The intriguing thing about author-illustrator Keri Smith‘s books is that they’re activity books for adults. In “Wreck This Journal“, Ms. Smith invites readers to smush leaves on the pages, fold and launder them, and otherwise do things we’re told not to do to books — plus use it as a journal. You don’t just read one of her books, you complete it.
When I selected Collin Cunningham as my Secret Santa recipient, I thought, “Oh, this will be a challenge!” What do you get someone who already has it all? Good looks (especially with that magnifying visor on), cutting-edge video editing equipment, and a sweet range of electronic tools for his lab. Then it dawned on me that while he always looks stylish in his Collin’s Lab videos, I never get a good look at his footwear.
So, I went in a different direction. We’ve been playing with R/C helicopters in the office recently, which is what inspired this gift. Here you go, John: a fiberglass R/C helicopter kit from Titan. Isn’t it neat?
Steam. Fire. High RPM flywheel. Steel wire treads. This is not your kid brother’s vibrabot. For my Gift Singularity project, I decided to build a bristlebot like no other. I wanted to make one on a larger, more dangerous scale. And so, I present to you the Steam-Powered BoilerBot! The basic principle here is the […]
When I reached my hand into the virtual MAKE Secret Santa hat and drew the name Nick Normal, I knew I needed to pick something special, thoughtful, and creative, because Nick is all of those things. I also knew that it should complement his very own Normalmeme: the (sometimes) recursive 3D printed Nick Normal bust that is all the rage.
I drew Adam Flaherty for my MAKE Secret Santa. Here he is pictured toasting with Marc de Vinck at FOO camp. He’s a gadget enthusiast, and when I ran into him in the O’Reilly parking lot in Sebastopol, CA last week, he was holding a 2-liter bottle solar lantern – it looked like a bottle of light, and I’m excited to see him document his build based on this previous post.
Back in 2009, my colleague John Park published his Florence Siphon coffee brewing apparatus in MAKE Volume 17. That’s him, above, goggling up before disengaging the safety interlocks on his infernal machine. I have had the pleasure of meeting John Park on several occassions, but even if I only knew him through his hyped-up internet rockstar persona, a few things would still be obvious. For instance, he is irritatingly good-looking. Also, he takes his beverages pretty damn seriously.
