DIY Graphic Coasters

No end to what you can do with some decoupage glue! Spotted these at ThreadBanger (if you haven't, go there) this morning. Easy project with tons of bang for the buck. As with so many projects, the style of decoration is not exactly in a dudely vein, but the how-to is solid. link

Cross Stitch Tattoos

You must have gathered by now that I'm a fan of Tattoos. I have many of them. I don't, however, have any crafting tattoos. So, when I stumbled upon these Cross stitch tats over at Mr. X Stitch this morning, I started dreaming about getting a #11 X-Acto blade tattoo again. link

DIY Dangerous Toys - The Universe Cycle

Found this over at instructables this morning and couldn't resist giving it a post. With a little more decoration and some clockwork gears, this thing could be an awesome steampunk Segway. link

Paper Cut Eye Candy

I think it's always nice to start the morning with something beautiful, and I'm sure you agree. Illustrator Craig Ward completed this amazing piece in just eleven hours. Love the type mixed in. link

Color Palette Generator

Speaking of color, I found yet another useful, online color tool today. degraeve.com has a handy little app that will create a color palette around any picture you show it. Extremely handy if you are building your room's decoration around one piece, like a painting. link

Negative Space #3 - Joe Vax - Guest Blogger

Well, last time I promised we’d talk a little about color. What was I thinking? Talking a little about color is like talking a little about the the universe. There are people who spend their entire lives studying color, it’s too vast a subject to approach in a single column. The use of color is also a very personal aspect of making art, but hey, let’s talk about some basics and I’ll try to give you some insight into how I use color.


Color carries an enormous amount of weight in how we perceive things, it is probably the single biggest factor in our purchasing decisions. Think about that the next time you’re walking down a grocery store aisle, shopping for clothes, or buying a new car. And our choices are literally endless—cold, hot, warm, cool, clean, dirty, heavy, light, hard, soft—it goes on forever. So how do we decide what colors to apply to our projects? Well, what are you trying to say, because color communicates in ways that form alone cannot.


I like surprises, and color can be an excellent way to introduce an element of surprise by avoiding the obvious. In the poster below I avoided the traditional Halloween black and orange to use colors that had significant meaning to me. When I was a kid the Five & Dimes sold wax skeletons filled with colored sugar water. You knew that Halloween was right around the corner when these things would magically appear on the candy counter. You just had to stock up on wax corpses and monster magazines! I’m sure nobody made this connection when they received this poster in the mail but I didn’t care, I told you color choices are personal! Colors are like smells, they are deeply embedded in our memories.

In this Halloween self promotion poster, the color is based on childhood memories of translucent wax skeletons filled with colored sugar water.



When considering color I always try to remind myself to keep it simple, a little color can go a long way. That doesn’t mean you need to be scared of it, but think about how different colors relate to each other. Some colors compliment each other and other combinations will create foils to one another. Some tend to move back in space while others come forward. Look and analyze. I love to create foils with colors that contrast each other. It’s a great way to force a viewers attention to the central concept of the piece. Remember that the contrast I’m speaking about is not only contrast in value (light to dark), but also contrast in hue (cool to warm, or neutral to dynamic).


The cool green leaves and blue cuff create a great foil for the red glove, the centerpiece of this spread.



Lots of color here but the viewers attention is forced to the white initial caps, AACJO.


I also like to prioritize color, even in a piece that uses a lot of color I try to present one color that the viewer will remember as the main color of the piece. In my work that singular memorable color is often white, black or grey (negative space).


Even though this open studio announcement has a lot of color it will be perceived as a black postcard.


The piece above is based on the ‘OPEN’ signs we see everyday in shop windows. They are almost always bright orange letters on a black background, so we chose paintings from the artists that used a lot of orange to drop into the widows created by the letters.


As I’m sure you know, colors can be masculine or feminine, they can shout or whisper, they can seduce or warn, and remember that colors carry many different meanings to different cultures and religions. I hope I’ve given you some ideas to think about as you explore the endless world of color. Until next time, may your form always follow your function.

Star Wars / My Little Pony Mash Up

Let's get one thing straight...I have always despised My Little Pony, and until this morning I had never met an MLP that I didn't loathe. But artist and modder Mari Kasurinen has hacked these sickeningly cute Equus Caballi in such a way that I (gasp) might even want one. Of course, you could dress a moldy cabbage like a Storm Trooper and I'd say the same thing. link

More Bottle Architecture

After posting about the incredible Buddhist temple made from a million bottles yesterday, I just had to Google "bottle buildings". Turns out there's a ton of historical precedent for this type of construction. Check out all the bottle houses here.

Paper Cutting Tutorial

South African illustrator/designer, Heather Moore over at Skinny laMinx, has lots of beautiful stuff to share with us, but the thing that caught my eye this morning was this botanical cut out. First, it's a great little tutorial, and second, I just love the way Heather draws plants. link

Art on the Head of a Pin

There's small and then there's small. Art or not, This guys stuff is pretty amazing. Thanks for the link Olivia!

