Craft & Design

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.

Video game inspired quilting on Flickr, in the same set as some other sewing projects, including a nice jacket with a pirate-looking skull on it. I think the Tetris one in my favorite. [via] Link.

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.

Here is a neat site that has a lot of art made from “junk” – many of the pieces are made from old computer parts and are wired or constructed to move around. Good place to get inspired and make things…Link.

Homemade clothing, for your robot dog – An art competition at the Marunouchi shopping district, named “the Tokyo Competition 2005”. Some 40 robot dogs accompanied the would-be artists during the performance. Link.

A little while ago I posted about some clever Metrocard art projects – and now here’s a lot more – Noah’s Metro card art collection. Purses, belt buckles and more… Link.