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.

Hacking Digital Cameras

Hacking Digital Cameras

Cover ThumbnailThis book is on my list to check out – “Hacking Digital Cameras, recently released at the end of September, is the first and only book on the market that is aimed for the DIY photographers. It contains numerous hacking projects for the camera, lenses, accessories, tools, and storage. Whereas other photography books aim to explain how to use camera equipment, control lighting, and framing the shot, Hacking Digital Cameras shows the reader how to build lighting tools and hacking their camera to get the desired picture.” Anyone try this out yet? Post up a review in our comments. Link.

Cigar box guitar Maker – Ben Prestage

Cigar box guitar Maker – Ben Prestage

Benpic2004Doug writes “Just was reading the latest issue (of MAKE) and was looking at the guitar article. A guy that plays here in Florida named Ben Prestage plays a home made cigar box also. He makes his using broom sticks for the neck and the pick ups are made out of sewing bobs wound with copper wire, it is then all grounded to bottle caps stuck on to the end on the broom sticks. He is a one man blues band playing all the instruments himself. Here is one of his tracks where he is playing the cigar box Giver.” In volume 04 we show you how to make your own cigar box guitar.

Pretty Dyana – A Gypsy recycling saga

Pretty Dyana – A Gypsy recycling saga

ThumbnailserverHere’s an interesting video on Google video a reader sent in ” An intimate look at Gypsy refugees in Belgrade suburb who make a living by transfoming Citroen’s classic 2cv and Dyana cars into Mad Max-like recycling vehicles, with which they collect cardoard, bottles and scrap metal. These modern horses are much more efficient than the cart-pushing competition, but more important – they also mean freedom, hope and style for their crafty owners. Even the car batteries are used as power generators in order to get some light, watch tv and recharge mobiles! Almost an alchemist’s dream come true!…” Link.

HOW TO – Build a bicycle camera mount

HOW TO – Build a bicycle camera mount

Bicycle Camera Mount FastenerOn a trip to Hawaii this Maker went biking, he’s since made a bicycle camera mount to take pictures and video – “The activity that really stood out for me is the mountain biking, though I can’t wait to participate in the others as well. And for weeks now, I have said to myself that I want to make a bike camera mount so that I can videotape the fast ride down the mountain. I’m sure it will be exhilarating fun!” Here’s how he did it… Link.

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The $0.00 DIY battery extender

444Eb201 Jake writes “I am going home for Thanksgiving. The bus ride there will take at least 11 hours, and I hope to use my trusty (Dell PDA) X50v for entertainment along the way. Obviously the standard battery will only last a fraction of that and I do not know if the bus will have any sort of power terminals available to me. My solution was to build a battery-powered charger, which would normally present little challenge. Being several hundred miles away from my workshop full of tools and scavanged parts, however, made this a little more fun Well, here it is, in all it’s hackey glory.” Link.

One Time Use Astrophotography – CVS PV2 and your telescope

One Time Use Astrophotography – CVS PV2 and your telescope

Pv2 Manual Infinity Attachm.ThumbnailJason writes “In anticipation of the Mars proximity last Saturday, I put together a quick howto on using your hacked CVS camera (or any digital camera, really) with a telescope. I was planning to do a follow-up with some photos, but the sky has been overcast in Minneapolis for 4 days now. Hopefully, some Makers out there had better viewing conditions and can share their pics. As for me, it looks like I’ll have to wait for some other celestial event before I can try this out.” Link.

HOW TO – Assemble an Open Source IPTV Production Suite

HOW TO – Assemble an Open Source IPTV Production Suite

58033934 B6133434D2 MMark writes “The ‘Open Source IPTV Production Suite’ is an ensemble of high-level animation, 3D, compositing and editing tools that are available as free, open source GPL applications. However, this is not a direct attempt to duplicate the production tools found in Apple’s Final Cut Studio. It’s an attempt to create a fully functional, professional software suite that is capable of generating high end VFX and 3D animation like those found in Shake and Motion and Maya. Don’t be fooled, just because the software is open source doesn’t mean that it isn’t of professional grade.” Link.