Meet a Maker: Penny Ruby

Name: Penny Ruby

Year joined: I actually joined three times – first in 2022, then in 2023, then again in January of 2025. It took me a while to get my head around checkouts, figure out what shops I wanted to learn, and really just be ready to bring a project.

Website: lithiumheadphones.com

Instagram: @lithiumheadphones

What do you make?

I make custom, high-end hardwood audiophile headphones. I also make acrylic jewelry, I turn wood bowls, and generally jump around to a variety of shops. But primarily it’s the headphones.

Is making a hobby, a business, or a little of both?

Both. I have a small business selling my headphones. But I also find making to be extremely satisfying personally – bowl-turning is like meditation, and I enjoy very much picking up new skills and making something tangible with them.

What inspired you to get into making?

I was repairing and modifying audio equipment, and during the pandemic got way, way, way too into headphones. At one point, I stopped and thought, “What if I could actually make a pair of headphones from scratch?”

So I bought a cheap 3D printer, found a free online CAD tool, and started tinkering around. After a while, I had managed to make a functional pair of headphones – they were ugly as sin, and they sounded simply awful, but when you plugged them in, music came out. I was hooked. I’ve spent the past seven years now learning new maker skills, improving on the skills I had started to develop during that initial process, and generally just… making stuff and loving it.

What brought you to Lowell Makes?

I wanted to level-up from 3D printed parts. Specifically, I was interested in finding a place where I could learn CNC machining of wood – I love headphones with wood cups, and wanted to be able to produce my own.

What’s your favorite thing about being a member?

I always tell tours – you’ll join Lowell Makes for the equipment, but you’ll stay for the community. Lowell Makes is basically my home away from home – many of my closest friends I’ve met as part of the Lowell Makes community. It’s my third space, my safe space, and the place I always know I can go to find people I care about and get my hands dirty making stuff alongside them (or learning from them, or teaching them). It’s a community first and foremost to me.

Has being a Lowell Makes member changed your process? If so, how?

So much. I’ve learned in the machine shop to bring my metal parts in-house, and I learned bowl turning to start hand-finishing my wooden headphone cups. Tariffs have hurt my ability to buy certain parts off the shelf, but I’ve leaned into the making thanks to the shops and people at Lowell Makes.

What are you working on right now?

I’m trying to improve my marketing and scale my production and selling of headphones. I want this to be my career, but if it just ends up being a fun side business, that’s okay.

What do you hope to make, learn, or accomplish next?

I haven’t spent much time in the Fabrics and Mixed Media shop. I want to learn how to use the embroidery machine – I’d like to embroider T-shirts with my logo (and a variety of weird images and phrases… I can add ANYTHING I WANT to a T-shirt). I also want to launch classes for the laser shop on making acrylic jewelry and engraving glasses/bottles/etc.