I’m not going to say that the creations of Your Organ Grinder aren’t a little on the weird side, because they are. I mean, they’re felt organs. But they’re also kind of rad. Particular favorites here include the brain necklace, brain hairclip, and nose embroidery hoop.

Spring is starting to turn into summer.  Change is in the air.  Squirrels are finding their autumn treasures.  Some lucky acorns will grow into mighty trees.  Does are throwing baby showers for one and another in the woods and birds are looking for some action.

I have a feeling my favorite naturalist enjoyed this time of year.  My hats off to The Greedy Crocodile for her felted busts. If you are more of a physics or literature kind of person, her shop includes some luminaries from those fields.

She’s also got an amazing sculpture of my girl, Marie Curie. I hope to see some more famous women in the future as well!

• The Greedy Crocodile on Etsy

Flipping though Physics World magazine , I turned a page and caught my breath; there was the tiniest picture of the most beautiful quilt. I still, several hours later, cannot quite find words with which to explain how awe inspiring, how wondrous these quilts, made by Kate Findlay, are.

But what was a picture of Kate’s quilt doing in a physics magazine? Well, it turns out to be one of a series which she has made themed around the LHC. There are 20 quilts (so far) in the series, some inspired by particular particle detectors, and some inspired more generally by the science of supersymmetry, dark matter and particle physics. ‘Atom – Silver’ (pictured above) is based on the structure of Ag, while Atlas (below) is based on images of the ATLAS detector.

What initially caught Kate’s eye were the symmetry, repeating motifs, and colours present in CERN’s images, and I agree that quilting is a perfect medium to reflect those ideas – Kate’s mixed textures of silks, satins and sheers really capture the source material, the pieces feel modern,full of hope  and wonder. Kate also cites the vastly disparate scales that any physicist works with as a source of inspiration – and I for one can see how the juxtaposition between atoms and astronomy, and the interplay between the two, is a captivating concept.

The early pieces from the series incorporate wire, card, beads,and other mixed media to further play with texture, while the more recent pieces are traditional 3 layered beauties. Kate has experimented with screen printing and dyeing to personalise her fabrics, and of course this adds yet another dimension to the quilts.

Kate had only been quilting for 6 moths before starting work on the series, so she truly is an inspiration to any of us who want to pick up a  new crafty skill. And, on top of learning to quilt as she goes, Kate has been brushing up on her physics knowledge too!

Next up, Kate is hoping to make quilts with themes such as wave/particle duality and string theory – possibly including fibre optic cable, so here’s looking forward to seeing what she produces in the future.

(I’m doing ever so well, aren’t I; I haven’t mentioned the appropriateness of snuggling up with Brian Cox under an LHC quilt at all!)

Kate’s website, with image gallery and prints for sale, as well as details of upcoming exhibitions.

Physics World Magazine

So, I present to you my ten favourite crafts in honour of both Darwin and Tony…

Above, we have a simple but brilliant necklace made by Reuse on craftster, for Foxlet as part of the Geek Chic swap a couple of years ago.  I couldn’t find any info on how it was made, so your guess is a s good as mine… really neat shrinky-dinks maybe?

• Reuse’s Craftster profile
• Craftster Swap board (join in!)

Here we have a frickin’ awesome example of tie-dye by Deviantartist Spudnuts. I have to be honest, I’ve never really had a high opinion of tie-dye (possibly I am prejudiced after a disastrous A-Level Textiles lesson involving string, tubs of dye and a teacher who loved purple in a way that made me question her marital affairs). But this just blows me away. Apparently it’s all done with accordion folding, but I personally believe there may have been some witchcraft too…

Spudnuts on Deviant art

This little pin-back by Vicky says it all really, doesn’t it? Under her online pseudonym Vickinator, she sells amazing graphic design pin buttons (and occasional magnets) on Etsy, with images inspired by all things geekcraft – video games, anime & manga, Internet memes, computer nerdery, real science (and maths) and sci-fi. Her badges really are cute, the only problem is deciding which ones I want the most…

Vicky’s Etsy shop Geek Buttons

This Darwin shirt (and it’s Atheism counterpart) were free drawn with fabric marker by Veri on Craftster in preparation for her family holiday to the Vatican (perfect. just perfect). She up-cycled some commercial tees which had been sent to her pharmacist partner by a anti-depressent manufacturer; they say ‘Smile’ (in Slovene), that’s the orange text above her art work.

Veri’s Craftster Profile

This is another craft that I could find limited information about. In fact, I found nothing about it – zip – apart from the piccie itself, and the fact that it was made one weekend by Alyssa,  an angry-feeter. I’m guessing at papier mache and paint, in an old skool Art Attack manner. Anyway, however it was made, it’s the most kick ass Tony since the actual fish based life form himself.

Alyssa’s Angry Feet profile (under the username Derrison)

Now, I have to include these because I have one pinned onto my locker at work. Thanks to deviantartist Hannah, I get to pet my feeted felted fish everyday :D They are super cute squishy little badges, inspired by Tim Minchin’s Tony story, and all hand-sewn with love.

