I cannot stop watching intricate patterns emerge like magic from the hands of Russian potter Mikhail Sadovnikov. How does he draw such incredible things over and over again from just a little bit of clay and a potter’s wheel? Watch the whole mesmerizing 15 minutes. You can also check out more of Sadovnikov’s work. [Colossal]
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Need something to hold your D20 or other game accessories? Try these awesome handmade polymer dragons from Etsy artist How Many Dragons. These 2-inch-tall polymer clay dragons are the perfect little friends to hold your dice until you need to roll.
Choose whatever color combination you want and they will make it for you. You can choose from several styles or different poses too. They are really the perfect little gaming friends. They are small enough to sit by you while you play and not get in your way.
Each one sells for about $42 to $52(USD). They will definitely be your new good luck charm for rolling that critical hit.
[via Geeks Are Sexy]
You know how forensic artists are. They can’t pass up an opportunity to take a skull and see what it looked like when it was alive. They might even be curious to see what the skull-shaped bottle of Crystal Head Vodka looked like, had it been living. Forensic artist Nigel Cockerton was just this curious.
So he got a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka and went to work, wondering just what that laughing face would look like covered with muscle, eyes, and skin.
The results are kind of what you would expect. It looks like a drunk guy laughing his ass off.
So now you have a face to think about when you are drinking straight from this bottle. As you drink, you are going to look more and more like this guy too.
[Facebook via cheezburger via Neatorama]
No matter how hard he tries, Han Solo can’t seem to escape being put back into his Carbonite shroud by geeks everywhere. Now, with a little time and patience, you can have Han Solo in Carbonite on all of your kitchen cabinets too.
This fun little project from Our Nerd Home shows you how to create Han Solo in Carbonite drawer pulls using Sculpey clay and one of those silicone Han Solo ice cube trays.
All you need to do is fill the tray with clay, then sculpt some backs to hold onto some nuts, and bake them. A little glue, some Martha Stewart metallic paint, et voilà. Trophies fit for a tiny Hutt.
If you’d like to take a shot at making your own Han Solo Carbonite pulls, head on over to Our Nerd Home for the full directions. I imagine you could easily do the same with Death Stars, Darth Vader or Stormtroopers too.
3D printing continues to evolve, with printers improving in precision, speed and cost efficiency. While some high end machines can print in materials ranging from plastic to metal and even ceramic, this is the first time I’ve heard of a 3D printer that can output soft and squishy materials, like clay.
The Hyrel 3D printer offers the ability to swap out their regular PLA/ABS plastic filament extruder with a special unit which can extrude soft materials. The printer can be loaded with air-dry modeling clay, Play-Doh, Plasticine, Silicone or even Sugru, a durable, self-setting and flexible rubber compound that’s good for fixing and hacking all kinds of stuff. Here’s some footage of the Hyrel outputting Sugru and then some Play-Doh:
I’m not exactly sure why you’d want to sculpt 3D objects in Play-Doh, since it’s not designed to harden, but clay or Sugru could produce some interesting results for sure. And for Play-Doh fans, it sure beats a Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop.
If you’ve followed Technabob for any period of time, you know that we’re big supporters of the development of 3D printing technology. I truly think that if there’s one tech sub-sector that’s going to blow up in the next decade and revolutionize industry, it’s 3D printing. And while speed and detail are things still left to the more expensive industrial printers out there, there are more and more options for the home 3D printing enthusiast. Now, you can get your kid started early with their very own Play-Doh 3D printer.
It was only a matter of time before the Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop got a 21st century makeover, and this new device is definitely a major step forward for kids with maker aspirations.
To print on the Play-Doh 3D printer, simply create your designs with the companion iOS app, and send them to the printer wirelessly. Then turn the crank to slowly see your design emerge. In no time at all, you’ll be printing out all sorts of objects. Just don’t try to eat them. Despite all of the advancements in technology, Play-Doh still doesn’t taste very good. I’ve tried.
The guys over at ThinkGeek have secured an exclusive for the first batch of Play-Doh 3D printers, so you’d better line up and head over there right away if you and your kids are ready to crank out some delightfully doughy objects of your very own.
UPDATE: Happy April Fool’s Day!
What’s not to love about birds? Many are beautiful to look at and even some of the tiny creatures flit around from flower-to-flower, pollinating the world and making it a prettier, greener place for all us humans to live in.
So why not lend a hand and provide them with some accommodations in exchange for their help in keeping our world a prettier place, as it should be? No worries if you’re not very handy with a hammer and therefore, find yourself unable to build your own birdhouse, because Klaas Kuiken’s ceramic birdhouse roof tiles are here!
They’re basically roof tiles with a small birdhouse built into the top of the tile itself. If you have a couple of shingles that are up for repair, then why not be a good neighbor to the birds in your neighborhood and replace them with these tiles instead?
Klaas first designed these quirky clay birdhouses in 2009, but now they’re finally available for purchase. You can check his site for ordering information, but you’d better hurry, because only 100 birdhouses have been produced so far.
[via Colossal]
Rockman Corner reader Ricardo Becker made miniature figures of Mega Man and the various bosses from the first 10 Mega Man games. I’m sure part of him just wanted to squash and tear some of these bosses apart as payback for all the hard times they gave him.
Ricardo used cold porcelain – which is neither cold nor porcelain – to make the figures. They may not be as pretty, polished or accurate as other fan made work, but Ricardo made up for it with the sheer number of figures he made.
Head to Ricardo’s Flickr page for the rest of the robot masters, and marvel at the franchise’s unbelievably complex naming scheme.
[via Rockman Corner via GoNintendo]
The artwork by H.R. Giger in the Alien movies and Prometheus is some of the downright creepiest and darkest ever seen on screen. So I’m not so sure how comfortable I’d be with some of it hanging out on my desktop – especially right under the palm of my hand. But that didn’t stop one modder from making a creeptastic mouse, inspired by the twisted world of Mr. Hans Rudolf Giger.
Modder Ramses07 started out with an Cooler Master CM Storm Xornet gaming mouse, and modified the case and covered it with hand-sculpted clay to give it plenty of texture. He then painted it with shades of black and grey to add darkness and depth.
After it was all done, he coated it in a layer of glossy varnish which he says gave it “the effect of mucus” – to add to the Alien feeling. Yum. I guess it’s better than acid blood, right? Check out the complete build log here (in Hungarian).
I wonder if Ramses07 has one of these plugged into another one of his USB ports. If not, he should.
[via Modding.ru]
For weeks after I played Half-Life 2, I had nightmares about rooms full of headcrabs descending on me, and me trying to fight them off by flinging circular saw blades at them with my gravity gun. So the idea of wearing a necklace with a headcrab on it just give me the creeps. Plus, I’m a dude.
But that didn’t stop jewelry artist Annika of Paranoia mit Sahne (which translates to “Paranoia with cream”) from making a headcrab-inspired necklace for those of you who find the little guys cute and charming. The necklace was handcrafted from Fimo and Super Sculpey clay by the artist, stiffened with wire, and topped off with acrylic painted details and a heavy-duty glaze coat. And no, none of that killed the headcrab. It’s still alive and well, and ready to climb up that chain and into your hair.
If you find the idea of a wearable headcrab appealing, you can grab this thing over on Etsy for about $35(USD). Grab it before it grabs you.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
