Paintbrush

Brilliant Buckles

Brilliant Buckles

Personally, I prefer art that has a function other than hanging on a wall. I look for various ways to incorporate my photographs and collages into everyday items — items that act as a vehicle to transport images to the outside world. I’ve created mobile exhibits with pendants, rings, purses, business card cases, and my […]

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Tape-Hinge Acrylic Box Construction

Tape-Hinge Acrylic Box Construction

If you have a router and the means to cut a straight line with it, this trick for building a 5-sided acrylic box is considerably easier than the common slab-joint method, and gives better-looking results, to boot.

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Decoupaged Table

Decoupaged Table

I’ve always loved to travel, and of all the places I’ve visited, Spain especially has captured my heart. What better way to keep my memories front and center (while sprucing up my living room) than by adorning my coffee table with maps of one of my favorite countries? This project is perfect for those who […]

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Catnip Castle

Catnip Castle

As a pet lifestyle expert, I’m often asked the question, “What do cats want?” The answer is simple: A fun outlet for their instinctive needs to scratch and climb. Unfortunately, most commercial pet playgrounds consist of towers (aka “cat condos”) and scratching posts swathed in hideous nylon broadloom. If you dread displaying these eye- sores […]

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Lunchbox Laser Shows

Lunchbox Laser Shows

Back in the 1970s, my friend Wayne Gillis and I used to do light shows at science fiction conventions. We had the usual panoply of overhead, slide, and custom-made projectors, and a single, very expensive, helium-neon laser from Edmund Scientific. Calling ourselves Light Opera, and later, Illuminatus, we performed at ConFusion conventions in Ann Arbor, […]

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PMC Pendants

PMC Pendants

Precious metal clay (PMC), developed in the 1990s by the Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, is actually powdered metal suspended in a clay-like binding medium. It is a very user-friendly material. You can mold it, stamp it, shape it, file it, carve it, glaze it, and texture it while it’s in its clay-like form. After air-drying, the […]

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Simple Longboard Skateboard

Simple Longboard Skateboard

Last year my 13-year-old daughter asked for a skateboard, so I gave her my 20-year-old board (which wasn’t seeing much use). She liked to ride it along the bank of the Los Angeles River, and I would ride with her on a Razor scooter. But after a while, I started to miss having a skateboard, […]

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