Mad Science is looking for more hackers, makers, and DIYers to participate in our community madness. If you've recently designed or made a project, we want to see it! Share with the other Mad Scientists out there by posting up a how-to of your pet project on our community corkboard, or even just a few cool, inspiring photos of the build.
In honor of the new Astronomy World, I thought we should look at a few planetary icosahedrons. The icosahedron is the most round of the Platonic solids with twenty faces, thus has the smallest dihedral angles. This allows it to unfold into a flat map with a reasonably acceptable amount of distortion. In fact, Buckminster Fuller tried to popularize the polyhedral globe/map concept with his Dymaxion Map.
These boxes are inspired by a comment from Imaatfal Avidya on a corkboard post on Platonic polyhedra from sonobe units. Imaatfal was commenting about how the cube and octahedron are related to each other.
Just watched PBS origami doc Between the Folds last night. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's a beautiful film, really inspiring. Lots of Math Craft-related subject matter. Available instant on Netflix, or for rent on iTunes.
In Monday's post, we created a sliceform model of a hyperbolic paraboloid. In today's post, we will create a similar model using skewers. The hyperbolic paraboloid is a ruled surface, which means that you can create it using only straight lines even though it is curved. In fact, the hyperbolic paraboloid is doubly ruled and is one of only three curved surfaces than can be created using two distinct lines passing through each point. The others are the hyperboloid and the flat plane.
This is just too cool. As soon as I saw this, I thought, "Math Craft!"
Making a video game requires an incredible amount of work. It requires people skilled in many disciplines to work together for thousands of hours merging visual art, computer programming, game design, sound design, and music composition into a fun game. The Indie Stone is a Scottish indie development studio started, like so many others, by industry vets who were tired of corporate restrictions and wanted to make the crazy games they had always imagined.
A Parisian street artist anonymously known as JR—his pervasive works feature massive photographs of poor urban residents plastered across the cityscape—was awarded the 2011 TED prize some months ago.
German artist Michael Sans Berlin taxidermied a somewhat sadistic homage to one of his nation's most traditional craft objects, the cuckoo clock (the first version was made in southwest Germany's Black Forest between 1740 and 1750).
Amazing paper art books by Isaac Salazar. As a bibliophile... I can't help it, I really hate to see pages cut. I can't tell. Are the pages only creased or were small cuts necessary to achieve some of the finer dimensions?
Sputnik, Apollo and the Space Race. If you watched the State of the Union address last night, you probably heard President Barack Obama mention those three things.
This Web site and blog had some cool photos on it from ManaNation. And while it's not a video, he does do step-by-step how to build a Magic card castle in photos.
Korean artist Cheong-ah Hwang creates three-dimensional paper art by layering pieces of cut paper upon pieces, decoupage-style. The paper bird is fantastic, as well as her Obi Wan Kenobi & more. Scroll down for process photos.
Yep, that's Michael J. Fox himself (aka Marty McFly) inspecting an 8-foot-long Delorean cake, complete with flaming tire tracks. The facsimile was artfully crafted by cake decorating masters Ace of Cakes for the 25th anniversary of Back To The Future and the Blu-ray releases.
A mass accumulation of $5 donations allowed NYC artist collective SOFTlab to install the below piece, entitled CHROMAtex, at the Bridge Gallery. The piece is constructed with each donator's name printed as a photo paper tile, laser cut and then assembled with everyday binder clips. Elegantly constructed! Previously, Elegantly Crafted Paper Chandeliers.
I'm using this page as an image uploader for official forum charts. Here's one for crafting mastery if you want to see it in action :)
Put your woodworking skills to the test with this spin on the classic Rubik's cube. Instructables user BrittLiv demonstrates how to craft your own wooden cube using the following materials and tools:
That's not Super Mario Bros., but rather a Konami clone. Who even knew these existed? Dr. Sparkle is going to play every game in the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom and Famicom Disk System. In chronological order. He's even recording videos with commentary and review.
