X-Acto knife

Mini Diorama

Mini Diorama

I made my first diorama when I was in elementary school, and years later, I still think theyโ€™re fun to make. For me, the best part is that the possibilities are endless. Lately, Iโ€™ve been working with cut paper illustrations, and since my projects are mostly inspired by nature, itโ€™s no surprise that I ended […]

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes

A good pair of shoes gives us the opportunity to strike the fine balance between great design and function โ€” and that goes for baby shoes, too. Babiesโ€™ feet are soft and flexible, so they can be squeezed into almost any shoe. But because their little bone structures are still taking shape, itโ€™s not a […]

The Autophenakistoscope

The Autophenakistoscope

Motorize a phenakistoscope, a 19th-century parlor novelty that preceded motion pictures, and keep its frames synched to an LED strobe by using a sensor and an Arduino microcontroller. Invented in 1832 by Joseph Plateau, this device creates a moving picture from a sequence of stills arranged on a spinning disk and viewed through strategically cut […]

Vintage Book Stash

Vintage Book Stash

Recycle castoff books and turn them into this sneaky, decorative book safe.

CD/Suction Cup Status Dial

CD/Suction Cup Status Dial

This project is derived from LifeHacker alum Jason Fitzpatrick’s improvised clean/dirty dishes indicator, which uses the same CD + suction cup idea. When I tried Jason’s trick for myself, however, I found that, while the hole in an optical disc does fit nicely over the hub of a hardware-store suction cup, all the cups I […]