From traditional crafts to modern crafts, we’re covering news and interesting projects to educate you and keep you inspired. Design trends and pop culture related projects are here to inspire.
Who can resist a Snowman named Mr. Tubbs? Roxycraft has posted up some great free patterns for the holidays, such as this cute snowman as well as a crochet holiday ornament. Looks like a fun quick project to jump start the holidays. Link.
Create your own Japanese-style paper lampshade. This origami pattern created by Tomoko Fuse shows you how to make a sleek modern designed lampshade for yourself. You can use paper with cool patters for your own special touch.
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Folks trying to keep a Maker’ down! – “Albert Swank Jr., a 55-year-old civil engineer in Anchorage, Alaska, is a man with a mission. He wants to install a nuclear particle accelerator in his home. But when neighbors learned of plans to place the 20-ton device inside the house where Swank operates his engineering firm, their response was swift: Not in my backyard. Local lawmakers rushed to introduce emergency legislation banning the use of cyclotrons in home businesses. State health officials took similar steps, and have suspended Swank’s permit to operate cyclotrons on his property.” [via] Link.
What will the home of the future look like in 2020? The Electrolux design lab jury selected 12 designers who participated in a design workshop in Stockolm, Sweden. “1st prize: The form of Air Wash is inspired by the waterfall, nature’s negative ion generator and regenerator. Its button-less interface is intriguing yet intuitively simple, humanizing the often mechanical experience when handling household appliances.” Check out the rest for some Maker project inspiration – and build the future now! Link.
Excellent project – “After playing on many different synths and copying several designs. I decided that I had to have a minimoog… Unfortunately the cost of a second hand minimoog is anything between 1000-2000 Euros depending on age and condition. So the only choice I have is to look at doing my own copy with the aim of keeping the circuits and design as original as possible. Having never played one, or seen one until a few months ago I have managed to amass a reasonable collection of circuits and pictures in order to help me in my quest.” [via] Link.
Comic artist Toby takes you through the step-by-step process of binding your own book as he works on the assembly line to put together his comics for a MoCCA event. There are tons of photos and descriptions on the whole process. Link.
Most Makers I know are usually thrifty (in a good way) and on the prowl for a good deal, but be careful…Today will likely go down in web history as another example of just how quick and bad things can get online – we’ve lived through the Kryptonite bic pen lock swarm, the recent Sony Rootkit and now read the story of someone who may have discovered when those low-cost camera sites have deals that seem too good to be true, they usually are. Link. If you’re a fan of Digg, this saga is the most “Dugg” story along with the most comments, ever. It will be interesting to see what happens next…
