I'll admit it - it never occurred to me to source or make vintage arrows as a home decor accent piece, but why not? They're fun, colorful, and masculine-ish/tongue-in-cheek enough to totally make sense in lots of spaces.
Mom Danielle created these bold arrows while making over her sons' rooms. The shafts are made from dowel rods, and covered in patterned washi tape, fabric scraps, and acrylic tape. And note the erasers as arrow heads - would work quite well with the office supply crossbow,… read more
And, as some industrious design students figured out, you can create a bike frame at home by learning to laminate and mold your own plywood elements. Brilliant! Even if you're not digging on building a bike frame, this is a great tutorial for learning how to mold and bend… read more
I spent a few days in Boston a couple of weeks ago, and had the pleasure of visiting the original Samuel Adams brewery for one of their free brewery and tasting tours. There, I learned, among many other things: that the actual Sam Adams was probably a cool guy, the dude with the really long beard and the overalls in all the commercials actually works there, and that the original Boston brewery only produces about five percent of their output. (The rest is brewed in Pennslyvania and my hometown of Cincinnati...guess I didn't have to go so far for a tour.)
They were also very generous with the samples, and walked our group… read more
A few weeks ago, we featured a few how-tos for making "bachelor's jam," a preserving method that fuses alcohol and fresh fruit. The technique there, basically, is to fill a jar with fruit and cover it with alcohol.
Last week, the New York Times featured a few more thorough recipes, designed to take advantage of complimentary flavors and general tastiness. "Perhaps the best example of following seasons in a boozy fruit mix is rumtopf — a German preserve that spans the entire growing season. Classic recipes have you start in June by mixing strawberries with sugar and rum. As other fruits ripen, they are added in layers, then the whole thing is left to mellow until… read more
Movie quote quiz: name the film. First one to get all five right in the comments wins a free copy of Make It! Hardware Store Decor. No Googling.
1. "Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead."
2. "I'm not even supposed to be here today."
3. "Down here, it's our time."
4. "Donny, you're out of your element."
5. "The power of voodoo." "Who do?" "You do." "Do what?" "Remind me of the babe."
If you got even one of those, you'll definitely want to check out Jerod Gibson's new series of movie quote posters, artfully arranged in the shape of an iconic… read more
Skull soap-on-a-rope. We'll be the first to admit, this certainly isn't a super innovative project, pushing the boundries of materials and creativity. BUT! Checking out this super-quick (fifteen second) tutorial does share some pretty cool maker nuggets - like the fact that they make super-easy-melt-and-pour soap, and you can use shaped ice-cube trays to make all sorts of cool projects. Plus, when it's all over, you've got skull-shaped soap on a rope. Which is… read more
A few weeks ago, the ManMade community rejoiced over the release of the Ninjabread Men cookie cutters from Fred Flare, which are still not available for purchase. So, industrious James Williamson, an electronics engineer living in Lancashire, UK, created his own, and is sharing his template with the world!
James' versions hinge around a acrylic template (he'll laser cut it for you for cost!), but you could easily print yours out onto… read more
As a young man I grew up surrounded by mustaches in my family, but I was always intimidated to grow them, even though I could from a very young age, because of the public pressures against it--because they weren't cool, they weren't hip. There was a certain stigma attached to people with mustaches, that you weren't professional or intelligent, and I commited myself to working for an organization that battled against that... [We hope to achieve] an equal playing field for people of Mustached American heritage. I got off the phone earlier today with a gentleman who told me he was told that he could have a job that he wanted, if he shaved his mustache....We recently saved the job of a young man who was a college student working at a restaurant, whose employers told him that he would either shave his mustache or lose his job that he was using to pay his tuition at the University of Georgia in Athens. There is a pattern of discrimination against people who are different from whatever the norm might be at the time in this country, and facial hair is no exception.
Didn't think facial hair choices could incite so much… read more
I just can't help myself - I'm simply a sucker for any attempt to incorporate natural textures into technology. Warming up the digital experience is the best of both worlds, in my book, and reinterpreting what contemporary tools can be, well, it's just plain fun.
So, of course, I'm loving this natural teak enclosure for a portable hard drive. The handmade look of decorative wood with cables and LEDs bleeping out can't be… read more
It's amazing, really. You work with hardware pieces all the time - rounded tops of bolts, the strong facades of a flanged hex nut - and note them for the mechanical fasteners they are. But when a sculptor and avid chess player walk through the hardware store...well:
When I saw the little bin containing two different types of castle nuts,I immediately thought of rooks. At the time my three sons and I hosted a weekly chess club,so chess was on my mind a lot. With my boys in tow,I returned with graph paper and we computed what sorts of bits we might want (we didn't know for sure) for each type of piece and how many in total. An hour later, after poring over numerous bins and waiting for the clerk to saw the threaded rod into measured lengths (for kings, rooks,and bishops), we went home with about fifteen pounds of loot, including spray paint for the black… read more
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