Excellent guide on procuring LEDs from a cheap and plentiful source – “They come disguised as “Christmas Lights” – the “Forever Bright” line is especially good. And they are the subject of this article. Why bother? Cost. A string of 75 BLUE LED lights costs $10 on sale – and up where I am there’s a $5 rebate per string for “Energy Saver” lights. So that’s five bucks for 75 LEDs – or about 7 cents per LED for the expensive BLUE ones. Cheap.” Link.
In MAKE 04 we featured some great kit gift ideas in the magazine, “Kits for the Holidays”. But we didn’t have room for all the kits we found, so here’s another round for elves with makers on their list. MAKE subscribers can log in and view the full article here…Link. We also have our own kit for taking high speed flash photography to capture high-speed events — A splash. Popping balloons. Breaking glass. It’s an amazing adjustable flash controller triggered by light or sound. Link.
Article about holiday goods you can buy/make from a shop near MAKE HQ “Typewriter keys transformed into earrings, bike chains that become bracelets, journals bound between the covers of old books and decorative bowls made from old LP records. These are just some of the recycled goodies for sale at Renga Arts, a relatively new Occidental store that turns one person’s trash into another’s treasure.” Link.
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A little late for Halloween, but an excellent project to check out – Ben writes “I built a walking APU robot (from the Matrix) costume from PVC. It’s constructed so that it looks like I’m being carried by a robot, and is apparently convincing looking enough that a bunch of people kept asking me who was underneath, or how it was powered.” Link.
Jamie writes “We had another Halloween party at the Casa this year, and somehow a flash of inspiration hit me when I was thinking about decorations: polystyrene foam balls painted like jack-o-lanterns, on christmas lights.” Link.
Jack writes “When I saw the post on the Make Blog about the guy who built an Operation game costume, I decided I could do a better job. So, I did. And I wrote up complete instructions, with pictures, to prove it.” Link. I think he should connect it to a cell phone and allow anyone to zap him via the web…
Detailed story of making a creepy Halloween-themed jello and pudding dessert in an acquarium. Made from all sorts of gummy worms, gummy salamanders, candy eye balls, licorice and lips – along with 19 packs of Jello. It’s so gross looking, I want to make this. Link.