Buddhist Temple Made From Beer Bottles

This morning, Green Upgrader featured this amazing work of recycled architecture. One million beer bottles have gone into this incredible temple in Sisaket province in Thailand. This from the site:

Thai monks from the Sisaket province have used over one million recycled glass bottle to construct their Buddhist temple. Mindfulness is at the center of the Buddhist discipline and the dedication and thoughtfulness required to build everything from the toilets to their crematorium from recycled bottles shows what creativity and elbow grease can accomplish.

link via @trixiebrown. BTW, if you're on Twitter, give Trixie a follow. She always has tasty links.

Crafty Pay It Forward #4 - Jeanne to Erik

Jeanne crafted this beautiful little journal and heart card based on Erik's three things, being: Books, Kitsch, and meditation. The saying on the front comes from a fortune cookie that Jeanne found and thought would fit Erik's M.O. Great job Jeanne! And by the looks of the picture, Erik is a happy camper. Jeanne has chronicled the making process her at her blog, aesthetic dialectic.

Magic Boxes Tutorial

Leah Killian over at Life as Lou has cooked up a nice little tutorial on putting together these magic boxes. Doesn't really fall into the DudeCraft pallette, decoration-wise, but we are digging the architecture. Definitely need to try this one out. link

Bamboo Veneer Table Tutorial

Over at Crafty Nest, I found this slick tutorial this morning on dressing up some Ikea tables using bamboo veneer. Not much to it, really, and a fantastic result. link

Paper Nirvana

Jeff Rudell tweeted a link today to Elaine Lee's incredible paper blog, Mein Inspiration. It features, quite literally, the motherlode of inspirational objects made from paper. If it's cut, bent, folded, crumpled, or otherwise manipulated, Elaine's got it. One of the few blogs I will certainly return to on a daily basis. Beautiful stuff.link

Skulls

images from skull-a-day
Oh yes, we like them. Ever since I was a kid, watching Creature Features in the Bay Area, I have been digging the skull thing. I have a skull tattoo, I painted the 8 foot by 12 foot skull (below), I have skull ornaments that I made for my Christmas tree. It's not hard to convince me to like something having to do with skulls. So, when I discovered the skull-a-day blog awhile back, I was immediately hooked. The creator, Noah Scalin, set out to and succeeded in making a skull a day for a year, finishing his 365th skull in June of 2008. Now, in it's second year, the blog is featuring submissions from it's readers. Really inventive stuff over there. Noah also has a book out called, not suprisingly, Skulls, that chronicles his year-long cranial odyssey. link

Hemp Pendant Lamp Tutorial

I've seen tutorials for this style of lamp before. Usually, they look okay, but somehow miss the mark slightly. In this case though, I think Heika DeHart nails it. Not only do the lamps look great, but the tutorial is clearly presented with nice step by step photos along the way. link via crafty crafty

The Work of Carolyn Salas

I like things that look like other things that are made out of unexpected things. So, it follows perfectly that I would absolutely dig this rug made of foam by Carolyn Salas. You can see more of her work here. via Design Sponge

Wall Candy for Your Man Cave

Not so long ago, I wrote a lengthy post, bashing the aesthetic state of the typical man cave. This is not an apology. What I said then still holds true now. Your room looks bad, all of you. It was, however, a little unfair to demand that the fellas bring their decorating "A" game to their rooms and then not give them any concrete advice on the subject. In said post, I devoted a few sentences to what should not be on the walls of a man cave (NASCAR, light up Bud signs, bikini models), you know, dorm room stuff. Well, tonight I found a site full of stuff that could find a home on the wall of your man cave and look damn cool and manly to boot...Poster Museum. They've got a bunch of different subjects and the best thing is that these are originals, not reprints. You are pretty much guaranteed to be the only guy on your block with one of these. AND, they really aren't that expensive in the whole scheme of things. Check it out. link

Swiss Miss Paper Landscape

Swiss Miss has this nice DIY paper project called Alpen Glow over at her blog. Pattern included! Nice to stick on your sideboard at your next dinner party. Um, if you have a sideboard or dinner parties.link

Crafty Pay it Forward #3 - Joli to Joel

This fish traveled all the way from the Netherlands to Alabama. One of Joel's tidbits of info was that he owns a carnival goldfish named Aubie who has experienced unprecedented longevity. Joli painted this super cool mixed media portrait without the aid of a photo. How's the likeness, Joel?

Update:

Joel sent this great pic of the real Aubie next to Joli's painting. Awesome!

New Shadow Box

Gray and I have been working on another 3D shadow box promo for Duke Performances' Summer series. We went with a vaguely Art Nouveau feeling for this one. The shadow box thing is quickly becoming my favorite part of this job.

