The robo-spiders have returned from their final 2011 traverse of the webway, the cogitators have done their last bit-crunching, and independent accounting droids have wax-sealed the final numbers. Let me kill a few seconds while I wait for one of these rust-buckets to trundle over here with the envelope…

Astoundingly, seven of the 10 top posts were by Sean Ragan. That guy is serious click-bait. We’re also thrilled that two of the ten are original builds (again, by that Sean fellow) posted on Make: Projects. John Baichtal, our resident Lego guru and Lego book author, had the #4 spot with a Lego project, and I made it onto the big board with the “Tips My Dad Says” card that we created for Father’s Day. It may seem surprising to see Maker Shed on the list, with a Minty Boost product post, until you realize that this post busted out after the Tsunami/power plant meltdown, the east coast earthquake, and hurricane season. Suddenly, lots of people probably realized that their mobile phone was now their only phone, so when the power goes out, they need another way of keeping their phones charged.

OK, the droid is handing me the envelope. (“Let go! Give it to me! You’re tearing it. [yank] Jeez. [kick] Get out of here, you smell like rancid brake fluid.”). Er-hurm… so, without further ado, here are the top ten most popular posts on Makezine for 2011.

#10

Giant Machete-Shooting Slingshot

#09

Make: Projects – Doortop Stash

#08

Make: Projects – Pop Top Lamp Shade

#07

Matryoshka knives

#06

“Tips My Dad Says” Downloadable Card

#05

In the Maker Shed: Minty Boost USB Charger

#04

10,000-Brick Lego Sandcrawler

#03

Altered thrift store art: Some personal faves

#02

Mostly Carved Away Eggshell

#01

A Tiny Toothpick Treehouse in a Bitty Broccoli Tree
This post, published on July 1st, 2011, was in a number bracket all by itself. Sean learned of the project on Maker Shed product developer Marc de Vinck’s nerdstink blog. The “treehouse” was created by artist, photographer, musician Brock Davis. Brock writes on Flickr that he couldn’t build a real treehouse for his son, so he make one in a broccoli bunch out of balsa instead. The moment this post went up, it generated insane traffic and has continued to do so ever since. In six months, it racked up some 1.6 million pageviews, 1.5 million stumbles, and countless social media reposts. Go, Bitty Broccoli Treehouse, GO!

More:
Other Best of MAKE 2011 covearge