American born artist, Frank Plant sent me a link to his amazing "steel drawings" that he produces at his studio in Barcelona. In addition to this unassailably cool and disturbing rendering of a Kalashnikov rifle, Frank also has a wealth of other pieces that are worth taking a look at. Thanks for getting in touch, Frank! link
Thursday
Frank Plant - Drawings in Steel
Tree Limb Coasters
Wednesday
Yard Porn
Warm weather is here and with it come thoughts (albeit passing ones) of actually doing something about the yard this year. I love being in the yard. I love plants. What I'm not very good at is doing yard work or making enough money to have other people do it for me. So, in lieu of any actual landscaping, I've decided to take Anna's approach over at Door Sixteen and just look at other people's cool yards. I invite you to do the same. link
LCD Gift Wrap Paper
Over at Gadgettastic this morning, they are featuring this ultra cool LCD gift wrap. Perfect for wrapping a present for your favorite geek, or if you are sending a gift to Jack Bauer. Are my eyes failing me, or does the message on the gift in the picture look like it was sewn on? If so, extra points for coolness. link
Tuesday
Google Maps Alphabet
Over at his blog, Rhett Dashwood has been scouring Google for land formations and buildings from which to make an alphabet. With the exception of some people hating on his "Q", I think it's quite successful. Links to all the locations are also provided on the site. link
Papergirl - Free Rolled Art Distribution
Super cool art project in Berlin where rolled artworks are distributed, "paperboy style" from bikes. This from the site:
"Papergirl is an artproject, which in the style of american paperboys distributes rolled art pieces by bicycle in the streets to random passers-by. This happens once a year, when it´s summer in Berlin! All given work is exhibited in a big show before the distribution.
Papergirl is distributed like a newspaper, but not edited or printed like one. It consists of art pieces which are rolled up together. Contributions are handed in by mail or personally and are later included in the art rolls. There are no guidelines as to format, subject matter or quantity, so originals, prints, photos, copies, texts etc. come together. Each roll contains 10-15 different works, meaning that each one of them is unique!"
Sounds like fun! Let's do this here!
Link
Outrageous Home Theater Themes
As a former carpenter and scene painter for theater, I'm a total sucker for a good set with good props. Over at Crooked Brains, I ran into this home theater thread with some of the most outrageous (and costly) installations to date. From the Bat cave to the Nautilus, to the Titanic, these things are surely impressive in their detail and scope. I would however, like to see some more DIY, on-the-cheap, versions of what people have done. Anybody out there built their own theme theater? link
Monday
Airstream, Youstream we all...
My friend Barry, who is part lunatic and all genius, told me of a dream he had once to make a cabin court consisting of Airstream trailers and stick it in the woods of rural Virginia. Little did he know at the time that the Grand Daddy hotel in Cape Town, South Africa had a plan of their own. Mad as he may be, I don't know if Barry would have thought of airlifting these U.S. road relics to the top of a swanky hotel and using them as penthouse suites. Adding to the cool factor is the fact that local artists were commissioned to decorate the interior of each trailer. Pretty nifty. link via ackackack
Tin Can House
Industrial designer, Manuel Rapoport takes recycling very seriously. When he found himself waist-deep in dry milk cans, he decided to make the best of it and weatherproof his house in Patagonia. Of course, as one commenter mentions, poor people have been doing this for ages and nobody writes articles about their ingenious recycling. Good point. Still, It's a cool looking house. from Treehugger
Bicycles on the Brain
After almost eight months of bikelessness, I am once again mobile, in a two-wheeled, self-propelled fashion. Thanks to my excellent and talented friend and bandmate, Chris, I am the proud owner of a 1960s Armstrong fixed gear conversion, and it's awesome! (pics later today). The combination of great weather and the natural high of having a new bike has me really excited (read that, obsessed) about bicycling again. In that vein, I've found some tasty and interesting bike links this morning for all of you fans of the two-wheeled lifestyle. Even if youu're not a big bike fan, you can't help but dig the craftsmanship and lunacy that goes into some of this stuff. Enjoy.
