A Barrel of Kong

ArcadeControls user griffindodd made this sweet Donkey Cong cocktail-style cabinet using a old wine barrel! Now, who’s ready to roll this bad boy around an abandoned construction site?

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“Every time friends or family see my builds they always say the same thing “Oh you should make these and sell them”, to which my answer is always the same “It’s just not worth the man hours for what I could charge”. With that being said there are people quite successfully making bar tops and selling them on a regular basis, and, I assume, turning a profit of some kind,” griffondodd wrote.

Here’s his breakdown of the project:
Costs so far
Used Oak Wine Barrel – $87.00
17″ 4:3 Monitor – $25.00 (Craigslist)
Craftymech SLG Scanline generator – $23
Power Strip – $6
Amplifier – $19
Power Socket – $5
4x PCB Feet – $2
Power Supply – $18
2x long shaft zippy sticks – $16
Jamma Wiring Harness – $10
4x Regular Buttons& Switch – $4
3x Player Start Buttons – $3
Speakers – $15
1/2″ Bevelled Glass – $84.00
Laminated Control Panel art – $38
Bezel Artwork – $22
Paint – $6
Stain – $13
Shipping to date – $19.00

Total Build Cost – $415

Hours Spent Total – Approx 20 hours
Sourcing/Ordering Parts – 2 Hours
Vector Artwork Barrel Top – 1 Hour
Wood cut templates – 1.5 hours
Build in general – 15 hours

10 Awesome Geeky Perler Bead Crafts

Perler beads are perfect for recreating 8-bit video game characters and scenes. They can be used for all kinds of amazing geeky crafts and are so easy to use, anyone can do it. Below you will find 10 incredible examples of the things you can do with Perler beads.

1. Super Mario Brothers in Perler Beads

Super Mario Brothers in Perler Beads

Danny_8bit makes some elaborate Perler bead art. This little scene from Super Mario Brothers is attached to a briefcase.

2. Float Eye Boss from Final Fantasy

Float Eye Boss from Final Fantasy in Perler Beads

The Float Eye Boss from Final Fantasy has great shading. Faith9990 really got the details in on this one. Is it just me or does this guy look like an evil version of Mike from Monsters, Inc.?

3. Pokemon

Pokemon in Perler Beads

I know my eight-year-old could tell me who all these little guys are. For now, I’ll take Fashion’s word that they are Pokemon and they are an impressive collection.

4. R2D2

R2D2 in Perler Beads

Here at Geek Crafts, we seem to always end up back on Star Wars. Flickr user Copy + Waste made this huge R2D2 from Perler beads.

5. Ape Lad’s Spock illustration

Ape Lad’s Spock Illustration in Perler Beads

I’m not a big Star Trek fan, but this is the second Star Trek craft that I really like (the other was the Spock apron). blakewest did a great job capturing the look of the original illustration.

6. Donkey Kong in Perler Beads

Donkey Kong in Perler Beads

Here’s another one from Danny_8bit: a very elaborate Donkey Kong/Burgertime combo scene – not sure why the two games are mixed, but it still looks great!

7. Sinistar

Sinistar in Perler Beads

Wow – what an incredible likeness of the evil Sinistar himself. Awesome job done by CoderKev. “Run, coward!”

8. Space Invaders Key Chains

Space Invaders Key Chains in Perler Beads

Faith9990 does it again with these little Space Invaders keychains. They aren’t attached yet, but if you look closely, you can see that a bead is purposely missing from each one to attach the keyring to.

9. Gameboy Color 3D

Gameboy Color 3D in Perler Beads

I love the dimensional Perler bead crafts. Doctor Octoroc used what looks to be three layers of beads to make this Gameboy Color 3D.

10. Samus Aran vs. Omega Metroid

Samus Aran vs. Omega Metroid

And one more by Doctor Octoroc: Samus Aran vs. Omega Metroid. I think this is the most detailed Perler Bead art I have seen. Details + shading + size = pure awesomeness. (I don’t think that’s a direct quote there from Samus)

The Clay Collection – iPod, Dreamcast, and Donkey Kong in Miniature Clay

I love tiny things. And even better than tiny things is tiny geeky things! Lauren of The Clay Collection makes amazingly detailed itty, bitty polymer clay goodies. She even takes custom orders and it looks like she can handle just about anything. Check out her Etsy shop too see all her ready-made goods. Here are a few of my favorites:

Sega Dreamcast Figurine

Polymer Clay Sega Dreamcast

iPod Earrings

Polymer Clay iPod Earrings

Donkey Kong Earrings

Polymer Clay Donkey Kong Earrings