DIY Wheelchair Spoke Covers with Crocheted Solar System

Caoileann O’Mahony crocheted some wheelchair spoke covers and blogged the instructions for the Glasgow in 2024 Worldcon bid. This isn’t your sleepy granny square crochet, though, oh no; O’Mahoney also made little planet appliques and turned the spoke guards into a model of our solar system.

O'Mahoney Wheelchair Spoke Covers w Solar System

And round and round it goes. I like the color selection (although I wish the photo were a little clearer). Saturn and Uranus even have their rings. How cool is that?!

Found via File 770.

Image by Caoileann O’Mahony at Glasgow in 2024

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

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Hide a Gaming Room behind a Swinging Bookcase

Lisa Natcharian at The Storyteller’s Cottage transformed a long, narrow room into two smaller ones, namely a library and a gaming room with entry through a swinging bookcase.

The house is Victorian, built circa 1891, and located in Simsbury, Connecticut. Before the covid pandemic, Natcharian and her crew organized various book-themed events: author talks, writing classes, poetry slams, summer camps, book clubs, D&D game nights, tea or cocktail parties, live murder mysteries, even escape rooms.

Lisa Natcharian Secret Castle Room

The door into the gaming den opens when you pull a candle sconce attached to the bookcase:

Lisa Natcharian Secret Castle Room Door

The new secret room is papered with stone-block-look wallpaper and equipped with various furnishings that nod towards medieval castles: a round table with ornate wood chairs, a small suit of armor in the corner, and wall textiles, for example.

I’m flabbergasted that she was able to source so much of the furnishings second hand. I mean, who has a miniature suit of armor just lying around until you decide to sell it off on Craigslist?

Lisa Natcharian Secret Castle Room Decor

The results are well worth the effort, and surely will be enjoyed by all event visitors. For more images, visit her site, or, should you prefer to watch a video about the build process instead, you can see it on YouTube.

Images by Lisa Natcharian at The Storyteller’s Cottage

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

Make Your Own Superhero Snowflakes

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.

Sonia Harris Mashup by Eppu

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.

Laughing Squid Bartels Captain America
Laughing Squid Bartels Iron Man

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.

Native American Cosplay of Captain America

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!

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.

Baking Stuff: Crusty Bread

This isn’t my kind of geeking, but holy cannoli! Magnificent! Jaime Delano shared phenomenal photos on Twitter:

Twitter Jaime Delano Geobake1

Twitter Jaime Delano Geobake2

In another tweet, she describes how the loaf came into being:

“I threw the leftover dough into a different pan and baked it, this one is coming to campus to share. The flavors are pretty mild but they’re there. If I did it again, I’d increase the basil and maybe find another red (paprika was just… fine). The garlic was very pronounced.”

I really appreciate the effort that went into baking a loaf, any loaf, never mind one with the Earth’s crust built into it. She’s a doctoral student at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and her dedication truly shows.

Images by Jaime Delano on Twitter.

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

Death Star Lamp Tutorials for Star Wars Day

Happy Star Wars Day!

Have you heard of Ikea hackers? It’s a site for sharing projects modifying the DIY furniture store’s products. The hack below is both clever and timely: exploding Death Star ceiling lamp.

(Note: The Ikea hackers post I’m linking to has a few different options; I like Maria Krüger’s best, so the pictures are from her project.)

The hack starts with the PS 2014 lamp with copper insides. First it is spray-painted grey before details are applied. Maria Krüger masked in some stripes and used darker grey to paint most of the outer pattern.

Here’s a closeup of her Death Star:

Ikea Hackers Maria Kruger Death Star Lamp Closeup

And the finished lamp:

Ikea Hackers Maria Kruger Death Star Lamp

She’s also posted a short video of the lamp Death Star “exploding”:

Star Wars Death Star Lamp – IKEA PS 2014 Modification – Todesstern Lampe by Maria Krüger on YouTube

Isn’t it handsome? I’m not sure I’d have the patience. Or maybe I should say that I don’t care for the Death Star enough to go through the trouble and mess with paint. Now, if you have a fabric project, we might talk…! 🙂

Images by Maria Krüger via Ikea hackers

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

A Downloadable ElfQuest Coloring Book

To ease some of the covid-19 cabin fever, Wendy and Richard Pini have released a pdf version of an ElfQuest coloring book that was included in a past Kickstarter project of theirs.

Wendy Richard Pini ElfQuest Coloring Book Covid-19 Version

The coloring book is free to download for private use, with one catch. In their words:

“One condition: You may not post images of the uncolored line art from the coloring book publicly online anywhere. The art is still copyright Warp Graphics. Thanks for your understanding. Bootleggers already steal ElfQuest images for unauthorized t-shirts and such; we don’t want to give them any more access than they’re already thieving.”

Thank you for sharing!

Image by Wendy Pini

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

A Levitating Snitch Cake

Twitter user Michael Harris shared a cake made by his significant other, Kate Pritchett, with an actually levitating quidditch snitch (follow the link for a video):

Instagram Kate Pritchett Levitating Quidditch Snitch Cake

She shared a few details of the cake:

“I told you I was going to make a floating Snitch cake. (3 x 2 layer white chocolate mud cakes with vanilla meringue buttercream and blueberry and lemon or raspberry and black pepper filling. Special shout out to the wood-look board I made. [fist icon])”

 

Instagram Kate Pritchett Levitating Quidditch Snitch Cake Detail

Pritchett clearly is a foodie—just have a look at her amazing Twitter and Instagram feeds. Her dedication to getting the details just right is incredible. Everything is thoroughly thought-out and carefully prepared.

Instagram Kate Pritchett Levitating Quidditch Snitch Wings

I’m gawping here! (Yes, I just declared gawp to be a word.)

Kudos!

Images by Kate Pritchett via Instagram: Cake. Closeup of details. Snitch wing prototypes.

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!

Walden Grove High School Dance Team Does Infinity War / Endgame

The PAC Dance Team from Walden Grove High School in Sahuarita, Arizona, went above and beyond in their Marvel Homecoming Assembly Dance performance:

“Marvel” Homecoming Assembly Dance by ThePac Walden Grove on YouTube

Based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the performance recaps the story of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

You go, kids! 😀

Found via File 770.

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

Game of Thrones Now Also on Fabric

Another adaptation of the hugely successful tv series Game of Thrones is out. Embroiderers at the Ulster Museum and the Ulster Folk Museum produced a 77-meter long textile in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry.

NMNI GoT Tapestry Webpage Banner

Originally the embroidery depicted events, locations, and story from seasons 1 through 7, but in June 2019 further panels depicting season 8 were due to be added.

The R-rated tapestry was on display at the Ulster Museum earlier this year, but the exhibition page and a few small photos are still up on their website.

National Museums Northern Ireland GoT Tapestry1 Game-of-Thrones-400-b.xc97d611f

National Museums Northern Ireland GoT Tapestry2 Game-of-Thrones-400-c.x0c90f6d2

While we loved the production values for the show and the intricacy of the writing, we stopped watching after season 3 due to the upsetting amount of violence. I do confess, however, that this project really tickles the textile history geek part of my brain!

Found via Helsingin Sanomat (NB. Finnish only).

Images: Embroiderers at work by Paul Faith / AFP via Helsingin Sanomat. The others: Tourism NI via National Museums Northern Ireland.