Man Made DIY

Alas, I'm not camping this gorgeous Labor Day, but if I was out in the woods, I'd be cramming as many marshmallows as possible onto this deluxe toasting fork. Thanks to the folks at Instructables, everyone can make their own deluxe campfire roaster, with no chance of a lost dog in the fire.

Here's the tutorial; may all your hot dogs and smores be perfectly cooked today!

Hi friends - I'll be away from September 4th - 12th on fine trip up and down the New England coast, and I'm excited to welcome my friend and maker Polly Conway to explore all sorts of mens and crafts and generall good times.

So, get to know her a bit better, and say hi!

Polly Conway is a writer and craft dilettante living in Oakland, CA. Her current unfinished projects include a nearly done cross-stitch, a 1/25th completed afghan, and a quilt that currently exists only in her mind. Polly runs her own small crafty business, Pollyannacowgirl, selling the projects she can finish, and represents at shows all over California like Bazaar Biz… read more

Many thoughtful, contemporary parents are a bit wiser than ours were concerning the snack foods they give to their children. Avoiding processed food products, excessive amounts of corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, and overt amounts of sodium, these post-modern era parents have gone back to the snacks that their own grandparents might have served - homemade and much more healthful.

Which is great...except for one thing: contemporary kids don't get the experience of eating, well, kid food. Thrown in lunch boxes or crunched into pockets for consumption in the treehouse, there are certain foods that just taste like childhood.

And for me, that's … read more

For many creative men, "making things" often includes circuit boards, LEDs, microcontrollers, and the like. And while ManMade always argues that men should be encouraged to use their yarn skeins just as often as their soldering iron, it's still important to know how to actually use that soldering iron safely and effectively.

Enter the Ten Commandments of Soldering, a collection of Thous and Shalls for the wire connecting crowd. Even if you don't know how to solder, or what it actually does, it's a worthwhile read.   … read more

We're both cracking up and inspired by this series of business cards for fictional companies from films, television shows, and comic books. "Day Jobs" by Fernando Rez "pays nerdy, Easter Egg-laden homage 'to the hard working men and women who keep our beloved fictional companies going.'

Printed on Rolodex-ready business card stock. Extremely limited run of 20 S+N 11” x 17” prints are available for $25/pop."

We can connect fifteen of the twenty-one to its pop culture origin; how many can you? Let's see if we can get them all down in the comments section belo… read more

Gabrielle's son Ralph was turning thirteen, and asked for some au currant skinny ties, presumably because Ralph knows, as all ManMade readers know, that if you gotta dress up, you might as well do a good job.

Having a hard time finding appropriately priced and sized ties for Ralph, Gabrielle got creative and hit the thrift store. She came home with a pile of $1.00 traditional neckties, and got to work.

She says, "Of course, I forgot about the idea till 3 days before his birthday. At which point, I tried to rush and make it happen. I found 5 great ties at Goodwill and sped them to the tailor. There, I was told it would take 10 days and c… read more

These molded-plastic cookie cutters are sharper than a katana blade! The ninjas are snapping each other's legs off faster than you can bite off their heads! They're...well, pretty darn cool.  

People i know - Guess what you're getting for Christmas? … read more

I was gonna start this post with an "If I had filing cabinets like these, maybe I wouldn't let the piles on my desk get so high..." but I won't. Cause it's not true, and that's a dumb thing to say, anyway.     … read more

We spied these illustrations by Dale Murray this morning, and they've been making us smile all day. Perfect blend of vintage playfulness and contemporary cleverness.

   … read more

We don't care if cupcakes are oh-so-2008; these superhero-topped red velvet and Ovaltine (?!) flavored versions looks plenty timeless to us.

Just Jenn made paper versions of each logo, then cut them out to use as templates over biscuit-cutter cut fondant. "The thing I love about Superhero logos are the simple clean designs, just the image and the colors can tell you instantly who is who. All of which are PERFECT elements for topping cupcakes! I knew I wanted to do some of the basics, Superman, Batman – but I figured that some of the more obscure logos would be fun and also appeal to the diehard fanboy/fangirl."

 … read more