Recently Jeri Elseworth completed a home-brew inverter - in silicon:

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/10/jeri-makes-integrated-circuits/

It seems that making an LCD should be easy in comparison (though still
harder than making a PCB):

Reflective surface
Polarizer
Glass
ITO coating (indium tin oxide - a translucent conductor)
Liquid Crystal
ITO coating
Glass
Polarizer
Wire connections coming off exposed ITO on glass

So the only two things I'm unsure about how to do right now:

 - How to get/make and work with ITO (mask glass with photoresist,
expose to template, develop, coat with ITO, remove resist without
removing ITO - or can you silkscreen/print/draw with ITO?)
 - How to get/make liquid crystal material

Any ideas, pointers, or tips?  Custom LCDs are cheap in large
quantities, but not for short run and proof of concept projects.

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