Man Made DIY

I make routine visits to the hardware store. At least weekly, usually more. I'm at the craft store multiple times a month, and a regular at the fabric shop, art supply emporium, and every thrift store on the high street (Which, in my city, is actually called High St.) 

Doing what? Well, finding supplies to make stuff, of course. I'm constantly sourcing materials to cut out, slice up, reconfigure, then glue or sew back together to make something else entirely.

John Austin, on the other hand, takes a different approach, and heads straight to the office… read more

A Day-At-The-Office Choose Your Own Adventure

You're at work. Sitting there, staring out the window. Then, check the clock, back at the window. Pretend to write an email. Clock, window, then get up to use the restroom. Then, you play around in your office supply drawer, and say to yourself "Boy, I should clean that."

Do you:

A) Go back to staring out the window. At least you have one...

B) Work

C) Actually clean and organize your drawer

D) Use the stuff in said drawer to make an… read more

I've always enjoy the ambitious experiments of designer Dominic Wilcox, who, lately, has taken on a thirty-day speed creating challenge that has resulted in some fun projects: thread-wrapped grapes, onion ring fabric, and inflatable socks. 

But I'm particularly loving the practicality (?!) of this colored pencil shelf. Dominic says, "I made a shelf from coloured pencils by glueing them together. I was suprised at how strong it was using two layers of pencils....The shelf brackets are made by cutting a single pencil case into two parts and glueing together. The sliding doors hide the screws." 

Cocktails - like all fine things - have a culture, style, and traditional all their own, some of which is flair, but most of which comes from praticality and serving the best drink possible.

There are hundreds of styles of glasses, making it completely impractical for any home bar to stock all the options. Thankfully, that's a good thing - cause you only need five, which you can add as get excited about different styles of cocktails. The first three are absolute essentials, and the latter two are designed for specific classes of cocktails that are important to their enjoyment.

1. The Martini [or Cocktail] Glass: … read more

What do four pencils, tape, ball point pen, rubber bands, and a bamboo skewer equal? An obligatory safety warning, that's what.

Actually, it equals a mini-crossbow built from office supplies that COMES with an obligatory safety warning, which is simply this: don't be an idiot. Now to the fun part.

Straight from John Austin's Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: Build Implements of Spitball Warfare, this office supply crossbow seriously looks like something that can actually stand up to some repeated… read more