Skels – Page 2 – Geek Crafts

How-To: Kerbal Space Program Costumes

Halloween is but 44 days away, meaning you only have 7 weekends left to finish your costume. Haven’t even thought of an idea yet? Well, allow me to suggest Kerbals from The Kerbal Space Program!

Reddit user awallick has posted a great How-To for these Kerbal costumes that he and his friends created for Dragon Con this year, showing the ingenious process which includes paper macheing over gym balls to create the monstrous space helmets. Click here to see how the KSP costumes were created.

Looking forward to more great costume ideas in the run up to Halloween. Have one of your own? Let us know in the comments below.

DIY Ambilight: Because your TV isn’t big enough already

You’d think that a 55-inch, full-HD LCD television with surround sound system connected to an enormous media pc, XBox 360 and a PS3 would be enough for a man who actually mostly plays PC games in a different room and watches TV on his phone on the train trip to work. But you’d be wrong.

Dave of DaveNewson.com is the latest of major nerdy tinkerers to take on the DIY challenge of Ambilight – a TV enhancement where the colours from your TV are projected onto the wall behind it. There are some sane reasons for doing this – improved immersion and less eye-strain when watching in the dark being the main ones. But mostly, Dave did it because it looks “cool as hell”. Click here to see it in action.

Want your own Ambilight system? There are a few different ways of setting this up apparently, but essentially you will need a strip of colour-changing LEDs, a micro controller, a PC to play media from, a 5 volt power supply, a TV, and a way better understanding of electronics than me. Click here to read the really quite detailed How-To on DaveNewson.com.

DIY High-Voltage Thor’s Hammer – 80,000 Volt Mjölnir!

Caleb from Hackaday wanted to make his own Thor’s Hammer. But not just any Thor’s Hammer, oh no, Caleb’s version of Mjölnir contains a mini Tesla Coil that packs an 80,000 volt, lightning strike punch.

Click the image above to see Caleb’s video that demonstrates what I’m talking about. The hammer is pretty big, but in a cool, over-sized kind of a way, and would make a great talking point at any convention. There’s also a good video where Caleb shows how he made both the hammer itself and his pretty effective version of Thor’s armour, which appears to have only taken a few hours. Check it out: DIY High Voltage Thor’s Hammer: How it was made.

Avengers Cocktails

Ok, so these recipes may seem only one shot of Sambuca short of a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, likely to have you unconscious and shaking in a corner before you’ve even got to the God of Mischief, but how cool is the idea of Avengers-themed cocktails?!

Consume sensibly. You might have to save the world later, and you don’t want to be too mashed to get your suit on.

Piranha Plant Cake Pops

Nothing is better than a good cake except good cake pops. And what could be better than GEEKY cake pops?! Check out these mouthwateringly amazing Piranha Plant Pops over at baking blog, Cakecrumbs.me.

And the best part is that Rhiannon has posted detailed step-by-step instructions on how to recreate these geek pops, complete with cake recipes. How do you like the sound of Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes? Well that’s apparently what a Piranha Plant tastes like. Yum!

Tutorial: Pin Cushion for a Zombie

Do you know a zombie who is into sewing? Do any of your undead friends keep losing all their needles? Well, you can make a Brain Shaped Pin Cushion for your crafty cadaver, armed only with some thick cord, scrap material, and basic sewing skills!

This tutorial over at Tiny Little Life actually makes use of a Hilbert Curve to make the general brain pattern, which is great because this make is not only nerdy in a WE LOVE ZOMBIES kind of way, but also in a smart WE LOVE MATHS kind of way too. I’m sure if David Hilbert were among the walking dead today he would be most pleased with this use of his design.