Awesome Art & Design

After securing an entry-level job at the local Happy Grits franchise, the protagonist of this animated short is forced to watch a training video. Along the way he’ll learn how to deal with disgruntled customers and the true nature of his co-workers. We love the offbeat anime style and character design from artists Zack Fox and Chibu Okere. (Thanks, Rob!)

UK shop ReadyPlayerTwo creates these nifty 3-dimensional logo signs inspired by classic video game and computer systems. Each one is 3D printed from PLA plastic to accurately replicate the original color scheme, and has neodymium magnets securely mounted inside.

This unique tabletop display uses the natural properties of moss to improve air quality. Mingled with its plants is a grid of LED-backed tubes that can display the time and animations while providing light to help the moss flourish. It’s also a Bluetooth speaker and alarm clock, and its smart sprayer triggers images and sound effects. From the makers of the Moss Air.

The latest geeky creation from 3D designer Colby, aka ForgeCore, is a chess board that you can quickly tidy up simply by leaving the pieces on the board and rolling them up into log form. Colby designed the pieces using scans of actual mushrooms. If you sign up for a paid membership, you can download the 3D files for this set and his other creations.

ND Woodworking Art is back with another amazing handcrafted wooden vehicle. But rather than starting with a real-world sports car or truck for inspiration, he built this one based on an AI-generated design. The curvy and fanciful ride looks like something Willy Wonka might drive around his chocolate factory.

Usually, when you want to throw a pot, you put clay on a potter’s wheel that sits parallel to the ground. Ceramicist Ilya Kalashnikov decided to see what would happen if you turned the potter’s wheel on its side and attempted to create a vase from clay stuck to a spinning car wheel. It starts better than we thought it would, but gravity always wins.

Real Engineering traces the interesting origin of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first functional stealth aircraft. Ironically, its iconic diamond shape and faceted design came from a Soviet mathematician’s paper. But the engineers at Lockheed also did their part, coming up with more unorthodox solutions for the unusual plane’s radar-defying needs.

We love watching how factories make things. Archive film company British Pathé compiled this reel of vintage factory footage dating back to the 1950s. Along the way, you’ll see how they made jukeboxes, candies, model aircrafts, and more. It would be interesting to compare modern manufacturing processes to these to see how much they have changed.

Creative Mindstorms built a LEGO machine that creates pixel art portraits based on text instructions. He used DALL-E 3 to generate an image and wrote custom Python code to transform it into pixels and control a machine that picks and places 1×1 pixels on a 32×32 baseplate. It needs frequent pixel refills, but that could be fixed with bigger storage bays.

Burls Art is back with another unusual handcrafted guitar. For his latest build, he melted 50 pounds of braided copper wire and tin, then poured the molten metal into Petrobond molds to cast its neck and body. He made a mistake with the first casting, but fortunately, metal is easily recycled, and a do-over was possible. The finished guitar weighs nearly 40 pounds.

Artist Wesley Treat has built some pretty big sculptures over the years. His latest build is a metal chandelier that looks like a twirling tornado, an appropriate theme for its installation at a bar in Oklahoma City. He started by building a miniature to figure out the ideal shape, then got to work bending aluminum bands he attached to a structural tube in its center.

Paris-based Horizon System makes high-end stands for floor-standing or tower speakers. The Atlas S1 is made of brushed aluminum with solid oak feet, the Atlas S2 is made of two folded aluminum plates, and the Atlas SK1 is a single aluminum plate with non-slip rubber caster wheels. Each piece is made to order with customizable dimensions.

Cam of Blacktail Studio challenged himself to make a table with an irregular shape. He ended up being inspired by the shape and finish of electric guitars. After many hours of obsessively testing colors, filling in holes, sanding, and even more sanding, he came up with this beautiful standing desk. The best part? Cam is giving it away.

Portrilux makes large-scale prints on high-gloss metal. Send them an image, and they will adjust its colors before transferring it to their specially coated aluminum sheet. The resulting prints are incredibly glossy and vibrant. It’s also waterproof and UV-resistant. Check out their Instagram page for more samples of their work.

Ordinary LEGO bricks are made from molded plastic. For something with more substance, check out these cool metal building blocks from ScrappersOutpost. The CNC-machined bricks interlock just like the real deal too. They come in aluminum, brass, or copper, and there are discounts for buying multiples. They also make a keychain version.

Jef of Two Moose Design recently got into whiskey and bourbon, so he decided to make a fancy whiskey cabinet. Not only did he make it out of walnut, he also gave it a pair of tambour doors. The piece de resistance is the mesmerizing wavy pattern that he applied on the doors using a CNC machine. The wood grain and finish pair beautifully with the pattern.