If you’re a maker just starting out your journey in sustainability, it can be overwhelming to figure out how to get started. From understanding the types of materials to utilize, learning what steps will help reduce waste and emissions, and finding inspiring new ways to explore creativity that don’t have a negative environmental impact. The good news is there are plenty of resources available for DIYers looking for ways to make their projects more sustainable – from simple switches you can make today, big-picture ideas for longterm change, or exciting new ways makers are helping push sustainability into the future. In these blog posts we’ll look at tips tricks and ideas specifically tailored towards diyers and makers on the road to creating projects with greater eco consciousness so that not only will you create something beautiful but also respect its impact on our planet!
I’m a little late to the party, on this one; wish I’d heard about the 2010 Zombie Safe House Competition before the deadline back in August. There were only four entries, overall, but I think the winning SS Huckleberry, shown above, would’ve been hard to beat regardless. Looks like they’re planning another contest for 2011. [Thanks, Mel!]
With a very few notable exceptions, there was really nothing punk about The Fad Which Shall Not be Named. Steampop might really have been a better word. Fortunately, the steam in these posts is not, generally, even aspiring to punk status, although the word itself may, regrettably, appear a couple times in the copy on the linked pages. Please accept our apologies–we were excited–and enjoy this hot steamy content entirely on its own merits.
Awhile back, I wrote about co-opting the awesome glue used to mount rear-view mirrors for hobby projects. An interested reader e-mailed me a couple weeks later asking if I knew how to remove a rear-view mirror button from a windshield, which I didn’t. Several people have reported that trying to forcibly remove the metal button from the glass can actually break a divot of glass out of the windshield. I was therefore not optimistic, but we talked a little about the idea of using an organic solvent combined with sharp lateral pressure parallel to the glass. She experimented a bit, and, what do you know, eventually succeeded! Here’s her report:
Here is the second installment of our series of Make: Shorts covering “Maker Pioneers,” inventors, entrepreneurs, makers who are dreaming up clever solutions to today’s energy and environmental problems. In this video, we meet Beth Ferguson, Sachi DeCou and Sol Design Lab. Among other things, they turn lovely vintage gas pumps into solar-powered electronic device […]
I love projects, like this ugly duckling lamp series from Hong Kong-based designer kamric, that give the lie to so-called “modern” design: Here’s something that looks just as good, and works just as well, as your snooty “designer” products, but is made from a couple bucks’ worth of hardware store materials.
Folks really liked Russian microwave factory, so here’s another – A look inside an aircraft repair plant…. Take a stroll around the shops of Vnukovo aircraft repair plant – the center of technical service and repair of civil aircrafts of domestic and foreign manufacture.
This “50% sawdust” project from Israel’s Kulla design involves mixing equal parts sawdust and shredded plastic bags in a mold under heat and mild pressure to produce a composite chip-board type material that, reportedly, requires no other adhesives, binders, or other components. Lots of questions left to be answered, but an interesting start. [via Dude […]
