Indie makers RLT Industries of New Braunfels, TX, sell this lovely wooden model kit of the classic “south-pointing chariot” mechanism: Set the chariot down with the vane pointing in an arbitrary direction–south, north, whatever–and a geared differential connected to the wheels will keep it pointing the same direction regardless of which way the chariot turns. […]
By Katie Goodman The weather is warming up and it’s time for weekend backyard barbecues. You can’t have a barbecue without a refreshing drink. This one is great for both adults and kids. This fun drink was inspired by blackberries being on sale for 88 cents per container. That’s a great deal around here! If […]
Teacher Anne Karsten shares this iPod Touch fleece blanket project made by her 7th and 8th graders. In her write up, Anne explains the creative and technical process for the creation of this fabulous project. Anne writes: The project is an attempt to use the vernacular of these young adults — the fleece they’ve been […]
Fab n’ ship cats Shapeways continues to offer fun new materials; this time, gold. From today until the 30th you can order Gold Plated Stainless Steel. This new material gives our 3D printed Stainless Steel a pure gold finish. This will let people create jewels and jewelery using 3D printing with a lot more bling […]
Big news! We’re SO EXCITED to announce the winners in the MAKE/MakerBot CupCake CNC 3D printer kit giveaway! Participants were asked to design 3D objects and upload them to Thingiverse, where they were judged by Bre Pettis, Gareth Branwyn, and Becky Stern based on complexity, ingenuity, and “MakerBottability,” or how likely they are to print […]
This is the perfect no-sew craft for anyone who loves to sew! LucyKate Crafts is a cute blog filled with clever projects like this button necklace. Sometimes there’s just not enough hours in the day to stitch up handmade gifts, but this simple project still screams crafty!
I have often opined that truly creative problem solving comes from limiting one’s options, rather than expanding them. Which is why prisoner’s inventions fascinate me so much. (If you’ve not had a chance to browse Angelo’s Prisoners’ Inventions book, BTW, I highly recommend it–it’s not about shivs or improvised weapons, but about how prisoners make game pieces, heat water, control the climate in their cells, etc., etc. using only the odds and ends they are permitted by, or can slip past the attention of, the state.) Compare an object like this prop handgun, which was reportedly used by John Dillinger in his escape from the Crown Point, Indiana Jail in 1934, to, say, a modern-day toothbrush handle, or a Nike sneaker, designed by a professional working with a CAD-CAM system, industrial machine tooling, and a smorgasboard of rainbow-colored polymers and elastomers, most of which add no functional value at all, and are employed just to make a product stand out from competitors on the shelf. Granted, an escaping prisoner and a product designer have wildly different goals, but if asked “which is doing more creative, original problem-solving,” I know how I’d answer.
