Awesome Art & Design

This fancy artisan keycap set includes 16 metal keys made using the element indicated on their face. The materials include zinc, nickel, chromium, aluminum, copper, iron, brass, black aluminum, titanium, tin, bismuth, magnesium, gold, silver, platinum, and rhodium – the first dozen use solid metals, while the more expensive ones are electroplated.

Musician Nicolas Bras is known for inventing some truly unique musical instruments from off-the-shelf parts. In this video, he shows us how to build a simple string instrument from metal cans, wood, an electric guitar string, and a little water. You can grab blueprints to make your own aquatic harp on Patreon or download digital sound samples from Soundpaint.

Modelmaking has always fascinated us. Cath from The Square to Spare shows us the steps to make a miniature fridge that looks just like those fancy French door models. Its cabinet can be 3D printed or cut from balsa wood, with acrylic or resin shelves, wrapped in stainless steel contact paper, and lit with LED fairy lights.

Electronic instrument maker Elias Jarzombek created this unique synthesizer that looks like an abacus. The otherworldly sounds it makes are controlled by sliding and spinning its triangular “beads” on metal bars, along with turning its side dials. Read more about the Abacusynth on Elias’ website.

Before the 2000s, models, and miniatures were commonplace in moviemaking. But with the advent of CGI, it’s become something of a lost art. Vox sat down with expert prop and modelmaker Simon Weisse to learn about the renaissance brewing with filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, John Favreau, and master of miniatures Wes Anderson.

If you’ve been to a science museum, you’ve probably seen those funnel-shaped tables where you can drop in a marble, and it spirals towards its center. Olivier Gomis shows us how he built three gravity well tables by cutting up pieces of walnut and maple veneer, gluing them into layers, turning them on a lathe, then sanding them to a smooth finish.

This video from domino artists FlippyCat, Klein24, and B 16 offers a fun and collaborative approach to building (and knocking things down.) Each of its screens is a separate domino setup, but they appear to be linked together into a much larger construction through editing.

Illustrator Chet Phillips created this series of 11″x 14″ signed prints inspired by vintage Modern Mechanix magazine covers. Each of his imaginative Modern Machines and Inventions covers features a reimagined version of an iconic vehicle or spaceship from pop culture. We can’t decide if we like the Back to the Future or Firefly design the best.

ChenYi makes these stitched-edge cloth desk mats with colorful illustrations of our solar system. Measuring 35.4″ w x 15.7″ d, they’re big enough for a full-size keyboard, a mouse, and other desk accessories. Choose from six variants, including Celestia, Galaxy, Nebula, Orbit, Revolution, and a white Solar System.

Anyone who has worked with 3D graphics software knows about composing scenes with virtual cameras. Sirrandalot used Blender’s Cycles path-tracing engine to model a 3D camera body, simulate the optical properties of a film camera, then render scenes through its virtual lens. Check out the final not-photos on Imgur. (Thanks, Orion!)

Spiral staircases offer a stylish way to add access to another level without taking up too much space, though they’re made in a very different way than traditional stairs. How It’s Made shows us the modern way of making these staircases using metal platforms and wood decks. The railings look like the trickiest part.

NASS took archival footage from Los Angeles and used digital restoration tech to sharpen, brighten, remove noise, increase frame rate, and add faux colorization. It’s a wonderful time capsule of life in a different era, from how people dressed to the cars they drove to how retailers marketed their wares. The footage comes from the Prelinger Archives.

Fire isn’t the easiest thing to control. But the pyrotechnic experts at ER Productions know a thing or two about bossing around flames. In this short video, they show off a rig they built for UK rock band Bring Me the Horizon that can shoot fire in sequence from its 28 remote-controlled flame heads.

Views of an AI imagines a film in the Blade Runner universe, but in the style of Fritz Lang, the man behind the 1927 cinematic masterpiece Metropolis. Like Ridley Scott’s original, it follows the story of a man who retires replicants and falls in love with one, then adds a new layer about a rebellion against the ruling class who created these androids.

When you’re hiking or camping, it’s essential to keep a bottle of water with you. Wrapping your bottle in paracord not only makes it look cool but improves its grip and gives you some extra cord in case of an emergency. The Weavers of Eternity Paracord shows us how to wrap a bottle in the versatile cord using cow hitch knots.

We always enjoy seeing how various metal items can be forged into Damascus steel. Random Hands shows off the process of turning a stack of measuring tape blades into a unique kitchen knife with one of the prettiest blade patterns ever.

Ryder Calm Down loves to make things. Inspired by how dot-matrix printers lay down ink, he built an oversized print head that attaches to the back of his pickup truck and sprays out water droplets at the right time to create letters and numbers. The system uses a Raspberry Pi to control relays and solenoids that open and close valves.

We always enjoy watching size and speed comparison videos. This clip from Data World Studio looks at the relative sizes of the major characters from Pixar’s animated universe. So now we finally know how much bigger Buzz Lightyear is than Remy from Ratatouille and how much smaller they are compared to The Incredibles.

Inspired by another table he saw on YouTube, Drew Builds Stuff wanted his own desk that looks like molten lava. He started with burled elm wood, placed them into a form, filled the gaps with fire glass and epoxy, then sanded and polished it smooth. Programmable LED light strips complete the illusion, so we’re glad he didn’t give up after a major mishap.

This substantial writing instrument from 22Studio features a body made from cast concrete. Its seven-sided design was inspired by wooden pencils and won’t roll off of your desk. It features a retractable Schmidt P900M ballpoint pen cartridge with stainless steel hardware.

Looney Tunes cartoons are known for iconic characters like Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, and Foghorn Leghorn. The animators who created these characters and their voices often are mentioned, but the artists who created the background images are rarely mentioned. The Gaze gives credit where credit is due with this video essay focused on artist Maurice Noble.

In celebration of 100 years of Disney animation, this keepsake box of collectibles holds postcards of 100 Disney and Pixar characters, from Mickey Mouse to the adventurers from Strange World. All the most memorable heroes, sidekicks, and villains are here, in full color, in still images from the original cartoons and film classics.

A typical flipbook animation displays its images at roughly 12 frames per second. Andymation wanted to know if he could smooth out the steps in his flipbooks by filling extra frames with AI interpolation software. Will the additional frames improve the look of his animations or make them just look incredibly weird?