Hasta La Gadget!

One of the strangest mythological weapons out there in my opinion has always been hammer wielded by Thor. Mjölnir is an interesting weapon in that reminds me a bit of the Excalibur where only one person can ever wield the hammer. Even the Hulk is unable to pick it up.

Blacksmith and armorer Tony Swatton operates a company called Sword and the Stone that makes weapons using methods similar to what they used in the old days. His hit YouTube series Man at Arms has featured a number of awesome weapon builds, and his latest is a replica of  Thor’s hammer similar to the one used in the upcoming film Thor: The Dark World.

The hammer was made out of sheets of chromoly steel and while it’s hollow, still weighs about 20 pounds. The entire process looks like it took a long time to complete and the finished hammer is impressive indeed. The only downside is that the hammer appears to be significantly larger than the one from the film.

Swatton says he plans on putting the hammer on display in his shop – but not before filling the hollow chamber with shot, to bring the weight up to about 200 pounds, so it’ll be impossible for mere mortals to pick it up.

[via Nerd Approved]

How do you follow up Pac-Man light bulbs and an aquarium in a phone booth? With a police car turned into a Chicken Coop obviously. Benedetto Bufalino strikes again.

His newest piece of art is The Police Car Barn. That seems like a natural progression. I’m sure these police cars feel like a chicken coop to the criminals that ride in them, so it makes at least a little bit of sense. This functional chicken coop was built inside of an old 1970s era French police car.

The interior was gutted and he propped up the hood, the trunk and the passenger door for some extra room.

These chickens have it good. A cool car and lots of room. It must be a pain to clean up though. And forget about it if you have to drive this thing in a high-speed pursuit.

[via designboom via Neatorama]

If cars were made of metal that looked like lace, the road would be a classier place. Croatian metal shop MG Vrbanus had three artists modify this 1970 Volkswagen Beetle and that is just what they did. This car took 3,500 hours of work, 5,000 Swarovski crystals and hundreds of pounds of wrought iron and gold leaf. The end result? Well, you’ll probably love it or hate it.

They began by sketching a design on the sheet metal body, then they removed it, section by section, and replaced it with designs inspired by metal fencing. The best part is that the see-through body shows the machinery underneath. These guys were so precise that they were able to fit the original windows back into place without any trouble. Now, that is impressive.

I would love to see this thing driving down the street.

You can check out more images of the wrought iron VW bug here.

[via visual news via Neatorama]

UK-based artist Hetain Patel’s first car was a 1988 Ford Fiesta that was handed down from his father. In honor of his first set of wheels, this collaboration with his father and brother turns a similar vehicle into a Transformer-like robot that is far more than meets the eye.

The car is a symbol. As he says, “Manufactured in England, this car stands as a symbol of working class Britain, a native body, albeit here a car body.” And of course, he was inspired by the Transformers, seeing this art piece as a symbol of empowerment:

Another significant influence for me and this work are Transformers, an American film and toy franchise since 1984, and a widely recognisable pop culture reference that reaches far back in Hetain’s memory. In this new sculpture, Transformers have been made manifest, physically, in a literal transformation of a Ford Fiesta car into a large-scale squatting human-like figure. For me, these ‘robots in disguise’ (as per the cartoon’s theme tune) stand as a metaphor for the other, in a fantasy world where they can transform out of a marginal position into one of empowerment.

Forget all the fancy talk of art and empowerment and all the rest. This piece of art is just plain awesome and stands on it’s own. No pun intended. It shows what a father, son, brother trio of geeks can accomplish.

[via Make:]

As a lover of art, I’m beyond impressed at these sculptures Maya Sum has carved from lipstick. As a lover of makeup, I am appalled at the thought of brand new tubes of lipstick being hacked at to create these sculptures.

Then again, there’s a price that must be paid for every great piece of art, right?

For her women in power series, Maya has sculpted lipsticks and stick blushes in the images and likeness of Lady Gaga, Madonna, Victoria Beckham, and Coco Chanel. She has received extensive media attention for her lipstick sculptures and is now accepting custom orders on Etsy.

Each piece is priced starting at $450(USD) for objects and $620 for portraits. It’s pretty steep and is probably enough to buy you 22 brand new tubes of high-end lipstick – but then again, none of them will have your face on it.

[via if it’s hip, it’s here via Incredible Things]