The tradition of improvising a chess set from whatever's on hand is probably as venerable as chess itself. Chess culture is chock-full of sets put together from odds and ends of every description, but here I'm only focusing on sets built from mechanical and electrical bits--mostly nuts, bolts, and washers of various flavors. If you've got a good one I missed, please do link it in the comments.

If you're interested in making your own and want some guidance, Mother Earth News has a nice tutorial.

Rachel @ CRAFT points us to this rad circuit board latch hook rug by Red Tarts. I think I just realized Ineed a new bath mat.

By way of fellow papercraft enthusiast Cory Doctorow comes images of this incredible castle, posted on Tokyobling. Tokyobling explains:

I had the immense opportunity to see this wonderful paper craft art installation by a genius of the name of Wataru Itou, a young student of a major art university here in Tokyo. The installation is hand made over four years of hard work, complete with electrical lights and a moving train, all made of paper! Clearly, this man must have created one of the most stunning examples of Paper Craft in the world? At the exhibition you will also have the chance to see a video showing Mr. Itou at work in his studio, cutting and folding piece by piece. The exhibition is called Umi no Ue no Oshiro (A Castle On the Ocean ), 海の上のお城. It is exhibited at Uminohotaru, a place which in itself is a major attraction: a service area in the middle of the ocean, right between Tokyo City and Chiba Prefecture.

A Paper Craft Castle On the Ocean [via Boing Boing]

I've seen this thing referred to as an "Ocean Mat," a "Prolong Knot," a "Ladder Mat," and a "Sailor's True Love Mat." Whatever you want to call it, it's a noble expression of the manly art of knot-tying, and this tutorial at the UK's Scullion Enterprises will show you how it's done.

More:

• Rope bending
• Make knots - Alaska museum of fancy knots
• How-To: Tie a double fisherman's knot
• Star knot tutorial
• Val ties the canoe
• The forgotten Zeppelin knot
• Knot reference wallet card

The Arkansasridgerunner pioneers the world of shipping chic with this sensible wine rack built from FedEx tubes. I do believe this would go quite nicely with my packing-peanut chaise lounge!

James' sweetie fabbed a nice piece of edible circuitry for him -

My girlfriend Sarah made this candy circuit board birthday cake topper. Originally she wanted to make a gingerbread MakerBot, but didn't have the time or space.

Instead she was inspired by the iPhone motherboard and went from there. The base is dark chocolate covered with green frosting. The resistors are Tic Tacs!

Elena Corchero designed this solar vintage-looking hand fan that functions as a portable light at night. Are we seeing a new niche in luxury goods emerging here? In her newly launched online boutique she also sells electronic toy construction kits and reflective lace (for safely biking in your fancy socks). Via Fashioning Technology.

MAKE contributor Steve Lodefink posted results from his Lumenlab Micro CNC's maiden voyage -

Lithophanes were a popular way to hide girlie pictures in the bottom a of gentleman's tea cup around the end of the 19th century. An image would be molded into the porcelain in the cup so that only when held up to a light would the picture be visible.
[...]
I "lithophaned" an image of a skull into a piece of corian. When viewed under normal front lighting, it sort of looks like a distorted C-3P0 face, but when held up to a light source, it is transformed into a skull.

Nikolaus Gradwohl, an Austrian MAKE subscriber, created a QR code of his mother's name that she can weave into the rugs she makes. Our very own Becky Stern was showing off her knitted QR code scarf at the Mini Maker Square at the Google I/O conference last month. She hadn't had much luck with getting phonecams to successfully scan the code before, but a number of people at the conference were able to read it.

QR-Code Carpet

Unfortunately, the artist behind these cool component-sculptures goes unnamed. Anybody know who it is?

These cool component-sculptures are the work of Ann P. Smith of Providence, RI. Thanks to Lithium Rain for providing us with her name and homepage.

More:

• Animals made from e-waste are still your best friend
• Charming components
• Made in Japan - Vollume 28
• Transforming e-waste into art

I am just starting to learn Morse code and got a brand new key from American Morse Equipment. Most keys need to be mounted to hold them in place while the operator is dah-dit-ing. Keys are mounted on a heavy platform, or fastened to a radio. And some keys are worn on a leg strap. As a lady operator, and fashion designer, I wanted something cuter to keep my key on my leg, so here it is -- how to turn a standard leg strap into a cute Morse code key leg strap.

