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You may not want to use this bad boy in the rain, because as wicked as it looks it’s made entirely of paper!
Crafted by Leo Firebrand, this paper replica of the Snub Pistol carried by the super soldiers in the Gears of War video game franchise looks badass, but you’d better have a backup weapon when Boomers start crawling out of emergence holes.
Check out Leo’s site for more of his epic papercraft creations, they’re super cool, and can be used as a grocery list when the war is over.
These kooky mascot masks are the brainchild of Ian Langohr, who used skills learned while working for a mascot production company to channel his inner strange. Maybe these masks will inspire the wildest bunch of college mascots ever-California Nest Mouths anyone?
In case you are too young to remember, macramé owls were all the rage about 40 years ago. Now rarely spotted and near the brink of extinction, there is an organization dedicated to saving this cultural landmark.
This organisation is dedicated to saving, rehabilitating and reviving the Macramé Owl.
The Macramé Owl is a rare species that is dreadfully declining in numbers worldwide. This heartbreaking situation is partly due to the difficulty in finding jute at local craft shops. It is further exacerbated by a lack of a sense of humour in humans for the sake of Seriousity.
Learn about owl watching, macrame owl hoots, the different variety of owls, and what you can do to save them. Link -via Laughing Squid
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With Halloween coming up, you can dec-horror-ate your haunted house with easy, do-it-yourself paper silhouettes! Craft magazine has instructions and PDFs available so you can sketch out the shapes or take them to a print shop.
Link -via Boing Boing
The art of taxidermy has seen a resurgence in the past decade, after falling out of favor some fifty years ago. Lisa Hix of Collector’s Weekly studied the phenomenon, and talked to quite a few new-wave taxidermists, including Robert Marbury of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists.
Marbury, now based in Baltimore, says he believes Internet culture revived interest in taxidermy, and not just because of eBay.
“The Internet’s become a cabinet of curiosities,” Marbury says. “You can search to your heart’s content and find really bizarre stuff, filling your computer with JPEGs and GIFs. In many ways, it parallels the traditional cabinet of curiosities, where you have these explorers going out and grabbing anything they could for their Wunderkammers (wonder rooms) in their houses or for museums. In a sense, we’re all walking around with that on our phones now. If you want to collect it, you can find it. I think it desensitizes us a little bit.”
His theory goes something like this: In the early 2000s, people started spending so much of their time in their heads, staring at computer screens, that they felt compelled to collect real, tactile objects that brought them back into the physical world—such as animals that were once alive, with soft fur or feathers, leathery hides or scaly skin, smooth horns and teeth, and even traces of decay that make a connection to the soul of nature and a long-gone past.
Learn what’s different about taxidermy this time around, and find plenty of links to online taxidermy collections and resources, at Collector’s Weekly. Link
Pattern Paper Stilletos by Jennifer Collier
Jennifer Collier of Unit Twelve uses found and recycled papers–patterns, maps, newspapers–to create everyday objects like shoes and cameras. Rather than choosing an item to sculpt then scrounging up the paper for it, Collier works the other way around: “I tend to find items then investigate a way in which they can be reused and transformed.” The results are interesting and a bit whimsical. You can check out more of her work on Laughing Squid, or see it at the Origin Contemporary Craft Fair Sep 22-28. Link
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The only limit to what a skilled craftster can create with needle felting is the imagination. There are artists who will surprise you with their subjects, like this heart-ripping declaration of love from artist Hine Mizushima. Check out a variety of weird sculptures at Oddee. Link
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Orata at Feather and Fan made this knit dalek with a zippered compartment in the front, where the dalek can stash a knitted Kaled mutant (or some other other freakish being). The knitting pattern is included in the post. Link -via Rue The Day
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Stacy Conradt made cake pops and decorated them to resemble the Beatles! She worked from just a photograph and made up the steps as she went along. The process is archived in pictures at her blog, i met a possum. Link
Craftster member blupony808 made this awesome plush angler fish out of fabric, garden hose, a night light, paint, and imagination. Yes, it lights up, too! This project won the monthly challenge at Craftster. See more pictures of how she built it. Link -via Rue The Day
German artist Susanne Karg makes awesome little felted caves for cats to snuggle up in. Some are for sale through Etsy. See more pictures at A Polar Bear’s Tale. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
This is not your grandmother’s doily, indeed! Portland, Oregon artist Jo Hamilton takes the art of crochet to another level by reproducing faces with yarn. She also does landscapes in crochet. Link -via Nag on the Lake
The monster from the Sy-Fy movie has been enshrined in plush! This is a one-of-a-kind Sharktopus was hand-made by Suzannah Ashley. See more pictures at her website. Link -via Laughing Squid
These are ten-sided fuzzy dice for geeks to hang in their car. Each is a decahedron known as a pentagonal trapezohedron. And you can make them yourself, with instructions from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. Link
A candle made out of an orange? I think I’d like to try this. The ingredients are things you probably have around the house now, and the instructions are so simple they are related almost completely in photographs at Snowhite Blog. Link -Thanks, Kittens Pet Team!
