Archive: Arts
July 5, 2008
HOW TO - Wasp cake
Michelle @ CRAFT writes:
Custom cake master, Beth from Cloth and Fodder, created a wasp cake for a friend. She used lemon loaf cake and made toffee wings.
This grosses me out almost as much as the thorax cake I saw on BoingBoing the other day. I think I just thew up in my mouth a little.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 5, 2008 12:00 PM
Arts, Crafts |
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July 4, 2008
Art made with rocket fuel, gunpowder and bullets - Happy 4th of July!
Fourth of July fireworks might seem tame to Matt Stromberg via Gizmodo.
The Savannah College of Art and Design professor of foundation studies and sculpture uses rocket fuel, explosives, pyrotechnics, propellants and munitions to create earth-shattering art. These energetic materials are used to manipulate metal, wood and paper -- using destruction to create art.Stromberg's creations include sculpted metal panels. He's also used a submachine gun to create pigment-infused solid rocket-fuel paint that is literally shot into stone.
"I think it stems from a long-term interest in energetic materials," Stromberg says. "Recently, with the birth of my daughter, my wife and I were thinking about what we are going to teach her. I want to encourage her to seek out things in life she finds interesting.
"I've always liked energetic materials," he says. "I think the risk-taking is a big part of it, which is probably a key element of being an artist."
Stromberg first began experimenting with energetic materials last year. It's not something for the faint of heart. "I would say it's very dangerous," Stromberg says.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 4, 2008 05:00 AM
Arts, Holiday projects |
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July 3, 2008
The brains behind "The Image Fulgurator"

Here's a follow up to our first post about "The Image Fulgurator" from Wired, more details, history and discussion of this project...
Julius von Bismarck's 'Image Fulgurator' projects stealth images into the photographs of strangers, while keeping those images invisible to human eyes. Depending on whom you ask, it's either a clever hack or an obnoxious intrusion. Naturally, we had to find out more.Yesterday, von Bismarck's device made its premature debut on the internet. Today we met him in his hometown, Berlin, to talk about the device, the thinking behind it and the inevitable deluge of e-mails from viral marketers wanting use it to smash their way further into our brains.
But first, about that name: According to von Bismarck, 'Image Fulgurator' comes from the Latin for 'lightning' (fulgur) and means 'Flash Thrower'.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 3, 2008 10:00 AM
Arts, Culture jamming |
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Sanela Jahic's POV art


Sanela Jahic POV (persistence of vision) sculptures, she writes...
I named my fourth larger kinetic object Pendulum, 2007-2008. This machine again uses the POV's ability of producing an almost holographic illusion. It shows a photo of drags writing in the subject's body. Kafka wrote of an old institutions' apparatus in his The Penal Colony (In der Strafkolonie, October 1914).A Slovenian company in Tržič developed the software and electronic part for the object, based on POV during the years 2006-2007.
More:

MiniPOV- An Inexpensive Persistence of Vision - The 3rd generation MiniPOV is perfect for beginners who are looking to learn how to solder, how to program microcontrollers, or make LED blinky toys. Because the programmer is built into the kit, you don't need a special "microcontroller programmer". This version can be used with PCs (Linux/Unix or Windows) and Macs (running MacOS X and with a USB/serial converter).

World's most dangerous digital clock - POV combat robot.

POV chair (Persistence of vision chair).
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 3, 2008 12:00 AM
Arts, Electronics |
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July 2, 2008
Swirling electronics installation mimics Las Vegas chaos
This project, entitled "Viva Las Vegas" by Danish artist Alexander Laner is a kinetic light installation built from recycled hardware, neon lights, extension cables, and is all perched on a motorized stand that sends the electronics heap into a nifty POV output device. The play on words is pretty dead on, and it will definitely give you the after-drinking Vegas effect.
Alexander Laner: Viva Las Vegas
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jul 2, 2008 04:00 AM
Arts, Culture jamming |
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July 1, 2008
8-bit Post-It art



Here's a collection of 8-bit art made with colored Post-It Notes. This is an art form I'm sure Staples and OfficeMax really hope catches on...
Post-it Note Art: 8-bit Edition [via Hack n Mod]
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM
Arts, Culture jamming, Toys and Games |
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Learn how to make woodblock prints
Instructables member 'rbanks' has a great tutorial on making and printing your own woodblock prints. I have always wanted to do this, but sadly never have. If you are willing to put down the soldering iron for a minute, check out making your own woodblock prints.
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Jul 1, 2008 03:00 AM
Arts, DIY Projects, Instructables |
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June 30, 2008
Make and Craft @ AS220's Fools Ball