Book Paintings of Mike Stilkey

My Twitter homie, blogger, robot junkie, DotatDabbled posted Stilkey's work on her blog yesterday and I felt compelled to make it as viral as DudeCraft is able. Truly cool stuff. Take a look at his installations and sculpture pages when you get over there. Nice! link

Recycled Car Hood Furniture

Joel Hester's company, Weld House, makes these stunning pieces out of old car hoods and other discarded sheet metal artifacts. Dang, that thing is shiny! How many coats of clear do you think goes into one of these? link via re-nest

Crafty Pay it Forward #2 - Jessica to Jeanne

Oh my! This one made me jealous! It's a damned light-up-steampunk-bird-skull, people! I mean, really. That is freakin' awesome. Jeanne, you are one lucky makee! This from Jeanne's Blog, Aesthetic Dialectic:

Today I got my Craft it Forward present in the mail! Jessica from Hawaii made me the coolest little lamp out of a bird skull! It was her second electronics project ever. If you remember, Craft it Forward is a crafty secret Santa project created by Paul at Dudecraft. All that Jessica knew about me was that I’m an artist and a new MFA, on the east coast but from the west coast, and that I love anatomy, cats, and the color purple. The lamp that she made for me is so cool and teeny! I have no idea how she got the LED in there.

Amazing job Jessica, and thanks for making such a cool thing!

Bent Objects

I'm loving the stuff over at Terry Border's blog, Bent Objects. All manner of clever scenes involving pocket combs, circus peanuts, wrist watches and, of course, lots of wire. link

Star Wars Money

Fandork alert! Mark Brooks over on Deviant Art has designed the first galactic currency for use by citizens of the Empire. How is it, that even fictional "space" money still looks better than our real twenty dollar bill? Unfortunately, it's probably worth more as well. "sigh".

Crafty Pay It Forward #1 - Kate to Joli

If you've just joined us, perhaps you aren't hip to the craft exchange that's been going on around here for the past couple of weeks. Twenty (had originally planned for 50, but 20 was tough enough to manage, so I cut it off there.) people all around the globe have been making things for each other and none of them have ever met or spoken, or even tweeted at each other. You can read the original post with the rules here.

Our first project traveled all the way from Kate, who lives in Longmeadow, MA to Joli who lives in the Netherlands.(see pics below) As you can see, Kate put a tremendous amount of love and care into the project. You can read about the whole process on her blog, Life with Teddy. Joli's list of three most loved things was:

-Little things that you almost don't notice. Daily things.. I enjoy them.
(for example: drinking a really good coffee, cooking or the feeling of a soft fabric and weird paper, )
-The movie: Le fabuleux destin d'amelie poulain
-exploring the process of how things become things... like how coffee becomes coffee, from the beginning in the ground till the end.

Joli says that although they don't use the word "koozie" in the Netherlands, she is happy nonetheless that her coffee stays a little warmer. Cheers, Kate! Great job!

Reverse Painting an Old Window

I found a link to this sweet back painting tutorial over on Dollar Store Crafts this morning. Cathe Holden lays out an excellent set of instructions, including many of the pitfalls that go along with painting on glass (image distortion, etc.) and tips to make this project a success. Not really my style, but the technique tips make it more than worth it.link

Lighted Drum Table

Every once in awhile I'll pop over to TOMT (The Other Man's Treasures) to see what new things have hit the front page. You all know that I have a pretty low pleasure threshold when it comes to shiny objects, but also, pretty strict rules about impulse buying (Pack rat, heal thyself). I gotta say though, I came damn close to getting out the Mastercard when I saw this damned thing. Luckily, sense prevailed, or at least enough sense to try and find a drum and some crutches and build my own. Of course, if you buy this for me, I wouldn't be mad atcha. link

Oil Painted Nudes on Skateboards

Damn you BoingBoing. You know that I do my level best not to link to all the cooley-cool stuff that you have on your cooley-cool blog everyday because everybody in the universe already reads your cooley-coolness. But today, BoingBoing, you are too powerful for even me to resist. cooley-cool link

Repurposed Wine Crates

A whole slew of ideas for repurposing wine crates over at Poetic Home this morning. From dog beds, to bike trunks, to studio storage. Better get drinkin'! You've got stuff to make. link

Trojan Horse

Apparently, there is an Art War that is taking place in the City of Brotherly Love. The Tyler School of Art's students have delivered this Trojan horse and others like it, along with a declaration of war to the other art schools in Philadelphia. Full story here. I don't really care about the war, I just like the horse. via Cool Tweets

Sunday in the Studio

Lots of activity in the studio this weekend. My Viking rock band (High Master) has a show coming up in April, so we are all madly working on new costume pieces,set pieces, and 20 sided dice (see picture of Chris and his die below). I also got a chance to do a little work with paint chips from the big box store today. I had Ziggy Stardust in my head all day, so some lyrics found their way into the pieces. Made me think of doing an entire album's worth of lyrics as cut outs on paint chips. That would take awhile.