Make: Online: Crafts Archives

Crafts Archive: Crafts

October 28, 2009

How-To: Spider web balloons

So, the stuff inside the balloon that makes the web is called HI-FLOAT, and it's a commercial product actually sold for injecting into helium balloons to make them retain their helium longer. It forms a skin on the inside of the balloon and keeps the helium from diffusing out so quickly. The "web" effect is created by applying the HI-FLOAT and letting it dry at one pressure, and then deflating the balloon, stressing it, and then re-inflating to a higher pressure, causing the film to detach from the walls (which, of course, means it's not working as a sealant anymore, but whatevs). I'm pretty sure this trick was developed in-house, by the company that makes it, to sell more HI-FLOAT. Still, it's pretty cool.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

How-To: Cast concrete tombstones

Fast, easy tutorial from Lenore of Evil Mad Scientist Labs. I wonder whether you might not use polystyrene beads as an aggregate to reduce weight?

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

October 27, 2009

A visit to "Her Majesty's Secret Beekeeper"

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Here are some photos from my visit to Cameo Wood's "Her Majesty's Secret Beekeeper" a wonderful beekeeping and honey shop in San Francisco, CA...

Established on June 29th, 2009, HMSBeekeeper focuses on local honey, gourmet single source and infused honeys, pollen and propolis, locally made soap, candles, balms, and lotions, as well as exceptional yet economically priced beekeeping equipment. If it is made from the hive, we are likely to carry it. We also hold classes periodically. Our most popular classes are Mead Making, Soap Making, and Introduction to Urban Beekeeping. Please consider signing up to our mailing list to keep informed of our offerings. We also sponsor a monthly SF Beekeeping Meetup, please consider joining!

After chatting for awhile with some makers there it appears there are a few dozen embedded projects that would really help out the beekeeping world, I expect to see a Beeduino in a few weeks.

Meticulously cut paper maps of NYC

From Etsy seller studiokmo:

four paper panels, each panel measures approximately three feet by four feet (overall dimensions, six feet in width x 8 feet in height) and exposes city blocks of brooklyn, manhattan, queens, and the bronx. the panels fit together like panes of a window and all four pieces must be sold as a set. image one would located in the lower left pane. image two located in the upper left pane. image three in the upper right pane and image four in the lower right pane. image five shows the delicacy of the pieces.

[via Dude Craft]

October 26, 2009

How-To: Fake fire baskets

Very detailed build thread from Haunt Forum user beelce describing the construction of these awesome simulated fire baskets from mostly dollar-store stuff--cheap baskets, out-of-season holiday lights, LEDs, a fan, some nylon fabric. The results look great.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Make robot parts with papier-mâché

What do you do if you don't have a vacuum former, and need to make a part for your robot body? Well, Vadim Ryazanov over at lets make robots has a simple solution: make them with papier-mâché! By using paper and a 1:1 mixture of wood glue and water, he was able to make a hemispherical shell for an upcoming project. Great idea!

October 25, 2009

CRAFT weekly recap

Here are some of my favorites from CRAFT this week:

Janet Echelman's Her Secret is Patience

Shoe Repair Tips + Interview with Vince Pacheo

Headless Marie Antoinette Costume

Chocolate Human Skulls

Fairytale Fashion: Deployable Structures

October 24, 2009

Muybridge Zoetrope papercraft

Grant Thomas, of Making Visual Narratives, pointed us to this free, printable papercraft Zoetrope, featuring the famous motion photos of Eadweard Muybridge.

Free Printable Papercraft Eadweard Muybridge Zoetrope

More:
Laser cut & animated Muybridge horses
Grotesque Menagerie

Laser-cut ouija board looks authentic

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Daniel sends pics of his laser-cut/engraved ouija board - the hand-painted fills add a nice touch!