First up, Renovo. A company that brings together my love of sexy wood and sexy bicycles into one, er, sexy package. They're not cheap, but, my goodness, they are beautiful. From Bubinga to Bamboo, Renovo has a wooden bike for you. link
And while we're on the subject of non-traditional materials, I also came across this architect designed, plywood bike that costs less than $35 to produce. Not sure how I feel about this one. The company's copy refers to the bike as disposable at one point (boo). Looks kind of cool though. I'd like to ride one.
Lastly, we have bikerodnkustom. Warning: This is one of those nut job sites where bike geeks make crazy stuff and congratulate each other about it. But, being a bike geek, I really like it, and there is some truly crazy and inventive stuff over there. link
Get on your bikes and ride!
Sunday
The Notebook
Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo. Dutch artist, Evelien Lohbeck has created this incredible little piece of animation involving her seemingly magic notebook and it's endless utility. Really fun! link
Saturday
Post Fossil Lamp
Happy Saturday everyone! I hope the weather is as gorgeous where you are as it is in North Carolina this morning. Here's another entry is my "cool designs that could get the DIY treatment if I ever have time to make them" file, this lamp from Post Fossil is certainly the bees knees. from NotCot
Friday
Mini Chairs Carved from Champagne Corks
As I was cruising around BoingBoing on this beautiful and uneventful afternoon, I was rewarded with a treasure trove of miniature eye candy. Seems the results are in for Design Within Reach's annual Champagne Cork Furniture contest. Check out the winners here.
Bag O' Trix #3 - Guest Blogger Trixie Brown
From my perspective it seems lately there has been a real explosion of crazy mad-scientist action in the world. More and more in my glide through the internets,* I'm finding the most fantastical, sci-fi worthy materials being developed. All I can think of is the eventual pairing of this brilliance with the equally smart designer/craftworld and all the potential for very cool stuff on the horizon.
*(a term coined by our scholarly 43rd pres)
Part of the original prototype work
Let's start off this show with the mesmerizing light transmitting concrete invented by Hungarian architect, Aron Losonczi by imbedding fiberoptics in cast concrete. Just think what small bit of sunshine this could have been to those forced to live in the drab East German tenement architecture back in those coldwar days!
see-through-transparent-aluminum
In a similar vein, is this other-worldly transparent aluminum made as an alloy with gems like rubies and sapphires. Wow, space-age marvel come to life! Somehow I couldn't rationalize the cost of Pepsi if it's can were made out this but then again, how really cool would that be, right?
Translucent Stone Veneers
Of course, the Germans aren't gonna let anyone upstage them on the brainiac front, so enter the translucent stone veneers. With insanely ultra-thin slicing maneuvers, these uber-engineers have created bendable stone sheets that can wrap, well, you tell me? Maybe a Flintstone themed stone interior of your vintage VW bug? ...possibilities are endless.
LED-Embedded Light Films
After last week's rant, you probably suspected I would sneak at least one LED gizmo in the mix. I really can't help it cause LED's are like candy at a Coney Island sideshow in my little world. Enter the Swiss, with a flexible polymer film embedded with LED lights that needs no internal wiring cause, get this... the film itself is doing the job! The best part of this innovation is that it's already on the market. So, what are you waiting for? This is like an insta-party, no? 
PaperStone
Thinking that might all be too techy for you, here's your earth-friendly antidote to formica and it's evil plastic brethren. PaperStone is made from 100% post-consumer paper and a non-petroleum resin derived from the humble and delightful cashew. This truly is guilt-free fabrication at it's best. 
Furore
Lastly and on a final note, this was just too weird to leave out of the competition... Furore, the synthetic fur of the future! Created on the principle of expanded metal, this rayon blend fluff gives me strange hints of Barbarella-esque bondage scenarios. Yikes! but that's one rabbit hole I'm not about to travel down right now.
