Awesome Art & Design

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.

Despite what your eyes are telling you, the blue and red LEGO space explorer minifigs in this image are the exact same size. Mathematician Henry Segerman shows how perspective and a custom 3D-printed structure produce this mind-bending optical illusion.

Artist Kendra Norton’s unique coloring book has no outlines for you to color in. Instead, it’s filled with abstract blobs of color, and you draw the lines. Whether you doodle dinosaurs, flowers, buildings, or goldfish, go where your imagination takes you. In addition to the original, there are also Through the Seasons and Mindful Journeys editions.

Shane at Stuff Made Here wanted to see if he could program a robot with such accurate penmanship that it could fool a handwriting expert. He used an off-the-shelf X/Y plotter, then wrote software to convert typed words into pen strokes that mimic human writing. He also programmed a robot arm to place and stack multiple postcards.

These stainless steel water bottles from Cognitive Surplus are covered with artwork that celebrates aspects of science and nature. Whether you’re into botany, rocket science, geology, or medicine, there’s a bottle for you. Each one holds a substantial 32 oz. of liquid and is double-wall vacuum insulated.

Fans of manual transmission cars will love the way the mechanism works on this custom pen. W&M Levsha designed and fabricated this unique metal and wood writing instrument that deploys using a 6-speed gear shifter. It works similarly to bolt-action pens, though the amount that it retracts is determined by the gear it’s in.

Woodworker Carl Jacobson shows us the process of building a miniature replica of Fred’s prehistoric car from The Flintstones. He built the foot-powered “Flintmobile” from maple burl and walnut, with beautifully turned wood roller wheels. The leather chamois canopy offers protection from heat, rain, and pterodactyl poop.

Do you like to doodle with colored pencils? This pencil holder gets them out of their box and turns them into a desktop work of art. The curved organizers are made out of beech wood by Bond Art Studio, and can be ordered in 24, 36, 48, and 72 pencil sizes, and have a storage tray for accessories like pens, smudgers, and erasers.

We usually think of wood as a pretty stiff building material, but in this short video, we go inside a factory where workers bend and twist wood to their whim using machines and bending jigs. We’re guessing they must steam the wood first to make it so pliable.

FPV drone pilot Tony Catapano aka Tonnoz takes us on a flight through the twisty and turny art installation known as Tiger and Turtle. Located in Duisburg, Germany, the interactive sculpture allows visitors to walk along its undulating staircase like a human rollercoaster. It’s especially awesome lit up at night.

Austin, Texas-based JFR Glass hand blows every piece of glassware they sell. This handsome rocks glass features a swirled design reminiscent of woodgrain but that also beautifully compliments spirits inside the glass. Made from 100% soda lime glass, it holds 8 oz. Sold individually.

Working from home doesn’t mean your home needs to look like an office. The Secret Whiteboard conceals a whiteboard behind a picture frame, so it looks like any other piece of art on your wall when not in use. Strong magnets keep it closed securely, and it’s deep enough to hold pens inside. Available in three sizes.

We already knew that Simone Giertz likes building robots. She also enjoys working with stained glass, so she decided to combine two of her hobbies to create what is likely the world’s first stained glass robot. She started with a metal robot arm, then cut and soldered glass panels to replace the metal pieces. It was clearly one of her more frustrating builds.

Most off-the-shelf LEGO kits offer limited amounts of motion. The Brick Experiment Channel shows how LEGO and Technic parts can be used to create action-packed kinetic sculptures. While the first design is finger-powered, all of the others are motorized. That twisty Hoberman Linkage is our favorite.