Last weekend, AS220 held its annual Fools Ball, a fundraiser that also happens to be Rhode Island's best party of the year. MAKE sponsored the event and provided copies of the magazine to attendees who signed up for an AS220 membership.
It was an incredible event. In addition to using the main AS220 building (Empire St, Providence) AS220 borrowed Trinity Rep's Pell-Chafee performance center and split it in half: one side was a kind of science fair, the other a dance floor. There was all sorts of cool stuff in the science fair:
- The Make table with lots of projects. (See the earlier Make posts on the YBox2 Dashboard and FoolsBrd).
- Jeremy Radtke's mechanical contraption made of junk found in the AS220 basement
- Will Brierly's homebrewed video game in a homebrewed cabinet.
- An excellent light sculpture from Robert Kieronski of Lumion.
- Shawn Wallace's Arduino-powered police sketchbot where you set the parameters for nose, hair, eyes, etc
- Susan Clausen's sonic throwie wall. (Previously on Make)
- Nick Yulman's orchestra of gizmos
And that was just the view from the Make tables. Elsewhere, there were performances, an open house in the Broad Street Studio (AS220's transitional arts program for at-risk youth), a bicycle-powered ice-cream maker, and a lot more. Check out all the photos tagged Fools Ball.
Posted by Brian Jepson |
Jun 30, 2008 07:00 PM
Arts, Events |
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Snail car


If you've been to Maker Faire, you've likely seen Jon Sarriugarte's (Oakland, CA) SS Alpha Fox vehicle, or his awesome Boiler Bar. Now he and his cohort are building a Snail Car on top of a stripped down VW bug. You can follow the build here. [Via Boing Boing]
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jun 30, 2008 02:00 PM
Arts, Maker Faire, Remake |
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Japanese wind chimes



PingMag has an interview with Yoshiharu Shinohara, a Japanese "furin" (glass wind chimes) maker.
Lastly, please tell me what it takes to be a craftsman in this day and age.Lately, parents of young people will come up to me, and say "My child is really quiet and withdrawn, and just likes to stay in the house all the time, so I want him to become a craftsman." But this is what I tell them: "Lady, you've got it all wrong. It's tough to be a craftsman these days. You've got to find your own way to market your product, explain it by yourself, and add value to the product so it will sell for a good price. If you're quiet and withdrawn, you'd better forget about being a craftsman." But you know, if you're good at it, you can use your hands and your mind and make much more money than your average white collar worker. (laughs) If you want to succeed as a craftsman, you've got to be passionate about your work, passionate about your wife, and passionate about your land. Look at my family. We all get along. My son's going to take over the business, and even my granddaughters says they want to make wind chimes. Even though they both went to a good university. (laughs)
Blowing in the Wind [Via Dinosaurs + Robots]
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jun 30, 2008 11:00 AM
Arts, Crafts, Makers |
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Twilight @ The Zune space - interactive illuminated chandelier



Waldemeyer is one of my favorite makers on the planet, he's latest work is an interactive illuminated chandelier for Microsoft's Zune space in LA.
Waldemeyer’s latest project, Twilight, will be exhibited in the entrance of the new Zune space in Los Angeles, from May 2008. Commissioned by Microsoft’s entertainment brand Zune, the interactive chandelier illuminates the exclusive Zune-to-Zune sharing function that sets Zune apart from the rest by enabling users to share their music with the chandelier itself.The room has been specifically designed as a haven for Zune users to make full use of Zune's social functions that allows spontaneous sharing of full-length sample tracks, playlists or pictures with other Zune users. The Twilight chandelier brings this function to an exciting new level: the Zune users in the room can send a song to the chandelier and watch as thousands of integrated lights react to the music, sending waves of light up and down the internal space in time to the beat. The installation is constructed of 15 sheets of organza fabric suspended from the ceiling to form a 3m by 3m cube. LED’s have been stitched into the fabric, creating illuminated silhouettes within each square to comprise an internal shape that evokes a conventional lamp-stand or natural tulip-esque form. The striking layering is best appreciated at daylight, when the fabric’s ephemeral qualities are exploited. As the eye moves up the chandelier, the lights appear to dissolve into mist as another layer of fabric masks each LED silhouette. The effect is of gazing into a fog, bringing a hint of Dickensian London to the blue skies of LA. At night, the installation transforms into a dazzling lightshow, with subtle interplay between LED and fabric as the light traces its weave.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jun 30, 2008 09:00 AM
Arts, Electronics, Music |
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Twitter Fail whale... a 3D sculpture from the MAKE Flickr photo pool

