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make.co
Samuel Gidoin
Bill Mullaney
JUBILANT JUNK YOUTUBE.COM/C/BILLMAKINGSTUFF
Humanity’s collective consciousness is peppered with useful pearls of wisdom. Among this catalog
of aphorisms, the saying that “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is common across many
languages, and perhaps no one has taken it more seriously than Bill Mullaney of the YouTube channel
Bill Making Stuff.
Born in the East London town of Dagenham, Bill grew up with an eye and mind for filming but never
felt he had enough creative control over his finished products while working as a filmmaker. When the
company he worked for dissolved during Covid, he decided to get back into making. His creations of
choice are miniatures made entirely from recycled junk: cardboard boxes, old toys, googly eyes, plastic
knickknacks, and other items that most would label trash. Bill’s creative process often starts with
doodling in a sketchbook for inspiration and fiddling with his chosen bits and bobs. Once he has an
initial structure, he glues everything into position, adds more layers for extra detailing, and finishes the
build with a careful paint job and surrounding diorama. “I never plan meticulously,” Bill says. “I’d say
90% of my builds are happy accidents, but … the more I build, the more happy accidents I seem to have,
so maybe it’s more than an accident?”
As faithfully documented on his YouTube channel, Bill’s miniatures are original, often dystopian or
sci-fi inspired designs. His most recurring concepts are the “beadbot” (28mm robots made from beads
and armature wire) and an ever-growing apocalyptic shantytown named Respite. Although he puts a lot
of care into crafting the builds and their world, “The video itself for me is the real craft and the thing I
treasure most at the end,” Bill says. He likes to incorporate sound effects, hand-drawn transitions, live-
action skits, and stop-motion animations into his videos. The editing process may take much longer, but
he loves the creative freedom.
Bill urges those interested in making things on YouTube to learn filmmaking first. His advice? “Sound
and lighting are just as important as visuals, have fun with editing, and stick at it. It takes a long time to
get anywhere.” You can keep up with Bill’s builds on YouTube, Instagram, and Patreon, under the name
Bill Making Stuff or @billmakingstuff.
—Marshall Piros
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