Awesome Art & Design

(PG-13 Link) Artist Igor Lipchanskiy was curious to know what might be hidden off the edges of iconic album covers. It turns out that Igor himself is lurking in the wings with everyone from Jim Morrison to John and Yoko, offering some form of assistance or distraction.

While we love the idea of therapeutic museums, The Art Assignment makes a compelling argument to visit these art houses as they are today. They hope that we can look not just for beauty or novelty, but also the artifacts’ ever changing context to society and to ourselves.

While most knives are made from steel, they can certainly be made from other materials. Here, blademaker Kiwami Japan shows us how to transform a sheet of super-hard lignum vitae wood into a razor-sharp kitchen utensil, capable of slicing veggies just like a metal blade.

LEGO enthusiasts Alexis Santos and Luis Baixinho paid homage to the classic podracing game Star Wars Episode 1: Racer with a one-of-a-kind arcade machine. Made entirely out of LEGO, the machine has you avoiding obstacles while you speed across the desert.

Master engraver Bram Ramon shared this video of his incredible craftsmanship, as he carves an intricate design into the band of a Rolex Submariner divers watch, taking an already elegant timepiece, and turning it into a wearable work of art.

Love Hulten’s amazing PET De Lux was inspired by the OG of PCs: the Commodore PET. It mimics the PET’s cassette tape deck and chiclet keyboard, but inside the beautiful wooden case is a modern computer that emulates multiple classic video game systems.

Newport Works’ Studio Bag and Folio were both designed to carry large sheets of paper. They’re both made of water-resistant fabric and have an ergonomic handle. The Studio is great for everyday art supplies and a laptop, while the Folio is ideal for finished presentations.

The guys over at BangShift shared this clever idea for displaying and collecting Hot Wheels and other similarly-scaled toy cars. Simply scour eBay for the appropriate 1970s-era Chevy pickup grille, hang, and fill. (Thanks Craig!)

Frank Howarth knows a thing or two about making spheres, so we couldn’t help but be transfixed as we watched him turn an ordinary block of walnut wood into a beautifully-smooth replica of an 8-ball. The round clamp he built for holding it on the CNC table is ingenious.

Pop Chart Lab worked with Marvel to stuff 36 character origin stories into one 24″x 36″ poster. The wordless comic book style summaries tell the origins of classics such as Captain America to newcomers such as Spider-Gwen.

Artist and pastry chef Alexandre Dubosc’s delicious looking cake doubles as a zoetrope, so as it spins, it reveals animated scenes of various feline friends, including Felix the Cat, Maneki-neko, and Catbus. (Thanks Rachel!)

Similar to, more minimal than the Urbana table, German Smart Living’s Swing is a wood and metal table that can be transformed into a shelf in one motion. It also has casters under its feet for easy transport. It comes in six variants, including two for outdoor use.

Waterballet creates incredible slow-motion macro videos using colored inks and water, along with ambient musical tracks to accompany the mesmerizing footage. The scenes look like weather fronts moving in on an alien landscape. More on Vimeo.

Metalsmith shurap bunched together a number of self-tapping screws, then heated, and repeatedly hammered them down flat to create a damascus-style patterned blade. Like his steel washer and cable blades, the finished knife has a truly unique and beautiful texture.

There’s a lot of talk about the performances in Craig Gillespie’s dark comedy I, Tonya, but the film wouldn’t be what it was without the skating scenes. Here’s an inside look at the effects work from Eight VFX, who helped make it look like Margot Robbie was an olympic athlete.

Among his diverse works, artist Jason “REVOK” Williams creates enormous Spirograph-style images using a wall-mounted set of wooden gear rings, which allow him to spray paint geometric patterns. Here’s an earlier circular rig he set up.

We’ve always assumed that chocolate was meant to be eaten, and not used as a kitchen utensil. But after you watch this video from Kiwami Japan, you’ll see how chocolate can not only be moulded into the shape of a knife, but it can be sharpened enough to actually cut food.

Filmmaker Jesse Brass introduces us to Cayce Zavaglia, who creates amazing embroidered portraits of family and friends using cotton and wool thread. While the photorealistic fronts of her images are simply stunning, the chaotic reverse sides reveal the true nature of life.

Footage captured in and around Qatar’s Khalifa Stadium, as it went through a 4-year renovation, including a new sculptural roof and many other upgrades. We love watching the shadows move across as time passes during the daytime, and the fog rolling in at night.

We’ve seen how they made some of the eye candy in Blade Runner 2049, but this 10-minute clip from VFX house Framstore offers a plethora of effects breakdowns from Denis Villeneuve’s science fiction spectacular, from close-up character work to giant CGI set pieces.

NEWwooDESIGN creates these unique tables by engraving detailed maps of cities into oak wood. Each table has three layers representing streets, buildings, and water, and is coated with a resin that glows in the dark. Choose from several European cities, as well as NYC.

Love My Custom Wood handcarves these impressively intricate models of Han and Chewie’s iconic ride using a big hunk of white cedar wood. The large version measures 32.5″ x 21.5″, but there’s a smaller version if you don’t have the space or galactic credits to spare.

LEGO Certified Professional Ryan “The Brickman” McNaught and his team recently completed this replica of NASA’s SLS Rocket. The model measures nearly 25 ft tall, weighs 1100+ lb, and was built using 460,323 LEGO bricks, and took over 563 hours to complete.