Craft & Design

From traditional crafts to modern crafts, we’re covering news and interesting projects to educate you and keep you inspired. Design trends and pop culture related projects are here to inspire.

Two-Dimensional Food…

Two-Dimensional Food…

11Two.184Coming soon, edible MAKE? Mmmm, roboty… “A picture may be worth a thousand words, but is it dinner? At Chicago’s trendy Moto restaurant, it is: a 20-course tasting menu can begin with “sushi” made of paper that has been printed with images of maki and wrapped around vinegared rice and conclude with a mint-flavored picture of a candy cane. Should you fail to finish a course, Homaro Cantu, Moto’s executive chef, will emerge from the kitchen with a refund: a phony dollar bill flavored to taste like a cheeseburger and fries.” [via] Link. (Also check out The Year in Ideas).

Open DMX USB Interface

Open DMX USB Interface

Box ViewHere’s an excellent “open” hardware project for controlling lighting/effects systems – you can build your own, buy an assembled kit or improve the design and modify source code – “This DMX USB interface is based on the FTDI 232BM chip, it’s a USB to serial converter. Using a simple application on a PC you can send and receive DMX512.” Thanks Ladyada! Link.

Cubatron -3D color display

Cubatron -3D color display

CubatronMeet the Cubatron, it’s not Castro on a light cycle, it’s the world’s largest true 3D color graphics display. Assuierupe has a very cool Flickr photo set “The coolness of this display hack is difficult to convey via static images, but check out the project page for a couple of videos of the device in action. The device was built by Mark Lottor for Burning Man, and now takes up a corner of his Menlo Park living room.” Link to photos. Project page.

HOW TO – Make shot glasses out of ice…

HOW TO – Make shot glasses out of ice…

IceshotsRay and Cape write “We thought it’d be sweet to make shot glasses out of ice. There are some bars in Europe and Australia which are made completely out of ice and kept below freezing, we didn’t go that far but these are pretty cool (no pun intended), check it out. We used Dixie cups. They come in several different sizes. You will need two different sizes, we used 9 oz and 3 oz cups…” Link.

Mass-Produced Individuality…

Mass-Produced Individuality…

CafepressInteresting article from the NYTimes about Cafepress (you can make your own shirts with their service) – “Many people used to make their own clothes and build their own furniture. The Industrial Revolution, with technological innovations like power looms and power lathes, and now today’s far-flung supply chains, made it easier and more practical to buy ready-made apparel and housewares. Lately, however, mass production has been cast not so much as the best thing that ever happened to consumers but as an annoyance, even a problem. It stands in the way of our individuality. What can save us?”… Link.

Escher’s “Relativity” in LEGO

Escher’s “Relativity” in LEGO

Lego RelativityEscher’s “Relativity” in LEGO! “…our fourth Escher picture rendered in LEGO. Once again, no camera tricks, but the picture has to be taken from exactly the right place, and boy did we get tired of trying to find where that place was. The whole thing took five or six evenings spread over two or three weeks. Most of the last evening was taken up with setting up the lighting the way we wanted it and trying to get the camera position just right…” Thanks Techhat! Link.