Awesome Art & Design

Vertical blinds are usually made from plastic or fabric, but carpenter John Heisz has an affinity for wood, so he made his own from scratch, using of ash wood he cut down to 3/8″ thick strips. He then built an exposed mechanism for opening and closing the blinds, giving them a more artful look than the ’90s decorating staple.

What d’ya mean, your shoes don’t match your ride? Can-Am debuted three new badass Ryker 3-wheelers, each with coordinated over-the-ankle riding shoes — all custom designed by LA-based Shoe Surgeon. Purpose-built for riding, the collaboration literally takes streetwear to the streets on vehicles that have never looked more stylish.

Those of us from outside of The Netherlands are likely familiar with Amsterdam, but fewer of us know about Rotterdam. Photographer and world traveler Joerg Daiber takes us on an eye-popping, tilt-shifted journey to the cosmopolitan Dutch city to look at its unique architecture, waterways, and public spaces.

This fascinating tabletop showpiece features a miniature replica of our solar system. It uses magnetic levitation tech to float accurate models of each planet in orbit around the sun. The positions of each planet are synchronized in real-time using NASA data, and it’s available with a light-up sun. You can also accelerate the orbital speed for faster action.

The eyes on Spider-Man’s mask typically have a fixed expression. But Sean’s Crafts took on the challenge of giving Spidey more visible emotion by making his eyes change shape. He started by making a mask from poster board, fiberglass cloth, resin, and wood filler. Then he rigged it with mechanical eye shutters controlled by a bike cable.

Back in the 1990s, Microsoft dropped its first virtual assistant onto PCs with Clippy, a talking paperclip designed to help guide us in the use of our computers. Instead, Clippy was annoying, and most of us looked for a quick way to disable the feature. Great Big Story sat down for a few minutes with illustrator Kevan Atteberry, the man who designed the character.

Maker Tim Sway has built a couple of “0% wood” instruments in the past, including an acrylic bass guitar, and another made from Corian. This time, he decided to build something that’s much more reliant on the aural properties of its construction – an acoustic guitar. As you’ll see, it was a very challenging and frustrating project.

Thor’s mighty hammer can only be lifted by those who are worthy. Random Hands qualified for the feat by building their own Mjolnir, cutting apart an old bench anvil, attaching laser-cut decorations, lathing a metal handle, then covering it with wood and metal rings. Watching the grinder remove the old surface is so satisfying.

We love having a deck to hang out on when the weather is nice. If you don’t have a lot of space to work with on your deck, check out this motorized dining table and benches. Dr. Decks created this unique furniture that remains hidden as part of the deck boards until needed. They also built a hidden BBQ grill and lounge chair.

Factory videos aren’t always the most soothing things to watch, especially those with lots of loud machinery. However, this footage from Japan’s Plachina Fountain Pen Company is about as calming as they come. Along the way, you’ll see how strips of metal are stamped and shaped to form pen nibs, then delicately placed into the body of each pen by hand.

Most furniture has a structure made out of wood or metal. But HomeMadeModern wanted to see if it was possible to fabricate a table entirely from epoxy resin. He started by making a wood prototype, then used those parts to create silicone molds to cast the resin. The finished piece is sturdy and has a truly unique look.

Kitchen knives are the right size for chopping veggies and butchering meats. But that didn’t stop Faraway Forge from making this impractical chef’s knife just to prove that it could be done. Its blade started as a rusty piece of scrap metal, and the finished piece looks more appropriate for combat than for cooking.

Artist Duane Perera is a master at his craft. He makes playful miniature scenes inspired by pop culture. Each diorama features characters enjoying everyday life, like playing video games, listening to CDs, or record shopping. His making of video for his Scarface plays NES diorama is priceless. Duane sells prints of his work on Redbubble, and we want all of them.

After working from home for more than a decade, we love the idea of a standalone space to get away from distractions. Lou Maxon worked with architect Olson Kundig to create a home office on wheels that be rolled from the house into the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Nelsontreehouse, treehousepete, and dash.arc got up close with the steel structure.

CW&T’s elegant and minimal writing instrument is designed to attach to a sketchbook or journal. The Type-C pen has a flat, rectangular body that’s thin enough to be used as a bookmark. A bent piece of spring steel protects its tip when not in use and is great for fidgeters. It comes in titanium, brass, copper, and Cerakoted titanium finishes.

The Domino King has made numerous domino displays inspired by pop culture characters. This video compiles some of his many impressive displays, built from more than 800,000 dominoes in total. Along the way, you’ll visit Bikini Bottom, Gravity Falls, Rick and Morty’s multiverse, and much more.

Wes Anderson remaking Ridley Scott’s Alien seems highly unlikely, but the way Hollywood reboots things these days, you can never say never. AI Fungi used generative technology to simulate what Anderson’s take on the classic sci-fi/horror flick might look like, with Tilda Swinton taking on the role of Ripley and the Nostromo being much more colorful.

Each slice of Stellar Factory’s pizza puzzles is a smaller puzzle indicated by patterns on the back of its pieces, making them great fun for cooperative puzzle parties. Each 550-piece, 8-slice puzzle features a wavy edge and is loaded with toppings ranging from delicious to downright disturbing. Choose from pepperoni, veggie supreme, or meat lover’s varieties.

After realizing how much time he spends on his phone, JBV Creative was inspired to build an electro-mechanical artwork as a commentary on the distracted nature of today’s gadget-dependent society. The finished piece features a group of phone-holding figures that wobble along on a conveyor belt, smash into a wall, fall down, and do it all over again.

The sounds you hear in movies can dramatically enhance what you see on screen. But other than dialogue, most movie audio isn’t created on the soundstage, it’s added in post-production by foley artists and sound editors. Paul E.T. explores the importance of sound effects, music, and speech in filmmaking.

RCLifeOn built a unique drawing machine that creates geometric illustrations on an acrylic sheet using a computer-controlled fluorescent marker. Bright LED lights help the images glow brilliantly. For now, images must be manually erased between drawings, but he plans to add an eraser mechanism.

The S adds to his arsenal with an impressive-looking cardboard machine gun that can rapidly fire numerous rubber bands. It has a motor drive mechanism that turns a pair of gears when its trigger is pulled, sequentially releasing 16 rubber bands in just a few seconds. We wonder if he could double or triple up on rubber bands or if that would jam it.

Artist Steven Richter has made some very impressive sculptures over the years. He did something different for this piece by replicating Drew Struzan’s poster art for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a three-dimensional sculpture. After casting the faces of the movie’s stars, he painstakingly replicated the painted light and shadow of the original image.