Craft, Science

Climate Change Data Visualisation Blanket / Lara Cooper

At first glance this crocheted blanket just looks like a pretty pattern. But it is actually so much more! The blanket maps out climate change over the course of the past 130 years. Each hexagon represents a single year and the colours represent the change from the mid century average.

This ingenious data visualization blanket is the brainchild of Lara Cooper. By day, Cooper is a wildlife conservation biologist. But when she isn’t in the lab she runs Level Up Nerd Apparel, an online store where she makes and sells nerdy apparel. This project was the perfect way for her to put both of those skills together — via Make: Zine

Craft

Quick / Easy Knobs / Stuff I Made

A fast way to make great quality knobs for jigs and furniture. No need for any tools, just a mould and some epoxy, it’s super quick and the knobs look great. Faster than making wooden knobs, ideal for the jigs around the workshop — via Youtube

Craft

Tiny Trebuchet / One Car Workshop

Build a tiny trebuchet for less than $10 using no tools! In this video, Bill Livolsi of One Car Workshop shows you how to build the world’s cutest siege weapon using popsicle sticks, a pair of scissors, and super glue — via Youtube

Craft

Glow Table / Mike Warren

Check out the instructable. Really light up your next dinner party with a table that glows in the dark. Photoluminescent (glow) powder mixed with clear casting resin fills the the naturally formed voids in this Pecky Cypress hardwood, creating a unique and stunning table. The glow powder charges up in sunlight and emits a cool blue glow when in partial or complete darkness — via Youtube

Craft

Space Ship Bunk Bed Build / Pete Dearing

Pete Dearing is undoubtedly winning the maker dad of the year award for the interactive cockpit in these spaceship bunk beds. He’d noticed how much his kids adored buttons; Elevators, remote controls, mobile phones, they just loved them, he says. He first made a basic control panel out of some switches and buttons mounted on top of an old toolbox with a power source inside. The boys kept asking him to add more buttons. So, Dearing decided to build something more permanent. With no real experience in electronics or woodwork, Dearing sought inspiration online, and purchased plans for a rocket ship bunk bed — via Make:

Craft

Temperature Blanket / Sharon McDermott

Sharon McDermott crocheted a row on an afghan every day. The colour of yarn each day was determined by the day’s high temperature. After a year, she has a full blanket with an archive of the local weather conditions.

You can get instructions from knitting or crocheting blogs, or at YouTube. While the colours are up to the creator, and the blankets will vary widely by latitude, I wonder how a blanket made now will vary from a blanket made in the same home ten years from now — via Youtube

Craft

Hand-Sewn Hairstyles That Cascade From Embroidered Hoops / Sheena Liam

Fashion model and embroidery artist Sheena Liam hand sews images of women whose hair seems to gracefully dangle from each of her 2D surfaces, Liam using black thread as a substitute for her subjects’ long locks. The works are all completed and displayed on embroidery hoops, with hair styles extending from the women in french braids, messy buns, and long ponytails. In one particular design, tiny pieces of thread are seen attached to the wall below the hoop, creating the illusion that the embroidered woman above is messily trimming her fringe. Liam creates relatable, solitary moments within each hand sewn hoop. You can see more of her elegant designs, as well as snapshots from her travels, on her Instagram — via Colossal

Craft

The Master Matador Tailor / Great Big Story

If you find yourself in the direct path of a charging 590kg bull, you had better be well dressed. That’s Antonio Lopez Fuentes’ philosophy. The Madrid-based tailor and owner of the Fermin Tailor Shop creates custom suits, or trajes de luces (literally dresses of light) for matadors. Fuentes’ is a family business that boasts 55 years of expertise in fashioning the finest handmade matador costumes. As you can imagine, each suit requires months of preparation, loads of material and no small amount of hard work. It’s a tough job, but only the finest will do for the brave few in this death-defying profession — via Youtube

Craft, Entertainment

Chewbacca + C-3PO / Adam Savage

It’s no secret that Adam’s a big fan of Chewbacca. So for his newest cosplay build, Adam revamps his Chewie costume to carry an animatronic threepio, as depicted in The Empire Strikes Back. It’s going to require a bit of disassembly, engineering, and problem-solving to turn two costumes into one that’s still wearable — via Youtube

Craft

Cooperative Cookie Box / Thijs Sondag

A prototype for a Cookie Box that can only be opened when you’re with two people. This is the box without the actual lid, so you can see how the mechanism works. In order to open the box, you need at least three hands.

Details of the complete box, plus instructions on how to make it yourself — via Youtube

Craft

Woodturning a Bowl from a Log / Le PicBois

Pat Laperrière of Le PicBois from Quebec who is a woodworker primarily focused on wood turning. In this video, he demonstrates how he makes a simple, yet beautiful wooden bowl out of a log of beech. Pat has been wood turning for three years, and although he makes it look easy, it’s quite a dangerous and skilful endeavour — via Youtube