October 23, 2009

A better way to slice a pumpkin

Subscriber Michael Williams wrote in with this clever modification of the traditional pumpkin incision. He explains the logic:

For years now I've been unhappy with the choices for cutting open a pumpkin for Halloween. If you cut the top off in the traditional manner, you end up with singed hand hairs (at best) when attempting to place/light a candle. If you cut the bottom off, you can get the candle in OK but you're stuck picking up nearly the whole pumpkin each time and it never sits quite right. This year is different - I've found the perfect pumpkin cut!

Thanks Michael!

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

D-Build: Finding parts from old homes

Here's what looks like a great, culturally sensitive way to tear down old buildings. D-Build, a project started in Syracuse, NY, is aiming to document and catalog entire decommissioned buildings as they are taken apart.

All well and good, but what does this have to do with makers, you ask? Well, the other half of their equation is to provide a market where you can purchase the raw materials taken from the houses, and even sell things back that were made with them.

This seems like a excellent way to recycle usable building materials, that would probably otherwise just end up in a dump. [via core77]

October 22, 2009

Orrery based on Ferguson's "mechanical paradox"

Beautiful photographs by Tina Buescher of Jim Donnelly's orrery based on the mechanism known as "Ferguson's mechanical paradox." Good information about the orrery is provided by Ian Coote's page. As for the "paradox," well, it boils down to this: the three apparently-identical stacked gears on the end are driven by a single gear, yet move at different rates, which, of course, would be impossible if they were truly identical. News flash: They're not. But I'm sure it was harder to fight boredom in the 18th century than it is now, and the build is undeniably gorgeous.

How-To: Papier-mâché gargoyle

Or is it "carton-pierre?" Anyway, it wins. "Ghostess" Deanna did a great job documenting the process of building "Goliath," who is based on the eponymous character from Disney's Gargoyles cartoon. Hard to believe he started out as glue, craft paper, and PVC pipe.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

October 21, 2009

Gear clock is both functional and structural

Alan Parekh of Hacked Gadgets made this really nice looking gear clock using a PIC microcontroller, a scavenged stepper motor, and a bunch of wooden gears that he cut out on a CNC router. The concept is pretty straightforward, however I really like the clear design, where each part is a functional piece of the clock mechanism. You'll never have to wonder what is inside this thing that makes it tick! [via Hacked Gadgets]

Amazing fantasy armor leatherwork

I'm not sure exactly what it means to be "hell bent for leather," but I am sure that this is the outfit you want to be wearing while you're thusly engaged. Prince Armory is (mostly) Samuel Lee, who goes by *Azmal on deviantART. Beautiful craftsmanship. [via Geekologie]

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Mechanical flower blooms in light

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Pedrobrito shares some footage of his Arduino powered Flor Automata responding to changing light levels. Nice construction! - see more of his structural explorations on Flickr.

October 20, 2009

How-To: Make a D6 dice bag

Inspired by Lenore Edman's awesome D12 and D20 dice bags, Jessica Winter decided to make this D6 felted dice bag.

Dice Bag Project

More:
Knit a pirate dice bag
How-To: D12 and D20 Dice Purses
How-To: Make a handbag of holding

Galaxy quilts

Rachel @ CRAFT writes:

This collection of space-inspired quilts from artist Jimmy McBride have left me breathless. What really has me excited, though, is his post about his next project. I'll give you a hint: Pillars of Creation. Check out the diagram and fabric selection he's put together. Amazing.

How-To: Corpsification of a skeleton

OK, I admit it: I was pretty excited about getting to use the word "corpsification" in any context. But that doesn't mean this tutorial from the folks at Yard Haunt about how to make a clean, sterile, white plastic skeleton into a nasty, rotting, reeking bag o' bones is any less cool. In case you're wondering, the "Bucky" skeleton referred to in this and many other haunt prop tutorials is a brand name of Anatomical Chart Company, which sells serious anatomical models to educational institutions but also does a tidy trade in "4th quality" seconds on the Halloween market.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.