Geek Crafts

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

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I know a number of our American readers are unreasonably warm and toasty in some kind of freakish heatwave, but those of us in the Frigid North (and, one presumes, also in some parts of the southern hemisphere) still have over a foot of snow to deal with. So forgive me, oh sufferers of 80+ degree temperatures, for sharing this awesome thing I found! (Consider it a possibility for very early start on making a Christmas list?)

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.)

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Developed in 1869 by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev to help illustrate commonalities in the various properties of elements, the Periodic Table has been both boon and bane to high school chemistry students around the world (my own experiences fell definitely to the “bane” side.)

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

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Today I have searched the digital shelves of Etsy for something to delight the biology geeks. And I found the wonderful works of Anatomolgy. She creates jewellery based around body parts. My favourite is this heart pictured but she also features bones, brains, neurons, synapses and some atoms for the chemistry lovers among us. I recommend you check her out, I shall be dropping hints with the boyfriend for my birthday!

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

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I am in love (that’s the only Valentine’s reference you’re getting. I’m one of those awful smug-coupled types who ignores Val’s day because they can have romance any old day they want. Sorry.) with this Petri dish mini quilt by Rachel over at  Cornflower Blue Studio.

It uses all different kinds of embroidery thread and quilting to make it a really touchable textured piece – perfect for people like me who always want to poke the squishy agar but normally have to refrain for fear of contamination; this one you can play with all you like.

Rachel is entering this piece into The Festival of Alabama Fibre Arts, where she will also be teaching a hyperbolic crochet class. I’m sure we all wish her well with the competition, and all of us not living in the Southern US are a little jealous that we won’t get to come learn from such an uber-geek-crafter.

Cornflower Blue Studio – Rachel’s blog

Cornflower Blue Studio Etsy Shop (Rachel also sells from her blog)

Mini Petri Dish Quilt

Festival of Alabama Fibre Arts

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Check out these amazingly geeky lampshades made by Monika who sells them at her etsy shop PaniKurek. She says:

“The double glass cylinder recalls Art Deco forms in a unique contemporary way. The use of ready-made objects gives an appearance with a Duchamp idea. The lamp is inspired by Maria Sklodowska-Curie, the Polish scientific woman, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of polonium and radium.”

A true geek.

• Monika’s shop
• Single layer test tube lampshade
• Double layer test tube chandeliers
• Other chemistry crafts on Geek crafts

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