Hannah’s Deviant Art page (under her badhairday24 pseudonym)

These stuffed fish are made from fleece by Cara (Earthknots), and available from Etsy. She uses all sorts of pattern and colours, adds safety eyes, stuffs and finished each one with a machine embroidered smile. I like how his leg positioning makes it look like he’s walking…

Earthknots on Etsy

Kate of Little Devil Designs on Etsy makes these beautiful sterling silver pendants, depicting our Darwin fish in all his shiny scaly greatness. They are hand cast, I just love the detailing that has gone into them. Kate’s other designs include some amazing stuff inspired by the natural world, all well worth checking out

Little Devil Designs on Etsy

Rounding out this Round Up, I thought I’d go for a bit of blatent self-promotion: I must have made about 30 of these sockie Tonys for various friends of mine, and when I got sick of that I posted a tutorial on my blog to make your own. That’s it guys n gals, you’re very own footed friend from nothing but socks (geddit -make the feet from socks…) and stuffing. The tutorial runs over two posts, since it was written for non-crafty types, but it’s actually amazingly simple to sew.

First part of Darwin Fish Tutorial

Every piece is individually cut on a fretsaw, from acrylic or wood, then hand finished in their Spitalfields workshop. They sell in a number of stores through out the UK, or online at their site and etsy shop.

I Am Acrylic

I Am Acrylic Etsy

Here are some things you should know about narwhals: 1) Their “tusk” is actually an elongated canine 2) A highly specific diet limits their geographical range makes them vulnerable to climate change 3) They are highly skilled deep-water hunters.

The unicorns of the sea, could there be a classier mammal? Perhaps with a monocle? A top hat maybe? A jazzy silver bow? Check out these super cute narwhal plushies from Ostrich Farm.  I love sparkly tusks. They are made to order in a number of colors, with a variety of stylish accessories.  Also, strictly for the hardcore, there is a narwhal of the month club.

• The Ostritch Farm’s Etsy shop

So hine’s work is definitely “aspirational crafting” (I just made that term up).  She is certainly a fiber-textile artist, not your mamma’s felter by any means. I’ve been following her work for-evs (not really as she is probably younger than me) but I haven’t been sure when to “pull the trigger” and post one of her items. The truth is I’m in love with all of them, though some are geekier than others.

This week, I have found the thing I cannot resist posting, this magical daphnia. I remember coming across these crustaceans when I was a kid, pouring through an old biology textbook a much older cousin (sadly uninterested in playing with me) had laying around. The grades she was in “FRESH-MAN” “SOPHO-MORE” sounded so magical to me, a lowly first grader, I was dying to know what difficult, bizarre things a “FRESH MAN” learned about in their science classes. Flipping through her book, I learned that a single drop of water contained an invisible ecosystem of strange little critters, including these see-through cousins of crabs and lobsters!

Anyway, I suspect all of you have memories of your first geek thirsts, and the daphnia is mine (no implication of drinking a daphnia by accident intended!) and hine’s plushie captures that beautifully!

This also confirms my suspicion that these are happy little micro-creatures! Thanks hine :-)

• Felted Giant Daphnia
• hine’s Flickr site
• hine’s Etsy store

These scarves, made by Becky Stern (homepage, Etsy) display elemental emission spectra. Silicon, uranium, and mercury are currently in stock, but you can also get a custom one of any other element you like, with some delay and possibly a little extra cost. (I found this applet linked from the Wikipedia page, if you want to choose an element that appeals to you. I definitely want Cobalt, no question.)

Fast forward about 140 years, and we have a more modern version, and infinitely more useful, thanks to James the ComputerSherpa. In his first Visual Design class he came up with this little beauty – the Periodic Table of Storytelling.

James really did his research, turning to TVTropes.org for inspiration and information on “tropes” –  which TVTropes defines as “devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations.” Writers (and Hollywood types) can use these fictional elements to craft endless variations of story lines. Being a wiki, TVTropes has vast quantities of information and discussion threads, so James’ graphical version of the Periodic Table is a real timesaver.

Beyond the concept as a whole, I love the examples at the bottom, illustrating how one might describe certain shows, movies, games, etc, using formulas based on this Periodic Table.  For instance, when you combine:

•  A Five-Man Band (5ma – made up of a Hero, Lancer, Smart Guy, Big Guy, and a Chick)
• Conflict (C)
• The Empire (Emp)
• Dragon-The Chosen One-You Have Failed Me (DraNeoFai)

…and you get Star Wars. Not sure about the “Dragon” element on this one, but then, I have mentioned my chemistry is not my super power.

James very kindly put the image up for purchase as a poster – it would be fun to sit around with a bunch of geeks and work out formulas for various shows and book storylines. Maybe I’ll have to get one for my son to take to college in the fall, for he will surely find himself a gang of geeks to hand out with, and I wouldn’t want them to run out of things to talk about.

[Via: BitRebels]

• The Periodic Table of Storytelling
• TVTropes.org
• More periodic table crafts on GeekCrafts (see also: periodic crafts)
• More science crafts on GeekCrafts

• Heart Necklace
• Anatomolgy’s shop
• More Biology crafts at Geek Crafts