Making Stuff – Page 2

Make Your Own Superhero Snowflakes

December 2, 2020October 15, 2022Eppu

Some awesome people’s skills include puzzling out how to have paper snowflakes come out gorgeous. You remember the ones we made in elementary school: fold a piece of paper in sixths or eights, go to town with scissors, unfold the paper, and Bob’s your uncle. Mine weren’t always that decorative, but the ones below sure are.

Sonia Harris designed five template patterns for free download (personal use only): Batman, Iron Man, Punisher, Storm from X-Men, and Wonder Woman.

Laughing Squid shared designs by Abby Bartels from Fun.com. (Note: My browser gives me a security warning about Fun.com, so proceed with discretion.) My favorites are Captain America and Iron Man; also included are Batman, Harley Quinn, Hulk, Joker, and Thor.

Thanks to these templates even I could do some scissor magic for this end-of-the-year season!

Images: mashup of Sonia Harris’s snowflakes from her photos by Eppu Jensen. Captain America and Iron Man by Abby Bartels via Laughing Squid.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Animatic Murderbot Fanart

November 11, 2020November 1, 2020Eppu

Creator mar made an animatic Murderbot video – because who wouldn’t want Murderbot on the screen! – and uploaded it for us to view.

Note: the creator’s content warning’s are: blood, guns, scopophobia, slight body horror, and injuries. There are also slight spoilers for Network Effect.

I’m Not Your Hero – The Murderbot Diaries Animatic by mar on YouTube

The animatic is set to Sara Quin and Tegan Quin’s “I’m Not Your Hero”. The song wasn’t familiar to me, but I have to admit it fits pretty well.

And, seriously, someone please buy the rights and develop a fantastic longform Murderbot screen adaptation. Like, now! *standing with money in my outstretched hand*

Found via Tor.com.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

TARDIS Console Room Concepts by Paul Hanley

October 28, 2020October 18, 2020Eppu

Artist Paul Hanley tweeted a series of TARDIS console room concepts in a range of styles. My favorite may be the rococo-inspired one:

Twitter Paul Hanley Tardis Rococo — Paul Hanley at Twitter

Although the Cloiser Room is also great:

Twitter Paul Hanley Tardis Cloister — Paul Hanley at Twitter

And the Da Vinci -esque one could almost be a World of Warcraft Gnome’s workshop:

Twitter Paul Hanley Tardis Da Vinci — Paul Hanley at Twitter

Or maybe a Blood Elven alchemy lab?

Which one is your favorite?

Found via File 770.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Halloween Tentacle Cupcakes Headcanon into House Stormsong

October 21, 2020October 18, 2020Eppu

The newest World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands, was supposed to be released next Monday, October 26, 2020, but Blizzard decided to postpone it for an unknown time. Bleah. Well, these Halloween cupcakes do actually fit better with the House Stormsong aesthetic from Battle for Azeroth:

Visit the tutorial by Nikki Wills at Tikkido to find out how to make yours!

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Wholesome 90s Sitcom

October 14, 2020October 11, 2020Eppu

YouTube user TrainDozer re-imagined Star Trek: The Next Generation as a wholesome 90s sitcom, and the trailer is hilarious:

Data – A 90s Sitcom by TrainDozer on YouTube

The best part is that TrainDozer clearly pulled in material from the gag reels. (My only criticism is that from this trailer, you can’t tell that the series supposedly centers Data. Ohwell!)

Found via File 770.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Native American Cosplay of Captain America

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020Eppu

Casey (otherwise known as hot.glue.burns on Instagram) made a Native American variant of Captain America’s costume for the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con. And the cosplay is both inventive and gorgeous!

Casey (hot.glue.burns on *Instagram*); found via *Good Stuff Happened Today on Tumblr*

Poster Cosplay in America has copied & pasted some of Casey’s thoughts:

“I originally brainstormed this costume in late 2015, but I really started rolling on production this last year, once I committed to this years SDCC… My main goal was to make a Native American variant of a fan-favorite character. I was immediately drawn to Captain America because of everything he symbolizes as basically the poster boy of a nation. To me it was the perfect parallel. And once I visualized the red and white bone breastplate on my abdomen, I knew this was something I had to see through.

