Ever since I made my first ninja throwing star in metal shop class, I’ve always wanted to make my own knife. But I was put off by the notion of having to acquire the furnace, anvil, leather apron, and handlebar mustache requisite for forging a proper tempered blade. So, instead I decided to make a utility knife by cutting out a pattern from a circular saw blade, using my Dremel Rotary Tool.
An artist who builds machines, I’m constantly dealing with the issue of how I can power my devices. Usually, I make it the old school way, simply using sockets in the wall of the gallery. But this project in Belgium happened in a public park, where no electricity was available. As there was a huge fountain, Jari and me decided to tap its hydropower and to generate electricity with it, as we found this far more elegant than using batteries. Furthermore, it was fitting conceptually to the devices that we were powering with the large fountain: It was some tiny private fountains that we rented out to visitors of the park.I think the concept of recycling energy which is available in the city anyway has a lot of potential.
Anybody who was at the World Maker Faire likely saw all of the energy that the Madagascar Institute put into the event. It was truly an impressive effort on their part. So, we thought we’d show them a little more love and help promote some of their upcoming classes. If you’re in the NYC-area, and […]
One of my favorite exhibitors at World Maker Faire was Brad Litwin, who does exquisitely-crafted, whimsical kinetic sculptures. I gave him one of my Editor’s Choice Blue Ribbons. Now, Brad is selling these wonderful crank-powered “MechaniCards.” What a nifty gift. They sell for $45 assembled, $35 for a kit. [Via Boing Boing] MechaniCards More: Brad […]
Via DudeCraft comes this amazing piece of stop-motion animation (papercraft with lots of Photoshop support? All-digital faux papercraft?), done by Andersen M Studios for the New Zealand Book Council. It’s cool however it was accomplished. Anderson M Studios
This could appear on one of those “What is this gadget?” posts. (It’s an RCS — Reentry Control System thruster from the Gemini era.)
Over the past few weeks and months, the community of makers centered around Sprout in Somerville MA has been quietly hatching a plan to build a Theo Jansen inspired walker to walk in the Honk Festival parade. Dubbed the StreetBeest, after the Jansen’s StrandBeest project, it is constructed of strapping, PVC and a few custom fabricated drive train parts. For more information on the build and design, check out this interview with Shaunalyn Duffy of The Sprouts.
