How-To: Hardware Store Sand Pendulum
MAKE regular David Prutchi shows how his ten-year-old daughter and he remade an expensive “designer” sand pendulum using hardware-store components.
Remake
Math Monday: Floppy Disks
Got a bunch of old bit-rotting floppy disks gathering dust? Make this cool sphere with them.
Sculpture from Melted Vinyl Records
Jonathan Hudson is an artist who specializes in recycled materials. “Girl Put Your Records On” is a female form sculpted from vinyl records. From his site:
Educated in the field of science I am constantly experimenting and exploring new approaches to my subject matter. My intentions are to create well-crafted works of art that visually speak to the viewer and evoke an emotional response. When possible I try to use recycled materials and repurpose them for something other than a landfill. As a Biologist it is disturbing to note the rate of devastation our species is inflicting on our planet. Recycled/Repurposed Art is at least one step in the right direction.
Gutted Guitar Reborn as Spice Rack
A guitar will often die a slow death by peeling its own wood bottom from the glue that binds it to the rest of the body. This might very well relegate the instrument to firewood, but Asaf Tz’rtkof saw potential in the exposed brace work.
Test Tube Chandelier
Named in honor of Madame Curie (whose full name was Maria Sklodowska-Curie), the Maria S.C. chandelier from Polish designer Pani Jurek allows for all kinds of interesting end-user customization options. And it’s hard to imagine an easier remake. [via CRAFT]
Drum Controller Parts Harvesting
Today’s dumpscore included a Guitar Hero drum controller. I don’t have any use for it as a controller at this time, but I’ve been curious what is inside this category of devices. There were also about a half dozen guitar controllers for various game systems, but I wasn’t as interested in those today.
When I got home, I cleared off the table and grabbed a screwdriver. A half hour later, I had a nice neat pile of the electronic parts, and the rest of it was stashed away in the recycle bin. There was some neat telescoping tube in the stand, but I don’t have an immediate use for that stuff, and don’t have enough of it to create a storage category for future use.
Lightboxes Shaped Like Polaroid Prints
Clever gimmick from Germans Jirko Bannas and Oliver Seltmann, who, under the name Lightboys, market a few different types of these wall- and ceiling-mounted “light pictures.” This one, with a frame designed to suggest a giant instant film print, is called Polaboy. [via Dude Craft]