MAKE Flickr photo pool member Hil writes -
[Here's] A little kinetic sculpture of the lovely Twitter Failwhale, based on the image by Yiying Lu that is used when Twitter.com is over-capacity. The image is called' Lifting up a Dreamer' I’ve wanted to make this since I first saw the image some weeks ago.
More:

You can follow MAKE on Twitter by simply here.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jun 30, 2008 08:00 AM
Arts, Computers, Crafts, Online |
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LightCoder will help you survive urban chaos
The Lightcoder by artist Geraldine Juarez is an analog urban communication device in the form of a bag made from reflective mylar that uses a light source to encode messages into morse code. The bag itself comes with the Morse code alphabet guide, a map of Manhattan, a broken digital compass, lantern, aspirin, rad-block, dust mask, utility knife, hand made shape-lock cups, and fire starters. The result, says the artist, is a symbolic object that explores the possibility of survival in urban environments by bringing out the vulnerability of modern digital technologies and communications devices.
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jun 30, 2008 06:00 AM
Arts, Culture jamming |
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Record player turned into train tracks while its needle drives over them
Although we've seen train car record players before such the kind that "drive" over the record platter itself and play tracks as it moves in a circle. This "Sound Chaser" is actually a train track made from old records that have been spliced together to look like a real track. As the train drives over them, it plays the jumbled songs and you can even dance in unison with the player as it scuttles around on the floor.
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jun 30, 2008 05:00 AM
Arts, Made On Earth, Music |
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Len Lye: Kinetic Sculptures
This is an interesting excerpt from a 1987 documentary called Doodlin'. It reminds me of the sounds created from circuit bending. The difference is, all these noises are made by banging, hitting, and just plain abusing sheet metal and not kids toys. My favorite part is when he describes a 25 million volt arc (3:33) that he wants to shoot out of one of his sculptures.
Read more about Len Lye
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Jun 30, 2008 02:00 AM
Arts |
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June 28, 2008
The Time Harp
The Time Harp is a stringed musical instrument by Larnie Fox. It uses motion sensors to trigger what appears to be rotating plastic lids to vibrate the strings. I'm not too sure how close I would get with all that exposed wire!
View a Flickr photo set of the build.
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Jun 28, 2008 05:00 PM
Arts, Music |
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Reflect table helps enlighten the conversation
The "Reflect" table is an LED board embedded inside a table that monitors the sound levels of people's conversations with an array of microphones around the exterior. The multi-color LEDs show the sound levels of the chatter of those speaking so that they can get a visual picture of who is dominating the conversation. The translucent paneling in front of the lights is meant to move the feedback system into the background so that people will not concentrate on the lights. Pretty nice, but I think that might ruin the conversation itself.
REFLECT: Noise Sensitive Table, [via]
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jun 28, 2008 08:00 AM
Arts, Electronics, Furniture, Gadgets |
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June 27, 2008
Implied chaos & sound circuits of Ciat-Lonbarde


Peter Blasser is President and Designer of the electronic instrument producing entity known as Ciat-Lonbarde. The device plans on their site display a refreshing ability for incorporating chance and forcing experimentation - evidenced by instructions from the Paper Circuits collection (which almost simultaneously do and don't make sense).
[...] resistors with an X can be any value form 10k to 100k, randomer is better. chip "4015" is CD4015 CMOS register. Hairy capacitors come in pairs, they should be most similar within these pairs for the most variety.Build your own approximation on, appropriately enough, paper (through-hole of course) -
[...]
There are three buttons: 1,2, and 4. When you have buttons 1 and 2 down, you are playing note 3, which you can tune with trimmer pots 3 and 3. In other words, the three buttons are binary counters for pitch. Figure it out.

There's more, so go here - Ciat-Lonbarde 晶森品
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Jun 27, 2008 04:00 PM
Arts, Electronics, Music |
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Giant eggs fill city square


Dutch artist Henk Hofstra's "Art Eggcident" must be hard to miss if you frequent the Zaailand square in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (or fly over it). Apparently these 100 foot wide pieces of art will remain in place for six months.
Wow ... wonder what they did with the shells. - Henk Hofstra's "Art-Eggcident" in Leeuwarden
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Jun 27, 2008 01:00 PM
Arts |
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Metrocard bicycle will not fit in the turnstyles
We've posted lots in the past about NYC Metrocard art projects, but this one might just take the cake. This bicycle is completely covered with hundreds of the cards, perhaps to make a statement about human powered vehicles vs. taking mass transit and the environmental impact you will have (not to mention the cash you will save) when you take your bike to work. In any case, it's a cool thing to do with your expired cards.
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jun 27, 2008 09:00 AM
Arts, Bicycles |
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Phillip Torrone
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Tel: 707-827-7311
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