Materials:
* 1 yd 2" wide satin ribbon
* 1 yd 3/8" wide patterned ribbon
* 1 yd 3" wide lace
* 2 spools of thread (to match patterned ribbon and lace)
* scissors
* a small amount of tulle (an 8" x 8" square will work just fine)
* a small amount of organza
* pins
* screw driver
* measuring tape

* key
* leg strap

1. Using the measuring tape, measure around your leg where you'd like to wear the strap. Subtract ½" from this measurement and cut the lace and patterned ribbon to this length.

2. Using a sewing machine, straight stitch the edge of the ribbon 1 1/8" in from the edge of the lace.

Pool Toss Game

Surveillance Camera Cross Stitch

Making Your Own Play Dough is Fun

Looking for the perfect birthday cake for an Applephile? You couldn't go too far wrong with a cake like this cake from April Julian. No screen polishing needed here.

Looking to build and race your own kinetic sculpture in the DC area? Don't mIss the Artomatic 500 on Saturday, June 27:

Racers and crew are invited to create a cardboard "vehicle" which could be two dimensional, three dimensional -- even four dimensional if you can make it happen -- as long as it it entirely powered by a walking or running human and is decorated by the driver and his or her team. No engine or propulsion system of any sort is allowed. Wheels are optional. In fact, they are discouraged.

Word is that you should bring your own refrigerator box if you're so inclined.

The Artomatic site has lots of info, and check out their Flickr pool.

OK, so it's not like smurf-blue, but still: Blue hardwood! It comes from Talipariti elatum, the so-called "Blue Mahoe" tree, which is native to the Caribbean and is, apparently, the national tree of Jamaica. Turns out it also grows very quickly and shows some promise for sustainable forestry. Lumber is available through Tropic Ventures.

Randy Sarafan writes:

Standard fuzz pedals were just not fuzzy enough for me. Only the fuzziest fuzz pedal was going to be suitable for my musical endeavors. I searched high and low for the fuzziest fuzz pedal in the land, but I couldn't find it. Finally, I resolved that if I wanted a fuzzy fuzz pedal, I was going to have make my own. After much careful analysis and planing, I can confidently say that I have made the fuzziest guitar fuzz pedal ever to grace this planet Earth. If that's not enough to wet your whistle, it's squishy too.

Antique bottles have always fascinated me. Here's an amazing site with pretty much everything you need to know about identifying and dating "historic bottles." The site is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management.

Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website

More:

• More sea glass hunting
• The sea glass of summer
• HOW TO - Make a Sea Glass Necklace (Craft: Blog)
• Beach glass

Skulls! Who doesn't love 'em?

Well, me, for one, and probably a bunch of other folks who don't care to be constantly reminded of mortality. We seem to be in the minority, however, with most deriving some kind of weird existential thrill, or deep Buddhist-y zen calm, from staring deep into the empty, black sockets of eternally grinning Death. Whee!

So, in honor of you deranged necrophiles, (especially you, Noah Scalin) I've rounded up three years worth of skullaphenalia from MAKE and CRAFT. Whether your taste runs to soft-and-cuddly pink death or cold-and-creepy-with-tentacles death, you're sure to find something among these links that quenches your malevolent bloodthirst. You make me sick! Also: Enjoy!

Livejournaler vomitsaw's bracelet is made from an etched PCB, with solder pads for eyes and mating RCA connectors as a clasp.

Cute death:

• Skull PCB Bracelet
• Papercraft Skull
• Knit Skull Lace Stockings
• Skull knitting pattern
• His-and-Hers Skull Wristwarmers
• Knitted "Skull Isle" Pouch
• Skull and Crossbones Cushion
• Skull Oven Mitts
• LED glowing skull
• Skull Wrist Warmers Pattern

Shawn Bowman's sugar-skull tutorial will have you smacking your lips on sweet death in no time.

Tasty death:

• Sugar skull tutorial
• Dia de Los Muertos - Sugar Skull Tutorial

Mark Kilner's "Numbskull" is a plastic skull covered in painkillers.

