How-To: Dyed Turkey Tail Fungus
Turkey Tails are a very interesting fungus that grow from living and dead trees. They are generally striped brownish yellow white, but they don’t have to be! Learn to dye them in a rainbow of shades.
Crafting with Nature
How-To: Make a Bug Habitat and Stick Insect
I love these summer kid projects from indietutes, like this bug habitat from a shoebox and these stick insects. They’re a good reminder that projects for kids don’t have to be fancy or use a lot of materials, they just have to (gasp!) spark the imagination and get them excited about the world. Even better, […]
Mending in the Wild: Try Agave
Jonathan Johns, a coworker of ours over at O’Reilly Media and a frequent volunteer at Maker Faires, sent us a great little mending-in-the-wild story that we think everyone will enjoy. My son, Christian, and his two roommates were on spring break in Arizona. As they were climbing up and around the hills, Christian’s cargo shorts […]
How-To: Wood Wall Hanging
Meg Allen Cole, formerly of Threadbanger’s Decor it Yourself, drops in for Etsy’s How-Tuesday to show viewers how to make a stylish and inexpensive wood wall hanging. Check out the video for the complete how-to.
How-To: Spider Silk Thread
This might just be the ultimate in crafting with nature: making your own spider silk thread. Instructables user Persona gathered abandoned Orb spider webs in her South Carolina backyard and combined the silk fibers to create a continuous strand. It’s a lot of work for not much thread, but it almost doesn’t matter if she […]
Timber-Frame House Plans
I love the Library of Congress. Not only do they guard a treasure house of literature and historical documents, not only can you buy reprints of amazing historical photographs, but you can actually get plans to build your own timber-frame house! I love the idea that architectural plans can be so accessible; it’s really just […]
Felted Seascape Celebrates Summer
Our pal Holly White-Wolfe over at Sono-ma.com points to this awesome seascape created by Monica Ashley to celebrate the solstice and the arrival of summer. To which I say: “Felted friends, the beach, cool breezes, and plenty of sunshine. Hallelujah!” Monica also offers summer art camps for kids in the San Francisco Bay Area, with […]
