About This Forge

Restless Forge is a one-person workshop. I'm Ken. I build tools because I can't stop building things, and I share them because useful things shouldn't be locked behind sign-up walls.

Why I Build

I started building tools to solve my own problems. The first was a calculator to figure out what my time was actually worth — not my salary, but my real hourly wage after commute, taxes, and the hours I spent recovering from work. That became What Is My Time Worth?

Then I wanted to make hologram GIFs for a pyramid projector and couldn't find a decent tool that didn't require a subscription. So I built HoloPath — a 13-stage rendering pipeline that turns any image or video into animated holographic art, entirely in the browser.

SandPath came from watching kinetic sand tables trace patterns and wanting to feed them my own art. It converts images and SVGs into .thr and .gcode files for Oasis, Sisyphus, and ZenXY tables.

Philosophy

Every tool on Restless Forge follows a few principles:

• Free and open source. The code is on GitHub. Always.
• Privacy-first. Calculations happen in your browser. Your inputs and files never leave your device — none of it is sent to our servers, and Restless Forge itself sets no cookies. (Ads are served by Google AdSense, which may use cookies — see the Privacy Policy.)
• No gatekeeping. No accounts, no paywalls, no "sign up to unlock." If you need the tool, use it.
• Honest and useful. I'd rather build something small that works well than something big that doesn't.

The Tools

• What Is My Time Worth? — A real hourly wage calculator and DIY-vs-hire decision engine.
• HoloPath — A hologram GIF generator that processes images, GIFs, and videos in the browser.
• SandPath — A converter that turns images and SVGs into sand table patterns (.thr / .gcode).
• TattooSafe — A tattoo sizing, camera try-on, and pricing preview tool.

Connect

I write about tools, time, and side projects on Substack. If something I've built has been useful, you can support the workshop through Ko-fi or Buy Me a Coffee.