Arty death:

• Pill head / Numb skull
• Soccer Skull
• Giant skull made from kitchen stuff
• Skull Crayon Art
• Latch hook skull
• Yarn Painting Skull
• Cassette tape skull

Wayne Martin Belger's cenobite-esque "Third Eye" is a century-old skull fitted with a pinhole camera.

Downright creepy death:

• Pinhole skull camera - The Art of Wayne Martin Belger
• Jim's skulls
• Singing skull
• HOW TO - Add MIDI control to animated skull
• How to: Skull fountain

My own "Deathblinger" clock is a rhinestone de-gentrification of a high-falutin' designer diamond watch.

Miscellaneous death:

• Deathblinger
• Free skull font
• Handmade metal USB skull rings
• Crocheted dinosaur skull

Denise Nicole Francis, who's usually making jewelry, wanted a guitar birthday cake. So her friend Kristen Fowler and her sister Shalisa Francis helped her create this beauty!

She writes:

As you all know I love and play guitar. Naturally I wanted the most creative birthday cake, so I decided to make a guitar cake! I have to admit it took forever to make and there was A LOT of leftover cake, but all in all it was an awesome experience.

You can see the entire step-by-step process in the Community section of Denise's website, Cre8tive Soul.

Should you find yourself in want of a classic Moog Synthesizer but a little short on funds, consider anait's paper version - much more portable than the original!

More:

Precisely rendered paper synth

CRAFT Video: Embroidery 101 at Maker Faire

How-To: Build a Birch Log Table

How-To: Crocheted Bow Tie

Recipe: Chocolate Banana Pops

Lessons From My Dad

They've really been on a roll over at the Inhabitat blog lately. I've been admiring a lovely garden shed made out of recycled fencing that they recently featured, and now my new favorite post is about these ingenious (and cost effective) coffin shelves, dubbed Shelves for Life. Apparently they wrote about these shelves a few years back, but felt the need to, ahem, resurrect the story.

B_light's edge-printed notebook makes for some stealthy tourism -

My Moleskin hack entry hides the fact that you are a tourist and can only be used on a soft cover notebook. When you fold the notebook length-wise (when the spine practically touches the long edge of the back cover), the fore-edge of the pages fan out. Only when the notebook is folded this way, does a subway map clearly appear. This is due to the fact that the map is printed on the edge while the notebook is positioned like this. You can hide the fact that you are consulting a subway map and be spared the embarrassment and scorn from locals.

MAKE subscriber Marcus created a neato embroidered badge for Arduiniacs out there. These stylin' little symbols of skill are available from Little Bird Electronics - no prior Arduino proficiency testing required.

Hey, I think this merit badge thing might be catching on eh? It would seem a bit of a roundup is in order -

Nerd merit badges

Soft circuit merit badge merits itself

Machine Project merit badges

What? no blogging badge? :(

More about our Mini Monster Kit

"By the end of the 20th century and the millennium (1997), a new ecological and interactive art expression came into being which, combining elements and materials whose colors are 100% natural, exalts nature... Rock Art."

This is how Mario Balderas (Mexico) presents the beautiful and original art work he creates.

I am talking mainly of terracotta pots fired at high temperatures, with different kinds of cacti or crassulas and original designs made with sand, clay, earth, and semi-precious stones - the colors of which are all 100% natural - sealed with natural, transparent, and permeable resin. Besides the materials mentioned before, river stones, seeds, seashells, wood, and other materials are used as well.

These are semi-precious stones hand-ground with a hammer and sifted. All colors are natural.

Why Rock Art? It could be mixed up with what we commonly know as rock art - prehistoric drawings found on rocks or caves. But, in the case of these pots, the name is used in the sense that they are made with materials that have existed on this Earth perhaps for thousands of years, like sedimentary metamorphic stones which Mario collects in places that go from Valsequillo to the fossil desert of Tehuacan. Likewise, as in prehistoric times, the designs are an expression of the surroundings, of nature, and an example of how materials of all types found in nature are used to make a handicraft of infinite creative possibilities. It is a sensory work, of sensitivity more than technique.

