Edward L. Platt describes himself as a “a web developer, maker, artist, recovering physicist, and neuroscience fanboy.” I met him at Maker Faire Detroit, where he had an exhibition of his geometric snowflake drawings, called “penflakes.” He told me he draws one by hand every day. He uses hex grid paper as a template, laying […]
The very word means capable of being shaped, molded. Plastic is a cheap, durable, plentiful, extremely adaptable, and variable material that can be put to seemingly endless uses, from furnishings, building materials, and machine parts, to tools, weapons, vehicles, to now just about anything that can be extruded from a 3D printing head. The downside of its cheapness and ubiquity (not to mention the polluting nature of its manufacture) is that it leads to a profusion of waste material.
Erik Johnson made these flexible, wearable LED panels. The animations are controlled over wifi with a mobile device, and Erik brings light-refracting glasses with him to show off the trippy fireworks-like effects. He fit in perfectly in the dark hall filled with luminescent projects at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast […]
The Voice Shield Kit, from the Maker Shed, lets you easily add audio to your next Arduino project. Make talking clocks, voice guided GPS, alarms, awesome Halloween props and more.
Mike Krumpus of Nootropic Design (and creator of the Video Experimenter Shield which is the heart of Matt Richardson’s Enough Already hack) is at it again with his Defusable Clock: I thought it would be fun to build an alarm clock that looks just like the type of bomb that we always see in Hollywood […]
A good set of bicycle panniers can cost a chunk of change, but if you’re thinking of heading to the store to pick up a few essentials they’re pretty indispensable. Check out these cheep and easy DIY bicycle panniers you can construct from a couple of reusable grocery bags, some masonite, and a bungee.
The Makafone was a mail-order kit produced by the Modern Phonograph Supply Company starting in 1919. This ad and others like it were printed in Popular Mechanics and various trade magazines that catered to craftsmen. With the recent resurgence of interest in vintage vinyl and other archaic forms of media, I’d be curious to get a look at the plans for a Makafone and maybe build one myself.
