tedium, and the expanding foam I used to fill the cracks made absolutely sure the door would never fold again. And when I finally opened the hot wire cutter I'd bought months earlier, a giant cockroach had been living inside the box, in my office, right next to me.

Foam, paint and lights

Blue XPS foam becomes rock with a hot knife, a hammer, and the metal body of a utility knife dragged across it at random angles. Random is the trick: anything that looks planned looks fake. And a respirator, because the fumes are nasty.

For weathering, I put on a coat of black paint, sealed everything with PVA glue and water, then did dark gray followed by progressively lighter dry brushing on the raised areas. It's basically diorama painting, just bigger: hide the seams between panels, and build up layers so it doesn't look flat.

I also showed some LED restraint, for once. The COB strips are controlled through WLED, and the lore justifies them as glowing fungus instead of rainbow mode.

After losing that weight, I finally fit into the Barbie shirt I bought three years ago. I'm Ken-ough.

Two weeks in a cave

  • 2 weeks of work
  • 40 lbs (18 kg) lost to fit inside the suit
  • $300 in SawStop brakes
  • One 24V 300W power supply for the LEDs

Watch it

Watch the full build on YouTube.

Gear and links

The links below are affiliate links, for which I earn a commission at no additional cost to you. It helps support the channel.

Toys and figurines:

LEDs:

3D models: