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Now that you can get duct tape in just about any color imaginable, why not make your Valentine some roses that are darn near indestructible? As a commenter at Metafilter said,
Because nothing says “Let’s stick together,” like a “realis-stick” rose made of duct tape.
See how it’s done at Instructables. Link -via Metafilter
You may remember Instructables user mezcraft from her amazing Harry Potter-themed gingerbread house. Believe it or not, she’s actually topped that achievement. Mezcraft’s cuckoo clock isn’t just gingerbread on the outside. The gears are gingerbread, too! Mind you, it doesn’t actually function as a clock. But gingerbread engineering has advanced so rapidly in the past few years that surely such a clock will be available in the near future.
Traveling all the way from Wayne Manor to the Gotham City Police Department headquarters takes the wind out of a crimefighter. Sit down and rest a bit before taking on the next case. Instructables user Orvis has just what an aging Dark Knight needs.
Instructables user General Eggs has step-by-step instructions on how to make a model of the double helix. Besides a fun crafting activity, it’s a learning opportunity for biology students. Then it’s only a short step to breeding a race of genetically engineered workers.
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Instructables user urant built a self contained espresso machine that fits in his pocket. An alcohol stove provides the heat. That part required a lot of tinkering in order to be both safe and effective. The end result is a portable machine that brews a cup of espresso in just a few minutes.
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Any size hot dog can be a bun-length hot dog when you spiral-cut them! Instructables member dreamberry shows us how, using a drill bit and a knife. Commenters suggested using a bamboo skewer instead of a drill bit, so you can boil, grill, or deep-fry the dog in no time. Link -via Laughing Squid
PS: Once you master the technique, you’ll want to try the double-spiral cut. Link
Let’s say that you ride a city bus, and you’d like to get more personal attention. Wear boots, a utilikilt, these claws, and nothing else. Watch all eyes turn on you. Instructables user Jonathan Elwell doesn’t say outright that that’s what these are for, but it seems to be an obvious application.
Link -via Fashionably Geek
Lest you think that Instructables user randofo just wanted a creative crafting project, he explicitly says that his button-controlled jack-o’-lantern is designed to deal with the trick-or-treater menace. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes.
Instructables user makendo built this magnificent Rubik’s Cube for his kids. The three horizontal layers rotate on a vertical axis. If you can figure out where the hidden locks are, you can open the drawers. So this is definitely not the place to store the fire extinguisher.
Watch a video of the cube at the link.
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You can buy a grappling hook launcher, but they’re expensive. Instructables member and MIT mechanical engineering student crreed figured that he could build his own. The force is provided by a paintball gun CO2 canister and the barrel is a copper pipe held in place by the frame of a Nerf gun.
Link -via Technabob | Maker’s Blog
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Instructables member Nylanan is currently building a full-size replica of R2D2. As a result, he’s been seeing visions of the droid in everyday objects, such as this lamp. He cut vinyl panels to size and stuck them on the lamp. Link -via Geek Crafts
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A looty is a device you use to gaze into your own eyes. Specifically, one eye looks at the other, and vice versa. It was invented by Jim Woodring, who quit making them “because the effect is unnatural and probably harmful.” However, Instructables member Nachimir shows you how to make your own.
The first time I got my eyes to move independently, it made me recoil.
Close one eye and you get to watch it open again with the other. Tilting or turning your head causes the mirror image to move the opposite way; it reflects you as other people actually see you, apart from the missing chunk of face between your eyes. Tilt the Looty 45 degrees and your reflection turns through 90. It also emphasizes differences in color perception.
It seems to be a source of brief amusement for anyone who picks it up. Yesterday, a guest turned it on its side and used it to inspect his nose hair.
If you’ve ever made or played with one of these, let us know what you think. Link -via reddit
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You’re still using a chocolate iPad? Pfft. That’s so old-fashioned. The new thing is the chocolate iPad 2, which is so much more Apple than the chocolate iPad. Get with the times! Instructables user stevequag tells you how to make one.
Instructables user spookylean, who previously taught us how to turn an Altoids tin into a martini kit, now shows us how to make a model of an X-Wing fighter using common office supplies. You’ll need a chisel Sharpie, two large and two small binder clips, a SM card, four pens, four brass fasteners, a pencil sharpener, hot glue, and poster putty.
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Is it possible to improve upon a work by Van Gogh? Instructables user CopperTwist proves, beyond all doubt, that the answer is ‘yes’. Just substitute various pork products for paint.
Consider this puzzle: how can you make a staircase out of a single sheet of plywood and have as little wood left over as possible? That was the task of Instructables user Pilgrim55. It looks like he has only four pieces of scrap.
Remember the video of the impossible waterfall? Even after you saw how it was done, you were still impressed. Now Instructables has step-by-step instructions for you to make your own 3D version of the famous illusion! It’s not exactly simple, but it can be done. And if you can pull it off, you’ll flummox everyone who sees it. Link -via Boing Boing
Instructables user bbstudio doesn’t reveal how he does it, but the results of his egg carving are amazing! He’s participating in a competition using the Egg-bot, so presumably that factors into the process.
Link via Make | Previously: Nutritional Labels for Eggs
Instructables user lizzomarek made an amazing model of the castle from the anime movie Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s made in the Japanese pottery tradition of raku-yaki and given a steampunk flair. There’s a really neat video about halfway down the page at the link showing the castle, still glowing red hot, coming out of the kiln.
Previously: Two models of Howl’s Moving Castle in paper
Modern love is best expressed with bacon, but for the traditionalist, there are always bacon roses. Instructables user kaptaink_cg explains how to make them. You’ll need a broiling pan, a mini muffin pan, marbles, and a drill. It’ll be necessary to actually destroy the muffin pan, but it’ll be worth it.
Link via Geekosystem
You ever feel a need for a little boost? Punch the underside of this wall-mounted box made by Instructables user Bruno Pasquini. It spits quarters (with appropriate sound effects) out of the top, just like the coin boxes in Super Mario Bros. You can watch a video of it working at the link.
Link via Make | Maker’s Personal Website
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An ice luge, a quick Google search informs me, is an ice sculpture which is carved so that one can drink alcohol from a channel from inside or on top of it. In this case, pour liquor into the top of the Star Destroyer model. It flows over the middle and to the front, awaiting your lips. Instructables user Incrxtc made this one from a 300-lb. block of ice.
Link via Geekologie
Instructables user Britt Michelsen has lately been experimenting with fluorescent materials, including riboflavin. She decided to use it to make a food that looks like kryptonite. Michelsen made a mold out of aluminum foil, cooked riboflavin into sugar, and poured it into the mold. The result was a glowing candy that looked quite like the lethal substance in the Superman mythos.
Previously by Britt Michelsen:
Pixelated Trash Can
“You Killed Kenny!” Doorstop
Ordinary LEGO bricks just aren’t heavy enough to hold back a door (although you can wedge them in between the door and the floor). So Instructables user lizzyastro knitted a cover for a brick, using bottle caps to form the knobs.
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We’ve previously featured Instructables user BrittLiv’s “You Killed Kenny!” doorstop. She’s back with a new project. This time, it’s a pixelated trash can. No, that’s not a computer generated image. It’s a wooden trashcan carved and painted to look like an image from a video game.
Instructables user rabidiga made this pan flute. It was his entry in a contest to build a post-apocalyptic musical instrument for under $30. He didn’t spent a penny, but only used materials that he already owned:
Super easy to make. Took me about an hour even though I am clumsy as hell when it comes to working with wire. Depending on your choice of supplies it could have easily been finished in half the time. And while they don’t sound perfect I was able to belt out a killer ‘Ode to Joy’ even if it was a bit out of tune.
Link via Everyday, No Days Off | Previously: Tampon Pan Flute
As you collected all those Altoid tins for various projects, you may have developed a taste for the “curiously strong peppermints.” Instructables has the recipe so that you can make them at home, with only four ingredients and one extra tool. The flavor is your choice. Link -via Lifehacker
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Our friends at The Art of Manliness rounded up 22 creative uses for empty Altoids tins, such as the above portable grill made by Instructables user =SMART=. The steel rods come from a coat hanger.
Other mods at the link include a router plane, a dart gun, and a s’mores maker.
Link | Previously: Wonderful Altoids Hacks
Isn’t this an adorable house? You almost expect to see Frodo coming out of it! Owen Geiger built this earthen dome in Thailand in 2007. The main component is bags of soil. You can build your own with his tutorial at Instructables. Link -via The Daily What
Does it seem like your lunchbreak goes too quickly? It’s time to reverse the effect with the Lunchtime Clock by Instructables user randofo. This clock slows down during the lunch hour so that you can relax a little:
Thanks to great in advances in clock technology, I present to you a clock that speeds up 20% every day at 11:00 and slows down 20% every day at 11:48, giving you an extra twelve minutes of lunch to enjoy. Twelve minutes may not seem like a lot but, to put it into perspective, this is a full additional hour of lunchtime gained every week.
