Geek Crafts

So, this week’s Friday Round-Up celebrates one of my heroes, Darwin. The well-known two legged take on the ichthys symbol  is used by fans of evolution (can a scientific theory have fans? Does it matter if it does or not? It’s popularity’s kinda irrelevant; it’s still true…). Darwin Fish (Or Tonys, as all good Feeters know) are rough depictions of Ichyostega, the remains of which are important transitional fossils between tetrapods and fish, since they have a tail and gulls akin to fish but amphibian style skull and limbs.

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

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• Narwhal-made to order

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

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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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A friend of mine, Rudi, emailed me these photos of the Ffordian Dodo he recently cloned, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to show off on his behalf.

Vikwick is an early version 1.2 dodo, without wings – but since they are flightless that doesn’t seem to make any difference to her quality of life. Vikwick has recently been involved in the SpecOps 27 investigation into Adrian Lush, since the TV host recently opened a chain of bath & beauty product stores and is under suspicion of using the strong smell emanating from the shops to disguise a cheese smuggling operation….

Vikwick was made from socks, following the tutorial on my blog (tutorial includes wings, if you want the)  – the Sockie Dodo’s are 100% Jasper Fforde approved (his little daughter has one) and are really easy to make… but be warned, if you make one, they will steal all your marshmallows

Clone Your Own Dodo Tutorial

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It’s no secret that I’m addicted to pretty much every social networking site out there (Twitter being my personal brand of obsession).

Another one of my addictions? Pillows. Or at least things that are snuggly.

Nerdcuddle on Etsy makes adorable internet themed pillows. Now if someone asks if you have a Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or Skype account you can just hold up your pillow and show which networking site is your personal addiction.

If networking sites aren’t your cup of tea, she also has a Zelda Triforce pillow and an Android themed pillow.

• Nerdcuddle on Etsy
• Twitter stuff on GeekCrafts
• GeekCrafts on Twitter

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It is the year of the dragon, and as a recently birthday’ed fire dragon myself, I wanted to delve into all things dragon for this week’s round-up. First up from Olga Farberovao, I bring you this touching father-son moment. Check out this firey poppa welcoming his new addition:

This made-to-order toy was crocheted out of mohair yarn. His eyes, nostrils are needle felted. The egg is made by wet felting wool.
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