Holiday Gift Guide 2012: 12 Awesome Craft Kits
If you’re a kit connoisseur, this gift guide is for you! Here are 12 awesome craft kits that are sure to knock a few names off your holiday to-buy list!
Tools
Give Something Useless this Christmas
How much time and effort do you put in to choosing the perfect Christmas gift? If you’re like my wife and I, it’s far too much. It is practical? Will they use it? It’s a never ending guessing game that typically ends up with a polite “thank you” card. This year why not forget practicality and give them something completely and utterly useless?
DiResta: Hatchet
In each bi-monthly episode of DiResta (every other Wednesday at 2pm PT), artist and master builder Jimmy DiResta (Dirty Money, Hammered, Against the Grain, Trash for Cash) lets us into his workshop, to look over his shoulder while he builds whatever strikes his fancy. In this episode of DiResta, Jimmy has his way with an old hatchet and transforms it into a sweet little showpiece tool.
For supplies and materials lists, notebook sketches, and Jimmy’s Notes, check out this page on MAKE: http://blog.stage.makezine.com/2012/12/12/diresta-hatchet/
Tool Review: QU-BD Silicone Heater
QU-BD (pronounced “cubed”) is a recent startup that sells parts for 3D printers. They sent us a few of their silicone heaters to review. The heaters were designed for use in a heated build platform (which is required for warp-free ABS prints) and come in three different-sized square pads of 150 × 150mm, 200 × 200mm, and a giant 300 × 300mm. They are about 3mm thick and a 100k thermistor is built into each pad for measuring their temperatures. The build quality of the heaters is quite robust. The pads are made of a flexible fiberglass-reinforced silicone…
Toolsday Hangout on Air, Live and Online Dec. 11 at 2pm PST/5pm EST
Tomorrow, Dec. 4, is Toolsday here at MAKE, so you know what that means – a live Google+ hangout where we will be discussing our favorite tools and workspace essentials. Tune at 2pm PST/5pm EST on the +MAKE page, or if you’re busy you can catch it later on the MAKE YouTube page.
Toolsday Hangout on Air, Live and Online Dec. 4 at 2pm PST/5pm EST
Tomorrow, Dec. 4, is Toolsday here at MAKE, so you know what that means – a live Google+ hangout where we will be discussing our favorite tools and workspace essentials. Tune at 2pm PST/5pm EST on the +MAKE page, or if you’re busy you can catch it later on the MAKE YouTube page.
The main topic of the hangout will be Phone and Tablet-related cases and applications.
Tool Review: Rio Grande Swap-Jaw Pliers
There’s nothing especially complex about these pliers from prominent jeweler-supply house Rio Grande: one jaw features a rounded bending mandrel about 5mm in diameter and 20mm long, and the other, a cupped steel band holding a nylon forming block with a matching V-shaped groove. The cool part is that the nylon block is removable and replaceable, so if you have access to a 3D printer, you can print your own custom jaw inserts and mount them in place using small wood screws.
