Send in Your Den

Rachael from the ArtYarn blog sent me notice of an intriguing show that's going to be happening this Summer and info on how you can take part. Sounds fun! This from the site:

About the exhibition
During the summer, visitors to the gallery will be greeted by Jan Niedojadlo’s hand-on sculptures. Visitors will be encouraged to enter the large-scale sculptures and experience the sights, sounds and smells within. These tactile sculptures are made from a variety of recycled materials including foam, rubber and carpet, and include lighting, sound, texture and smell.

How you can take part...
To complement this exhibition, we are inviting you to upload photographs of your dens to our special Art Factory Dens Flickr pool.

Do you have a den – a special place that you can go to play with your friends, listen to music or be by yourself? It could be in a tree, in your bedroom, in your garden or a nearby park. It could be a tent, a pile of blankets and pegs, a jumble of cardboard boxes and wood. Whatever it looks like, we’re inviting you to photograph it and add it to our Flickr pool. Grown ups – if you have old photographs of dens that you used to play in then you can add these too.

How to add your photograph...

1. Take a photograph of your den
2. Join Flickr !
You will need to be a member of Flickr to upload your photograph. Once you are a member of Flickr you can upload your photographs through your browser or by email. Basic membership is free and it’s easy to join. For more information see: http://www.flickr.com/help/faq/
3. Join the Art Factory Dens group and add your photograph.
Once you are a member of Flickr you can add your photograph to the Art Factory Dens group. To join the group, sign in to your Flickr account, then go to: http://www.flickr.com/groups/artfactorydens/, and click on “Join this group” on the right hand side of the page. Once you have joined the group you can add your photograph. When you add your photograph don’t forget to include the name of the village/town/city where the photograph was taken.

A selection of photographs from the Art Factory Dens Flickr pool will be printed off and displayed in the Turnpike Gallery during the exhibition.

More information here.

Last Night in the Studio: Walletastrophe!

I should know better, but I was forced to relearn a painful lesson last night. If I come to the studio in an agitated state, I should probably work on something that doesn't require much patience, like sketching out ideas or making lists. Whatever it is, it should not be sewing. Not only was I determined to sew last night, but I chose to sew small things (blurgh) and to top it all off, I was also hungry and tired. Lesson more than learned.

Daisuke Hiraiwa's - Skin of Spaces 2

Artist, Daisuke Hiraiwa has made this incredible sea-like installation from over 1400 plastic knives. I love the flowing, undulating character of this piece. It reminds me of tidal cycles. link

Sister Diane Crafts Up a Storm

You can always tell who's running a booth at Maker Faire because they suddenly become even more prolific than they normally are, and in Sister Diane's case, that's really saying something. Over at Crafty Pod, she's been whipping up some amazing stuff using Cricuts, Yudus, and a host of other unfortunately named craft machines. Check out all her new creations here or stop by and visit her at the Provo Craft booth at Maker Faire this weekend.

The Kinetic Sculptures of Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen is much more than an engineer. He is an artist working in concert with nature, using mathematics and beautiful forms to create these amazing creatures that move only under the power of the wind. His stuff is simply mesmerizing. via Dark Roasted Blend

Shop Class as Soul Craft

Matthew B. Crawford, who wrote the excellent NYT piece that I featured here a few days ago has a book coming out today called: Shop Class as Soul Craft. If you read the NYT article, you know the book is bound to be great. Here's an excerpt from the jacket:

"Shop Class as Soulcraft brings alive an experience that was once quite common, but now seems to be receding from society: making and fixing things. Those of us who sit in an office often feel a lack of connection to the material world, a sense of loss, and find it difficult to say exactly what we do all day. For anyone who felt hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, Shop Class as Soulcraft seeks to restore the honor of the manual trades as a life worth choosing."

Jessica's Fireplace

It's been awhile since I fished around over at Design Sponge and, while it's always an inspirational trip, this time I was just blown away by the coolness of Jessica's fireplace project. Best part: She found this incredible metal scrap in her own back yard. link

Wooden Car from Ukraine

Yeah, this thing is obviously a labor of love. This from the site:

"This is an unusual looking creation with its origins in the Ukraine. A Ukrainian designer by the name of Vasily Lazarenko spent 1.5 years of his life, gave up his job and cannibalized two other cars to make his dream a reality. It is not your usual wooden car, it is a blend of classic and modern styling and has a cute convertible / coupe hybrid thing going on. It looks like an enormous amount of beautiful oak and lacquer to be driving around with and is sure to draw a few stares (for the right reasons we hope). In case you are wondering, Lazarenko has considered selling this work of art, lets hope it is bought by someone who can truly appreciate it."

