Craft & Design

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.

Return of the photomart?

Return of the photomart?

Camera
It looks like taking your digital photos to the photo mart for printing might be a bit cheaper than printing it yourself at home. The printer companies make a lot of coin on the the ink, so in the end you pay more. As this is going on, more people are sharing photos online and may later use print services from those sites. How do you Makers out there print your photos? [via] Link.

Hand crank music…

Hand crank music…

Springcrankp Wonderful looking (and I bet sounding) hand cranked musical instruments – There is a mount for a contact microphone (piezo) on the back of each one, so it can be amplified. Each has a hand-crank in the middle, and all but the Spring Board Hand Crank have a feather-spine that acts as a plectrum that rotates when the hand-crank is cranked. As the plectrum rotates, it plucks something that vibrates and is amplified. The “something” that vibrates is in some cases a rubber band, in some wires sticking up, in one it is a metal strip, and in another one is a heavy spring. Each has a handy handle too. Link.

It’s all made from cans…

It’s all made from cans…

Hot Dog Keith writes “Found this in the current issue of my daughter’s Highlights magazine: “A six-foot tube of lipstick, a bulldozer, a jukebox–these are just a few of the things kids have built from cans. Across the country, kids compete to construct amazing works of art and help put a dent in hunger.” The winning entries from the 2005 competition are pretty amazing. My favorite is the 3,160 can model of a breaching shark. Very cool. The tornado too. Heck, they’re all cool! Be sure to check out the slide show of past entries as well. There’s a great entry of an Etch A Sketch made from large Hunt’s Tomato cans–complete with artwork on the screen–that looks to be about 7 feet tall!” Link.