How-To: Forge a Scorpion From a Lag Bolt
Cool folk art tutorial from delightfully-pseudonymed Instructables user “oldanvilyoungsmith” that manages to combine blacksmithing, old rusty bolts, and scorpions in a single project. Win, win, and win.
Workshop
The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for the industrial arts from metal and woodworking to CNC machining and 3D printing.
Unscrewed by Ed Sobey
Every time I see some great mechanical, hydraulic, or electromechanical contraption left by the side of the curb for trash, I think about all of the great raw materials inside that I could use. Ed Sobey’s new book, Unscrewed, gives sage advice regarding how to mine the gold in them thar heaps of broken appliances.
How-To: Hammered Spoon Place Cards
A confirmed lover of labels, I’ve been known to geek out pretty hard over cute place cards. This Hammered Spoon Place Cards Tutorial from Elizabeth Anne Designs is a lovely, subtle way to keep your wedding reception or dinner party in order, while giving your guests a trinket to take home. I love that they […]
Melvin The Magical Mixed Media Machine
Netherlands-based design firm HEY HEY HEY created this Rube Goldberg machine which promotes its own identity: Melvin the Magical Mixed Media Machine (or just Melvin the Machine) can be described as a Rube Goldberg machine with a twist. Besides doing what Rube Goldberg’s do best – performing a simple task as inefficiently as possible, often […]
Tool Review: Stanley 55-119 FatMax FuBar
I saw some of these wicked-looking crowbars while browsing the big orange store back in April. Curious, I fired off an e-mail to Stanley about a review, and they happily obliged me with a free tool. At 15″ in overall length, the 55-119 is the shortest crowbar in Stanley’s FuBar line. First, about that acronym: Stanley insists it stands for “Functional Utility BAR,” but, well, we all saw Saving Private Ryan, right?
Cellular Automata in Wood
I believe Los Angeles artist Jeff Cook’s medium is correctly described as marquetry (“the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures”) rather than parquetry (“very similar in technique to marquetry: in parquetry the pieces of veneer are of simple repeating geometric shapes, forming tiling patterns”). But it’s an interesting question…
Kanagawa Kinetic Coffee Table
I think William “Alex” Mecker’s Kanagawa Coffee Table would make a nice conversation piece in any living room. And at the very least, serves as excellent inspiration for laser cut furniture and mechanics. Inspired by the work of kinetic sculptors Theo Jansen & Reuben Margolin, the Kanagawa Coffee Table is the result of a merge […]