Archive for the ‘DIY’ Category
We’re digging these toy soldiers NYC-based artist Steve Nishimoto dressed up with skateboards instead of guns. Check out the other two after the break. (Mike Dolan via Jeremy Brautman via Dangerous Minds) How Neon Signs Are Made
Posted:
Monday, June 27, 2011
in Counterculture, Creations & Contraptions, Creative Company, Creative Culture, Design, DIY
Have you ever wondered how neon signs are made? I did, and Google brought me to this video, “How Neon Signs Are Made.” The production quality isn’t stellar, but the information contained within satiates my curiosity about the process. It turns out it’s a much more complex undertaking than I imagined. Check it out.
Zach Klein is a freak. He knows it. I know it. And after you watch the absurd, brilliantly self-promotional video above, you too will know it. Fitting then that Klein is the creative brains behind Freakers USA, a Wilmington, North Carolina-based company that hand-makes one-size-fits-all bottle cooling sleeves. (The coolest ones I’ve ever seen.) Freakers already surpassed its Kickstarter goal, but there are about two hours remaining to pledge and a bunch of great swag still up for grabs. I’m most interested in the $2,000 level: a grilled cheese party that Klein will throw for you and your friends from the back of his tricked-out boxcar. How can you not love this guy? Check out three more hilarious videos after the jump. (via Okay Great)
The only nostalgia I have for childhood is Little League Baseball and nap time. August’s Little League World Series quells the former’s, but at this point it’s almost surreal to think that every afternoon we were obligated to sleep for somewhere between 30 minutes and one hour. Sure, in other parts of the world this luxury has translated into adulthood (see the siesta), but for us here in the USA, it’s work, work, work, and nap when you’re dead. And you know what? I think there’s something incredibly unjust about that. Enter architecture/design firm Studio KG, inventors of the OSTRICH — a portable and comfortable- (if not mildly claustrophobic-) looking “micro-environment” meant to both encourage and facilitate impromptu desk-dozes at any point during the day — who are attempting a solution to this problem. In their words:
Consider me (via Gizmodo)
Food trucks and Kickstarter: a perfect pairing? You decide. For as little as $1, a mobile chef’s dream can become a reality. Here are seven food trucks currently looking for funding. I’ve put them in order of deadline, so the first project on the list ends the soonest. Kickstarter is “all or nothing funding,” so if the project doesn’t reach its goal, the entrepreneurs get nothing. Just think: with your help, maybe one day these entrepreneurs will get to hit the road and be immortalized on food truck tumblrs like this.
Guten Brat: A Pneumatically-fitted VW Bus Serving Currywurst WHAT IT IS: Jorge is a welder and fabricator who loves painting and cooking. He wants to turn a 1957 VW bus into a food truck that serves German and Austrian food with a California flare. WHERE IT IS: Bay Area, CA WHAT THEY NEED: They have just 12 days to reach their goal of $10K. They are less than 10% of the way there. WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU: stickers, spices, sauce, meal tickets, bus pass, large original abstract realism bus painting, a year of brats, a LIFETIME of brats, a side dish named after you, catering as far as Oregon, Arizona and Nevada… WHY YOU SHOULD HELP: Of the seven food trucks on the list, this one is the most original. The project melds Jorge’s love for customizing cars and cooking. Wouldn’t it be great to help someone make a living doing not only one, but two things he loves? I’m rooting for this, and I don’t even like brats. Click through for six more food trucks.
Andrew Lipson and Daniel Shiu meticulously recreated the art of MC Escher on a quest to see “whether it would be possible to produce a plausible rendering of any of his pictures in LEGO bricks.” Their first attempt, Balcony took three months of “intermittent” work. The pair continued working together over the years to Lego-ize Belvedere, Ascending and Descending, Waterfall and Relativity. You can go behind the scenes of Relativity here.
Since having my portrait rendered in the form of a ham sandwich, by bento artist, AnnatheRed, I’ve begun seeing food art all around me. The Jacket Lunch Box by Jake Obatchi combines food, art and music appreciation in one tasty tupperware. Obatchi recreates album covers using rice, seaweed and other edibles; and he doesn’t discriminate. His culinary covers range from hard rock to trip hop to nu-metal to Mozart. Lady Gaga, who is fond of food as fashion, would likely be honored by Obatchi’s bento tribute. And while Trent Reznor won an Oscar for The Social Network, lots of people have statues: Obatchi has dedicated a unique, hand-crafted bento box to the award-winning soundtrack. Other artists to receive the bento treatment include: Michael Jackson, U2, Radiohead, The Clash, Primal Scream, Prodigy, Slipknot, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Rage Against The Machine, Atari Teenage Riot, Cyndi Lauper, The Beatles and Wilco.
Says Boston-based artist Nikki Rosato about her intricate portraits cut from maps:
For more information on this project, read Wired’s article on Rosato. Check out the full gallery after the jump. 
The EEP EEP EEP EP is a concept album by Boulder, CO-based designer, Rajeev Basu, made entirely using alarms. It’s meant to challenge the notion that alarms are often false, left unattended and mainly a nuisance. The project is an experiment to see if alarm sounds can be turned into music that people actually like listening to. I have very sensitive eardrums, and I’m going with a definitive yes on this one. The contributing artists include top sound designers, Michael Manning, David Kamp, Dominic Matar and Malcolm Goldie, and the EP was created across London, Berlin and New York. A sampling of some of the alarms used: Wireless car lock, school fire alarm, watch beeps, 80′s digital alarm clock, oven timer, car horn and an ECG scanner. Goldie describes his track as “Sitting down and listening to an alarm, rather than getting up and running away from it.” Basu is now opening up the project to other creators with Go Eep Yourself, a contest to produce more alarming music. For every track submitted, Basu will create a 1/1 artwork inspired by it, likely using clip art as he did for the existing tracks. The Eep Eep Eep EP is currently available as an iTunes download.
The architects at New York’s RAAD have engineered a luxury urban chicken coop. Designed to maximize a hen’s productivity while ensuring optimal comfort, the Chicken Co-op is being marketed as a “new standard in living that liberates the lifestyles of modern chickens.” With the exception of “sliding tray for easy clean up,” the Chicken Co-op’s amenities list would entice most humans:
The cost of the Chicken Co-op is $3,500, but imagine how much you could save in eggs…
Urban farming is on the rise, and chickens are the gateway animal. Because chickens sit on the fence between livestock and pets, it’s legal to raise them in the backyards and terraces of most cities. For instance, Oakland city ordinances allow residents to keep chickens in an enclosed coop with some restrictions on how close it is to houses, schools and churches. Many city-dwellers who raise chickens cite their main reason for doing so as having a deeper connection with the food they eat. Practically speaking, chickens provide poultry, eggs and fertilizer. RAAD’s Chicken Co-op is the urban designer’s alternative to chicken wire. |