To those with a healthier psyche than yours truly, it looks like the honorable gauntlet of design competition has been duly thrown down. It's time for the art world to take some of this innovation to the streets.
Reference Note: Just want to add a recommendation for a book I found on my research travels - Transmaterial: A Catalog of Materials That Redefine Our Physical Environment by Blaine Brownell. It's been a treasure trove of inspiration!
Dune Craft
The theme of this years World Sand Sculpture Festival is "fairy tales and legends". Comprised of 19 works, weighing in at over 2700 tons of sand, representing ten nations, these unbelievable pieces are on display through May 31 at the Tottori sand dunes, Japan. link (Thanks DWongster!)
Thursday
Vader's Helmet Reimagined
100 of today's most famous underground artists, including folks like Paul Frank, Tim Biskup and Dalek were given a life sized replica of Darth Vader's helmet to customize. The result...The Vader Project. Touring Star Wars conventions since 2007, the Vader Project is currently in the midst of it's first museum show at the Warhol in Pittsburgh until May 3rd. Yinz should check it out, if you're close. link via gizmodo
Carve an Eraser Stamp with a Pencil
Heather, who is forever finding ways of effectively doing things on the cheap over at Dollar Store Crafts, has a new post about stamp carving using a bent-up pencil eraser sleeve. Both brilliant and safe! link
iWood 3B
Here's the wireless device I've been waiting for. According to the site, you can check on any movie time for any movie until the end of time. Sweet! Now that's a useful device! This from the site:
"With our exclusive 3B* technology, fast connection speeds, support for those of us who live in reality, and our all new applications, i-wood is the all-in-one solution you have been looking for. It will help you redefine your relationships with people by showing them how truly irritating they, and their portable devices, have become."link
Wednesday
The Furniture of Pablo Reinoso
I found the incredible work of furniture designer, Pablo Reinoso over at the acidolatte blog this morning. I especially love the benches that appear to be growing wild and unchecked. link
Summer Season Shadow Box
Gray and I finished assembly today on our latest 3D paper creation for Duke Performances' Summer Season. We stuck with the Art Nouveau vibe and I think it worked out pretty well.
Get Hammered with Wendy
Wendy over at Build/Make/Craft/Bake has put up this tutorial on how to make these cool botanical prints by using the pigment that is naturally contained in the plants themselves. Extra points to Wendy for owning a cross-peen hammer! link
Hem-A-Long
I had a girlfriend in college who taught me how to sew. One of the very first things she taught me was to hem my own pants, and though I've forgotten all kinds of stuff about hand sewing, I've never forgotten how to sew a hem by hand. Over at Hoppo Bumpo, there's a Hem-A-Long going on for the next few weeks. All kinds of useful info over there so you can get your hem on too. via Whip Up
Tuesday
Analog Retro Papercraft
Dan McPharlin has produced these miniature, analog paper beauties for Japanese firm, PowerShovel. The set includes sweet reel-to-reel tape decks, analog synths, and other musical machines from days gone by. Check out the whole set here. via neatorama
Paper Shredder Music Video
Bicycle Mowers
Ginormous lawn? Hate pushing the mower in the Summer heat but still want to go greener than gas? Time to get the old Schwinn out of the garage and do a little modification. link
Monday
Balance Sheet - The Paper Work of Jill Sylvia
Artist Jill Sylvia makes these incredible creations from hand cut ledger paper. Required for this project: Patience of Job. link via Boing Boing
Holey Drillbits, Batman!
Sidecar Madness
As a fan of two-wheel motorized vehicles, I'm a sucker for sidecars. There's just something cool about them, especially the creative and/or vintage ones. They give a motorcycle that little extra bit of authority and "it" factor. Of course, that's only when they're parked. You look like a total git when your driving one, unless there's a dog in it. Then it's cool. Anyway, trip on over to Crooked Brains if you want to see a wide array of these odd add-ons. link
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