HOW TO – Build your own Ring flash
“One of the cooler lighting effects that we have left over from the 90’s era fashion photography is the use of Ring Flash as a primary light source. Ring flashes are often used in either fashion photography or in macro photography where the ring of light helps to eliminate shadows. When used in fashion or generally people photography it has the effect of creating a flat but almost iridescent lighting quality with a ‘halo’ effect around the subject. Cool yes, cheap? No. Flashes designed for macro photography generally will set you back about $400, while ring flashes for medium format and intended for fashion photography cost well over $1000!…Well fortunately, building your own ring flash is a fairly easy project with results that can easily rival professional ring flash assemblies for only a fraction of the price.” Link.
Excellent write up of a Maker who created a beautiful line of low power LED lighting for your home, and now they’re for sale – “The light I built for my dining room has three 1W LEDs encased in clear rod, surrounded by transparent blue plastic. This means that the light shines downward with white light but glows out the side in a very nice blue. I built it for our dining room and so I call it the dining room light, Eurolite has come up with their own names for the lights and this one is the Borealis Linear.”… 
A fun instructable from talbotron22 “Here I show how you can very simply modify a megaphone to accept 1/8” line input from an iPod, and mount the megaphone on top of a motorcycle helmet. The resulting “Mega Helmet” delivers the maximal aural stupidity allowed by law…Go play softball wearing the helmet. It is very good for antagonizing the pitcher, and trash-talking in general. The helmet allows both for amplification of your voice, and playback of mp3s from the iPod.” 
Nick writes “Here’s a great collection of homemade musical instruments and instrument mods from Dennis Havlena. Most are cheap and quick, and include sound samples. I particularly dug the simplified hurdy-gurdy.” 
Marc writes “This is a well detailed plan of building “the ultimate gaming table” for role-playing and board games. I appreciate the details like cup holders and dry erase boards as well as the layout of the room itself.” 
Diy.sometemple writes “This is an extensive collection of automated and programmable musical instruments designed by the logos foundation. There are lots of photos and wiring schematics and the like. You can get lost on this site for hours.” 
“These transit tokens from New York were discontinued in 1980 and have now been recycled into cuff links, courtesy of their designer Ward Wallau. He spent 11 years petitioning the NY Transit Authority before they finally gave him permission to use them in his jewelry, making them truly special. These unique cuff links are also available with recycled transit tokens from Boston, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago.” These might be fun to make, perhaps out of arcade tokens… 