“A lot of old school leather work with the awl! The majority of the armor was made from a base of 6mm EVA foam with 3 oz deer hide glued over it. The pieces were then stitched together with sinew or leather lace. Using this technique allowed me to form curves and build the necessary bulk of the armor pieces while also getting the suede textures I was looking for. And a whole lot of beading!”

Found via Good Stuff Happened Today on Tumblr.

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!

Crossposted from the Playfully Grownup Home blog.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Custom Bookcases with Carvings for a LotR Collection

September 30, 2020September 6, 2020Eppu2 Comments

Now this is a treasure, preciouss! A Finland-based company built these amazing custom bookcases for a collection of figurines and other materials from the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Many (if not all?) of the bookcases also have carved crowns. Here’s the Rohan one:

There are also metal shields that function as handles:

Puustikki talk about their project a bit on Facebook:

“Finally we’re able to publish photos of these custom made, epic showcases for LOTR and Hobbit figurine collection. Probably the biggest collection in Finland and now it’s also displayed in showcases it deserves! This whole thing is 100% handmade out of solid oak and we wanted to use glass doors to maximize visibility into the cases. Each one of the showcases has distinct features to corresponding races/nations; carvings on the top and a custom made steel handle.

“Height of these wooden marvels is 250cm, so they barely fit into a regular house! [sic]”

Puustikki is run by carpenter Jarkko Pilvinen and jeweler Juho Manninen. The makers pull their inspiration from history and historical fantasy. At this writing, their online store includes drinking horns, a picnic table and benches, beds, dragon pegboards, runed coasters, and jewelry, among others.

My goodness! Astounding, aren’t they? Stylistically, a lot of their other wares are not our style at all, but as a maker myself, I really admire and appreciate the consideration and effort that went into all of their designs.

Check out the Puustikki website or Instagram for more.

Images by Jukka Alasaari Photography via Puustikki on Facebook

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Visualizing the Roman Emperors

September 24, 2020September 28, 2020Erik

Sometimes, putting information into a visual form helps you make sense of it. I’ve been studying, writing about, and teaching the history of the Roman Empire and its emperors for more than two decades now, but taking my knowledge and making it visual helped me grasp the significance of some of the long-term patterns I’ve know about for so long. In this chart, you can see the stumbling uncertainty of the early empire, the stability of the second century, the chaos of the third century, and the complexity of the late 200s to early 300s.

(It’s a big image; you have been warned!)

Continue reading →

The Royal Huntress Owl Quilt

August 28, 2020August 27, 2020Eppu2 Comments

This magnificent quilt is not exactly new anymore, but it’s still very much worth sharing.

At the Houston International Quilt Market & Festival in 2018, “The Royal Huntress” quilt by Karlee Porter won third place in the alternative techniques category.

Just look at the incredible detailing in this closeup:

Apparently it took over 450 hours to make, and no wonder. The meticulous piecing, incredibly detailed quilting and multiple accents all serve a purpose in the overall design. Serious kudos!

As an image, it kind of reminds me of druids in World of Warcraft. It’s also the kind of sewing I’d like to do; to be quite honest, though, I know I don’t have the skill nor patience. Especially the latter. 🙂

Found via Sulky blog.

Crossposted from the Playfully Grownup Home blog.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Living Vicariously Through Social Media: India-flavored Wonder Woman Cosplay

August 19, 2020August 2, 2020Eppu

Isn’t this Wonder Woman cosplay by Deepika Mutyala A-MAZING?!

She’s also posted a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube looking at some aspects of making the costume and the accompanying video; head there if interested.

I can’t believe I haven’t run into this before…! However that happened, I’m glad I did finally see it. What a fantastic team effort.

Images: unknown, found via Afua Richarsson on Twitter.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.