Thursday, January 22, 2015

Fun Finds, 1/22/15: Glowing Shrooms, Make-Under Dolls, & Robot Turtles!

I feel like this week the internet finally shook off its holiday/new year doldrums, and started churning out the Good Stuff again, you know? It's been weeks since I found much online to really inspire or capture my imagination, and now suddenly I'm seeing all KINDS of goodies! (Granted, that could be a reflection of my own doldrums-shaking, but still.)

Some of my favorites:

Glowing Mushroom Tutorial by Matt over at Instructables:

These mushrooms are incredibly life-like, and other than the LED wiring, look pretty simple to make! (Just a little silicon caulking and paint, if you can believe it.) I want to make some to display in a glass dome, like a steampunky specimen jar. Would look SO COOL at night.

Oh, and another instructables user made some with blue LEDs:

Awesome.


My favorite photographer, Tom Bricker, did a quick tutorial on Blending Image Layers:


Wowie.

And while we're at it, Tom went to an Owl Cafe in Japan - an OWL CAFE, people - and wrote up a review of the experience, which is fascinating.  I want this one:
 
Yep. DO WANT.


For my fellow Borderlands fans: there's an 11-inch tall, remote-controlled Claptrap coming out in March, and he looks suh-WEET:


He'll cost about $400, and there will only be 5000 made, so... I guess I'll just console myself with our life-sized Claptrap coming together in the garage. Heh.  (More details over at Mashable.)


Remember Lammily, the "realistic fashion doll" that went viral for re-imagining Barbie with actual human proportions? Well in that general spirit, there's a Tasmanian artist now giving Bratz dolls some surprisingly sweet "make-unders:"

Tree Change Dolls repaints the faces, (un)styles the hair, molds new feet, and then outfits these thrift-store finds in clothes she and her mother make by hand:


As I said, the results are surprisingly sweet! Her out-doorsy finished photos really capture the innocence of a much younger and less self-conscious childhood, and the contrast between the dolls' before and after pics could be taken for a serious commentary on today's society - should you be so inclined. (Or if not: lookie! Pretty dolls! :))


Head over to the Tree Change Dolls Tumblr for lots more before-and-afters, and watch that site for her Etsy shop, which she says is coming soon. (And hat tip to Neatorama for the link.)

Another excellent Neatorama find: 40+ DIY uses for wine corks. Most are about what you'd expect (trivets, anyone?), but there are a few real gems in there! My favorite are the drawer pulls from Dollar Store Crafts:

Not sure how durable they'd be long-term, but considering the cost is $FREE, this would be awesome for rustic, vintage, or steampunky designs.

Sue of All Natural Arts just made her best watch-part sculpture yet for Edgar Allen Poe's birthday:

Seriously, how stunning is this?? Sue uses real vintage pocket watches, and those are all tiny watch parts - see how the raven's wings are tiny clock hands? And as if that weren't enough, the pendulum under Poe's ear actually swings back and forth. SWOON.

And finally, in adorable robot news, look what Disney just made!

  This too-cute-for-words, turtle-shaped "Beach Bot" can draw pictures in the sand. Big, BIG pictures:

 And it's orange! ORANGE!!

Ahem.

More over at Wired, where you can watch a video of the BeachBot in action.


So what's inspiring you this month, guys? Hit me up with some more Good Stuff in the comments!

24 comments:

  1. that Edgar Allan Poe watch literally made my jaw drop. that is AMAZING. i'm in absolute awe. :D

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  2. I am absolutely shocked by the before and after of those make under dolls. I've never liked Bratz dolls, but seeing the side by side shows how dramatically terrible the originals are. Amazing results--cute little dolls that look like little girls.

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    1. I agree! They look so cute. I would have loved to play with those when I was little.

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  3. I'm also impressed by the make-unders. Bratz is a terrible name for a line of dolls anyway--who wants to teach their little girls to become that? (Stuff like that makes me feel better about just finding out that I'm pregnant with a boy. Because even though girls can and do like superheroes and Legos too, I totally have an excuse to go towards that end.)

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  4. I think you read my mind Jen, because I have an incredible itch to travel to Japan soon, and reading about the owl cafe was very interesting! I'm actually scared of owls, but it may be nice to see them in person and connect with them. :)

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  5. Well I now have a justification to get soldering tools finally. I need those little mushroom lights in my life. I can also think of several people who would like those as gifts...

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  6. I love (!!!) the made under dolls. And the "Beach Bot", forget the pictures, I want it for a pet!