Miramax was started a few decades ago as an independent film studio, however today, Miramax is a huge company. The great thing about this studio is that they always choose a beautifully crafted script to make their movies. I love to watch these films while reading the scripts on my laptop. You should definitely watch these films, and look for story structure and plot points that bring the story together
Craft offers up a fun way to dress up your sneakers. Not into basket weave? Never fear. WonderHowTo's got plenty more styles to try.
Stephanie Anderson of Stephanie Makes crafts these not quite palm-sized hamburger zines. Pretty darn cute.
Ever wonder what the most efficient method is for resource gathering in SC2? Yeah, me neither. But someone has come up with a nifty chart that displays how many workers you should have until you start seeing diminishing returns. Serious business these games are.
Mark and Stefani at HomeStudio share their secret to turning old SCRABBLE tiles into lovely pendants. Anyone with a crafty mind will enjoy these pendants, which "are great for necklaces, charms, and gifts to give."
Flickr user fdecomite showcases his beautiful portfolio of geometry-inspired papercraft. His dedication to the craft is astounding. Get ready to take a journey down the rabbit hole cuz this work gets trippy.
12 amazing dog-shaped cakes via Odee.
Spicy Steve Nachos, iPad Thai and an Apple Cheese Plate. Artfully crafted, but... um, ew. Husband and wife team Ken and Diane Aversano, create a loving (though not exactly appetizing) tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs. Diane is also the creator of the amazing Jar Jar salad.
Learn how-to use the Fiskars Squeeze Punch for your paper crafts. Use a Fiskars squeeze punch.
Learn how-to use the Fiskars Tear Edgers for your paper crafts. Use Fiskars tear edgers.
Viewer-crafter Jenn Docherty shares her technique for making adorable needle-felted chicks. Materials needed are foam mat, wool roving, felting needle, wood skewer, needle
Check out this awesome tutorial that shows you how to make a useful bookend using recycled materials. I think this is cool because you could even disguise the VHS tape to look like a book. Crafting with VHS Tapes - CraftStylish.
Check out this How-to from Craftnerdy that shows you how to make an amazingly nerdy shower curtain in the likeness of Pac-Man. Get your nerd craft on! Pacman is Watching you Shower O.o.
Check out this sweet DIY tutorial on how to make a nerdy lamp out of a lightsaber! HOWTO: DIY Star Wars Light Saber Lamp | Geek Crafts.
Check out how to make this sweet cup sleeve that any and all geeks will appreciate! Cup Sleeve | Nerdy Crafts.
Don't be fooled. These cleverly photographed LEGO model trucks are just what I said they are... models, not life-sized. Still, they are beautifully designed and constructed. Check out creator Maciej D.'s flickr page for more images.
More goodies from Not So Humble Pie, the bakers that brought us Candied Bacon Cake and Science Cookies. These artfully crafted sushi cupcakes demonstrate real cake decorating mastery. Click through for more info on how they were made.
Fed up with your boring ol' traditional holiday wreath? Ditch the greenery and go extra festive this year with this felt ball wreath HowTo, courtesy of Norwegian craft blog Pickles.
Favorited by our man Crow. Submitted by user God. How could I not be tempted by this tutorial? A perfect combination of old school retro, arts & crafts, and hipster cool. Just take an old vinyl record sleeve, cover a part of your body, and snap a photo. Proof once again that the how-to imagination of the internet has no bounds.
Weekend fun. Foolproof. An ingenious melange of idiocy, electrical currents, arts and crafts.
She is kind of cute, in that fetching, illegal is-she-under-18 kind of way. A model from Paraguay. There is a 'green' undercurrent to the headline, in addition to an accomplished arts and crafts sensibility. It is a sweet domesticated how-to.
Sometimes your yarn might be too thin. In that case, it's easy to use two strands of yarn to achieve the thickness you want. There will be other times when you want to add more color to your project. In that case, use two strands of different colored yarn.