Aren’t these adorable! Etsy seller CraftyisCool is selling the patterns so that you can crochet Pee-Wee Herman and his friend Chairy. Contact her if you would like to buy the dolls themselves. Link -via Sofa Pizza
Neatoramanaut SenorMysterioso liked the creature the Alot a lot! He even made one of his own, for a competition among a knitting group called Knit Knack. See the winner and the other runner-up in this post. You can see more of this alot at SenorMysterioso’s Flickr stream. Link
Less murder-y than a real chainsaw and more fun than any Texas Massacre.
Etsy artist SteffBomb has a limited-edition run of plush chainsaws available! Link -via Geekologie
StacyBee’s baby is due next month, and she made a custom book out of felt and other decorations just for her. Each page has a letter of Lydia’s name, illustrated with things that begin with that letter. Is this adorable, or what? Link
Tried & True has instructions for making this festive Peep Wreath for Easter. It’s supposed to last for years, but my kids would have the whole thing eaten in a day or so! Link -via mental_floss
Anastassia Elias is an artist who uses the rolls leftover from toilet paper as a showcase for miniature tableaus. At left, children building a snowman, complete with wintry tree limbs hanging as a frame to Elias’ crafted scene.
By making the inserted figures out of the same color paper as the tube, and illuminating the piece from behind, he gives a sort of life to them. Other works depict a woman taking clothes down from a line, a classroom, a market scene, and Anastassia’s grandmother dozing in a chair.
He said: ‘The imagery of my work comes from looking people around me going about their everyday life. Sometimes I use recycled materials and find new things to do with them – this time it was the turn of toilet rolls. The rolls remind me of the famous miniature boats enclosed in bottles.”
Link. (via Unique Daily) Photo: Solent News & Photo Agency.
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This Star Wars Christmas decoration is one you can make yourself! The TIE fighter is made from felt, cardboard, and pipe cleaners with a sprig of mistletoe added. Hang the finished product over a doorway in the traditional manner of mistletoe. Instructions included. Link -via Unique Daily
Kayla Kromer was featured on Neatorama about a year ago for her Hamburger Bed. Now she strikes back with this must have bed for any Star Wars fan. Featuring working headlights, starfield projection, and hidden compartments, its cockpit can also hold action figures (although the two she picked are, indeed, sacrilege). I like the radar dish pillow.
Link to Kayla’s Facebook photos.
Photo: Gentle Giant Studios
The Star Wars cantina bookend set is currently out of stock, and at a cost of over $150.00 it’s definitely for those with money to burn. Neatorama sells cool bookends for far less. However, this and other examples including Lord of the Rings, Batman vs. Superman, Harry Potter and more can be ogled at Uphaa.
Longcat is long, and warm, too because he’s a scarf made of fleece, felt, and polyfil. Also available in Tacgnol style (black). This internet meme is brought to you by artist Heather Dugger. Link -via The Daily What
There are those who proudly put their masterpieces up on Craftster while there are those who can only ogle at them. And then there’s Craft Fail, for people who are not shamed to show their earnest, albeit unsuccessful attempts at arts and crafts. (Anyone guess what that green thing to the left is?)
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by winnow.
Alex CF creates ghastly artifacts. Previous creations include an antique vampire hunting kit, and a werewolf corpse. His latest specimen is this rather toothy “taxidermied corpse of an extra dimensional entity known as ‘The Cheshire cat.’” It’s for sale.
*Previously: Alice Chess Set.
From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by 
This room is amazing. It’s all handpainted by DogGrrl from Craftster. I’m extremely impressed with her perspective – it took me a few tries, but if you look closely, you can see where the actual wall ends and where her painting skills begin.
And this is genius – shortly after she posted the pictures of her completed room, she had someone gut an old, not-working Coke machine and put shelves inside. The result? Computer cabinet. Love it.
Link for more pictures, which I highly recommend checking out. It’s even more detailed than what you see here!
I can’t sit still. Like, pretty much ever. I can sit still in a movie theater if I have to, but if I’m sitting at home watching TV or something, I can’t just sit. Which is probably why I blog. Anyway, my point is, making these bows is a fabulous thing to do if you need something to cure idle hands. They’re very, very addicting. And you’re recycling at the same time! Plus, they’re so much more original and different than anything you’ll find in a store. That’s one of my bows in the picture, but here’s the original post on Craftster that will show you how to make your own.