The idea of making these pots emerged from Mario's interest and liking for cacti, which he acquires in specialized nurseries in Tlaxcalancingo and Tenango de las Flores, in the Sierra Norte of Puebla, near Huauchinango. (It is important to emphasize that, as a sign of respect towards our planet and nature, all the cacti that Mario uses are grown in nurseries and bought; not one of them is plundered.) Designing came later, little by little and as the result of a trial-error process, since Mario never studied anything that had to do with design, drawing or painting (he's a psychologist). It was an ability that he discovered having and that he developed and perfected with time, because "practice makes perfect".

Making these pots - or the gardens or the stones or the pictures - is a complete step-by-step process that goes from traveling to the places where the materials are, getting the pots made, sanding them down, painting them, planting the cactus, making and sealing the design, and finally selling them.

Pots with planted cactus and prepared "bed" drying in the sun to make the design on top afterwards.

Mario also builds these carriers to transport the pots.

This work has become Mario's life philosophy, a way of becoming aware and realizing his surroundings, of using his intellect, intuition, and common sense to make something that requires patience and all the creativity he's capable of, because each pot has a unique design that is not copied from anywhere or anybody else and is created one by one by the skillful hands of Mario, my father.

-Elena Balderas from Make: en Español

Nice story about the Open Source Embroidery exhibition and movement over on Wired.com:

The movement brings together knitters, embroiderers and quilters who see parallels between the way they create their crafts and how open source software creators share their ideas. At the BildMuseet (art museum) at Umeå University in Sweden, an exhibition — also called Open Source Embroidery — showcases artworks that use embroidery and code as a tool for participatory production and distribution.

“The idea of collaboration has been made cool by open source software,” says Carpenter, the curator of the exhibition. “But artists have been working like this for a long time.”

Even the differences between needlework crafts and open source software are alike, she says. Embroidery is largely dominated by women, while software is created mostly by men, she says. In embroidery, tiny stitches come together to create a pattern visible on the front of the fabric, while its system is revealed on the back. It’s similar to how software is created.

The arguments about open source vs. free software can also be applied to embroidery, says Carpenter, where artists struggle with questions around borrowing and modifying patterns. “The Open Source Embroidery project simply attempts to provide a social and practical way of discussing these issues and trying out the practice,” says Carpenter.

There's also a nice shoutout to MAKE and CRAFT in the article, too!

Jia Jem's meat dress,

Jenny Hart's Crafting a Business column,

we welcomed a new contributing writer, Brookelynn Morris,

and we basked in the glow of this Google Chrome bento box video.

Shermac is a Belizean friend who comes to Cholula two or three times a year for a couple of months. He's made these boats since he was a boy, in his hometown Mullin's River, to play boat races in the river and later, in Caye Caulker island, as a handicraft that attracts the attention and desire to own one of tourists and locals alike. These boats are made of three types of wood mainly: moho, pine, and Santa Maria. Sometimes he also uses mahogany. Moho, Shermac's favorite, is a very light tropical wood that floats like cork when it dries completely; so it is ideal to make sailboats. Pine is the heaviest and hardest wood - and, therefore, more fragile for this kind of work - and Shermac uses it to make replicas of engine boats (or Belikin boats), fishing boats, and yachts. The Santa Maria wood is the most flexible of the three; it is also light and boats made with it sail pretty well in the sea.

Once this part is finished, he makes the details with plywood and glues them on, like the cabins on the engine boats (whose interiors in the photo are painted white to cover up the porosity of the wood). For the sailboats, Shermac carves and paints bamboo masts - bamboo is also used to make the masts of real sailboats. The last step is painting the boats. Shermac uses wood paint diluted with thinner and lets the boats dry in the shade, since putting them in the sun would bring up bubbles on the paint coat. Again, for the sailboats, after painting and placing the mast, Shermac cuts, sews, and puts the cloth sails which he obviously does himself with no more than scissors, thread, and needle. Depending on the size and type of boat, Shermac finishes a boat in approximately three days. These boats are a clear example of the inventiveness and creativity put to work with little resources that we can find a bit further down the Rio Bravo. Thanks, Shermac!

Make: es Español

Flickr user JerryLeeTypes has a clever collection of embroidered images. The safety bike above reminds me of some of the pictures Danny was lasering onto books a few months ago. He also has some other great products in his Embroidery set, and there are some other cool projects in the Real Men Sew and Manbroidery pool.