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  7. Those Mushroom lights would be epic in a bathroom at night so you don't have to worry about blinding yourself with the actual light or just going in the dark (for some reason that absolutely freaks me out and I cant do it.. go in the dark i mean).
    I have heard about the owl cafe and I want to go.. we should all go.. party at owl cafe!
    I have some very specific (negative) views on Bratz dolls. Even when I was young enough to (by societies standards) actually play with them I never liked them. It makes me happy to see someone make something realistic, and innocent. That is what really catches me i guess. People push and push and push girls specifically to grow up be beautiful use your beauty to advance etc etc all the crap we already know happens and the innocence of play and being a girl and being a child is taken away far too soon. I am all for letting kids be kids gender norms aside from dolls to dump trucks let everyone play with what they will and let that innocence stay intact for just a while longer.. *sigh*
    So that was a long ramble on my soap box. :) I really enjoy your fun finds posts they make me happy.. though they may give me a delusion of grandeur when I go over to intructables and think "I can totes do that!!".. no.. no I can't Lol.

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  8. Love the mushroom lights! And Sue Beatrice always kills me with those awesome things she does.....I have been into looking up lots of leather and beaded things lately, getting ideas and whatnot....Here is one of my barrettes that I have been making lately:
    https://www.etsy.com/listing/218155370/green-and-copper-bead-embroidered?

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  9. There are led lights available with battery packs in the miniatures section of the craft or hobby store. I think I will skip all the wiring stuff by taking advantage of those when I make my mushrooms.

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    1. HA! that's exactly what i thought ^^ Luckily i have some leftover LEDs from christmas... now i only have to get my hands on some silicone et voila....

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  10. I totally love what those women did to tbe dolls. I am amazed at how much better the smaller eyes, lower eyebrows and smaller lips fit the structure of the face. The before-after pics look like the doll persona just got rid of some hideous Halloween costume where the poor girl had to go as a hooker or stereotype tranny. I hope the message finally reaches the toy companies and makes some waves there!

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  11. http://www.simonsaysmacy.com/ This girl and her super cute and squee worthy figures. they make me happy to look at.
    ~Kim

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    1. OH my GOSH.. I am in love! First I was like OHH the Frog!! the OHH the turtle.. then OHH MY WORD PENGIN!!!! (yes I say penguin PENGIN lmbo)

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  12. I have always loathed those Bratz dolls; thankfully, my daughter never wanted one. My friend's mother had the best description of them, that I never fail to cringe/laugh at: "prosti-tots". Still trying to figure out who thought they were a good idea. Kudos to the make unders!

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  13. Jen, if you like the glowing mushrooms, you'll love these photos that just popped up in my feed today. The photographer uses tiny LED lights rather than traditional lights to take magical macro shots of mushrooms. Check 'em out here.

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  14. Those mushrooms are so awesome! I want to make a small army to illuminate the backyard!

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  15. I love Tom Bricker's stuff. I found him when I was looking for Disney blogs after all your pictures of new Fantasyland made me book a trip to Disney. It's like the internet is all connected...

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  16. Maybe you should add a few of these to go with your new lights?
    http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/01/mushroom-book-installations-by-melissa-jay-craig/

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  17. I'm currently in Orlando, and I'm loving it here! So far I've snorkelled with manatees in Homosassa River, seen a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral (which was AWESOME), eaten the best burger ever in Miami, and bought SUPER FLUFFY Batman pyjama trousers at Walmart. Tomorrow we're hitting the Universal parks, and on Monday we're going to the Magic Kingdom (we figured it might be slightly less crowded on a weekday? ).

    I'm hoping I'll be able to convince the family that a visit to Artegon is a good idea, and I still want to visit a comic book store. I'm not super excited about going back to the frozen north (Sweden) next week...

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  18. For fun music check out the Double Clicks videos on you tube. It is two sisters from Portland, Or. who write their own music and have a cat keyboard.

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  19. Hi Jen and John,
    I thought of you guys when I saw pictures online of the new 7 Dwarfs Mine Train popcorn bucket (shaped like one of the mine cars full of gems). People were complaining that it looked too cheap, and the almost-all-red gems were really bad looking. I thought, if anyone could fix it up with a few specialized paint techniques, it would be you guys! So if you do head for WDW and purchase one to "improve," I totally want partial credit for the idea! :-) Cheers, Diane

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  20. I looooove that watch parts sculpture!!

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