You gotta love an idealist with an idea. link via Uber Review with a special thanks to Pip!

Cross Stitch Car Art

Over at the Craft blog, they've posted some amazing cross stitch car decoration that will be on display in the Berlin art show, Strich und Faden, that I featured on DudeCraft a couple weeks back. Amazing stuff. link

Beautiful Driftwood Horses

There are economical blog posts and then there are posts that just don't offer any information whatsoever. I found these pics over at jeffbridges.com. The only sentence in the post is this one: "These women make horse sculptures from driftwood." Yep. I guess that about covers it. See the whole gallery here. Update: Thanks to Brian for doing a little Googling for me! Heather Jansch is the artist in question. All her works can be found here.

I Dig These Chicks

Over at the Art Yarn Blog a serious relief effort is underway and you, dear reader, can pick up your knitting sticks or sewing machine and pitch right in. A group in England called Little Hen Rescue is hard at work trying to find homes for over 10,000 battery hens who have been kept in unimaginably cruel conditions for their entire lives. Often these hens will be underweight and underfeathered when they come out of their tiny cages and need an artificial layer of warmth to keep them comfortable until their feathers grow back. That's where you come in. Little Hen Rescue is asking everyone who can knit or sew to make hen jumpers (that's British for chicken sweaters). You can find sizing information and a handy pattern here.

The Internet Craftsmanship Museum

Another gem from Judson Frondorf's AckAckAck blog! The Internet Museum of Craftsmanship is exactly what it sounds like and it does not disappoint. Everything from miniature firearms (like the one pictured above) to scale model transportation to finely engineered jewelry is contained therein. Check it out and stay awhile. These guys do some amazing and, some would say, obsessive work. link

Jeffrey Rudell: The Relentless Urge to Create

Great little piece by Jeff over on Craft Stylish about a chance meeting leading to a creative epiphany. Who knew that a suburban New Jersey Home Depot could yield such grist for the mill? link

On a side note, this is Jeffrey's last post for Craft Stylish. Apparently the powers that be, in their infinite "ahem" wisdom have decided not to renew a slew of their contributor's contracts. Boo. On the bright side, maybe Jeff will now come and write for DudeCraft and accept the enormous salary I've been offering him.

Creative Alphabets

What is it about making letters out of things? We just love it. No question. If there's some junk lying around, sooner or later, if you're human, you're going to make an alphabet out of it. It's just how we are. Out of the many examples over at crooked brains this morning, I think the Helvetiburger is my favorite. link

Today in the Studio

Nothing like having a brand new space to inspire action. Today I finished a bunch of stuff that had been languishing in a half-done state for weeks. First, I finished the "Lovely Day" papercut piece I've been thinking about for eons. It's part of a series where I'm doing lyrics from each song on the album Ella and Louis. One of my favorites. Second and in a more mundane vein, I put up a chicken wire tool organizer and sewed a new sewing machine cover for my much abused Singer. Lastly, and not pictured, I stitched up a new dog walking apron that holds bags and treats for our walks. Turned out nice. Pics on that one later. Now I'm going to bed.

Memorial Day Animal Robots!

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! I plan to get out of the house today, so posts on DudeCraft will be limited. However, I couldn't pass up the chance to post about Edouard Martinet and his menagerie of animal junk sculptures. As you can see, Edouard's work is top notch and he does it all with found objects and without welding. You can see his whole portfolio here.

New Studio

As some of you know, I lost my downtown studio about a month and a half ago and have been floating since. I entertained ideas of trying to work at home, but the distractions were too many and varied to actually get anything done. Luckily, my buddy Chaz came to the rescue and rented me this little shotgun room next to his record store. It was trashed and dark when I took possession a few days ago, and now it looks like it does in the pictures. Sorry I didn't take "before" pics, but honestly I couldn't wait to just get it done.

Easy Laptop Skin

Awhile ago, my friend Cianna out in the Yay Area posted a picture of her super-hip notebook cover and I was all like: "hey, you should do a tutorial about that." and she was all like: "Oh, I don't know if it's cool enough and it's so easy and blah, blah, blah." and I was all like" "Hey! Tutorial!!! Chop Chop!! Your idea is too rad not to share with the planet!" and she was all like: "ok". link

The Case for Working with Your Hands

My buddy Mike passed on this excellent article from the NYT, extolling the virtues of working with one's hands. It encapsulates, exactly, my feelings I experienced every day as a High School teacher and how I feel now as an office worker/late night crafter. Here's an excerpt, but do yourself a favor and click over to read the whole thing.

