howtoswithmatt

Skill Builder: Caffenol Homebrew Film Developer

Skill Builder: Caffenol Homebrew Film Developer

Only recently did I find out that you can develop negative film with instant coffee, vitamin C, and washing soda. This homebrew developer has become known as “caffenol” and there are plenty of photographers out there who have used this method in the darkroom. I read up on a few different recipes and tried my […]

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How-To: Bottle Cutting

With a bottle cutting jig, you can easily recycle your used glass bottles into reusable drinking glasses or flower vases. After scoring the glass with the jig, there are a few different ways to make a clean break. In this video, I show how to do this using a candle flame and a piece of […]

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Skill Builder: Bokeh Photography Effect

“Bokeh” comes from the Japanese word for “blur” or “haze.” It’s used to describe the quality of the out of focus areas of a photograph. If you’ve ever read a photography forum, you’ll know that the word is often used to describe how a particular lens handles out of focus points of light. You can […]

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How-To: Get Started with Make: Projects

For those of you eager to boast about your maker prowess, but haven’t yet tried Make: Projects, I encourage you to take a look at this video to introduce you to what the site is all about and how it works. Make: Projects is a constantly growing cookbook for makers, so even if you’re only […]

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The Truth Meter: Don’t Sweat It

The Truth Meter: Don’t Sweat It

When you feel nervous, excited, surprised, or otherwise aroused, you experience galvanic skin response (GSR). Your sweat glands, in responses to adrenaline and other hormones, start to release micro pulses of sweat. GSR is one component of polygraph tests because it’s an indicator of how nervous a question makes you feel. The increase in sweat […]

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The AWESOME Button: A Made-to-Measure USB Input Device

After a quick search of the posts I’ve written for MAKE, it’s clear that I overuse the word “awesome.” It’s not news to me, but I had no idea how bad my problem was. In fact, I think you could say that I abuse the word. In order to cut down on my usage of […]

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How-To for Secret Agents: Invisible Ink Printer Mod

Make: Online readers who are secret agents—or secret agent wannabes—will love this project, which comes to us from MAKE Volume 16. By replacing the ink in a color inkjet cartridge with concentrated lemon juice, you can print with invisible ink. The secret message is revealed by spraying or wiping the paper with iodine tincture. Here’s […]

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