"High-school shop-class programs were widely dismantled in the 1990s as educators prepared students to become “knowledge workers.” The imperative of the last 20 years to round up every warm body and send it to college, then to the cubicle, was tied to a vision of the future in which we somehow take leave of material reality and glide about in a pure information economy. This has not come to pass. To begin with, such work often feels more enervating than gliding. More fundamentally, now as ever, somebody has to actually do things: fix our cars, unclog our toilets, build our houses."

Spam Subject Lines Reimagined

Illustrator, Elliot Burford has put together a series of 24 original drawings that playfully reimagine spam subject lines. Virtually all are SFW. Dig it. link via gizmodo

The Mother of All Steampunk Casemods

Holy Mackerel! Just when you thought the world was running out of brass and clockwork gears, or at least ideas of what to do with them, along comes Jake-of-all-trades with this amazing steampunk masterpiece. Make sure to check out the sweet making-of video here. via boingboing

Typographic Portraits

Stumbled across these typographic portraits this morning. I don't know that I'd call Mick Jagger a Garamond kind of guy, but there you are. link via ackackack

Dekotora: Japanese Decoration Trucks

This is why I love my readers. They are, daily, filling gaps in my ignorance of super crazy things like Dekotora. My Japanese modding posts of late have spawned numerous emails and comments that lead to bigger and crazier and more wonderful things. Thanks to Slag for turning me on to the world of Dekotora (the Japanese Decoration Truck). Here's a small history from the Dekotora wikipedia entry:

"The Dekotora or Decotora (デコトラ ,dekotora?), an abbreviation for "Decoration Truck", is a kind of loudly decorated truck most commonly found in Japan and the Philippines. Dekotora commonly have neon or ultraviolet lights, extravagant paints, and shiny stainless or golden exterior parts. These decorations can be found on both the cab and the trailer, and not only on the exterior but also in the interior. Dekotora may be created by workers out of their work trucks for fun, or they may be designed by hobbyists for special events. They are sometimes also referred to as Art Trucks (アートトラック) ,ātotorakku)?)."

pics via Pink Tentacle

Skulls, Rope, and Jim

Rachel sent me this link to these incredible skulls. Unfortunately, the site is mostly in French and the part that isn't cannot be copied and pasted, so you'll have to visit for more info. What I do know: The guy's name is Jim and he makes some really cool skulls! link

More Crazy Japanese Car Mods

After yesterdays post on heavily modded vans in Japan, I did a little more digging and came up with these,"ahem", beauties. Looks like the fiberglass manufacturers of Tokyo are doing a brisk business with the car culture kids over there. More pics here.

Tie-pography

Our good friend Pip from Meet Me at Mikes passed on this brilliant link to Ed Nacional's experiments in tie-pography. This from his site: "Display typeface constructed from a personal tie collection. A large amount of the collection was acquired from my dad, the rest bought at flea markets, thrift stores with a few brand new purchases sprinkled throughout. I hope to soon extend this project to add alternates, numbers and ligatures as the collection grows. " link Thanks Pip!

Hobbit House in Wales

Our friend Joe, who writes the Negative Space design column here at DudeCraft, sent along a link to a story about Simon Dale's low impact woodland house. This thing is amazing! It was built using all natural and reclaimed materials, is solar powered, and was constructed using a chainsaw, chisel and a hammer by Simon and his Father-in-Law. Check out Simon's site for process pictures and more details on the build. Go Simon! You win. via SF Gate

Frank Lloyd Wright Legos

I definitely did not have access to this level of Lego building when I was a kid. I just may treat myself to the Guggenheim now that I'm a bigger kid. Awesome! via Boing Boing

Aaron's Adding Machines

Andy Aaron thought of manufacturing these beautiful behemoths when he found a display of modern calculators next to a bunch of old, rusty aircraft switches one day. Painstakingly mapping the wiring of the calculator, Andy then set about recreating it in glorious wood, glass, and copper wire. He now makes about three of these a year. This from his site:

"The assumption behind modern electronics is that smaller is better. So I have set about completely re-thinking and re-building the electronic calculator using old-fashioned heavyweight switches, cranks, and levers mounted in antique chassis.
I turn out only a few Aaron Adding Machines a year. Every Aaron Adding Machine works perfectly and each is unique. I strive to have my pieces look like they are functional, utilitarian, mass-produced devices plucked from some imaginary office of another era. Perhaps the 19th century, perhaps a time that never existed."

Via Dark Roasted Blend

Japanese Gangster Vans

My good friend Austin sent me a link to these incredible van mods. Unfortunately, there is zero information in the post other than the title: Japanese Gangster Vans. The Vans are impressive, to be sure, but I have a hard time picturing any self-respecting Yakuza rolling a giant pink van named "sea story". Or, maybe, that's just how tough they are. link