Instructables contributor Nylanan put together this amazing tutorial on how to transform an old silver lamp into an  homage to our favourite comedy sidekick droid, R2D2.

lets have 3 random facts about R2D2:

1. The actor that played him (Kenny Baker) actually REALLY didn’t get on with the actor that played C3po (Anthony Daniels). In-fact to this day they’ve got a really rocky relationship…
2. Kenny Baker actually had rude pictures of ladies stuck to the inside of the helmet of his costume (!!!) to keep him amused during the long hours of filming!! SHOCKING!!
3. A couple of months ago I went to a convention called “Collectormania” in Milton Keynes and saw Kenny Baker chasing* a guy dressed in Storm Trooper armour trying to hit him with his walking stick! The storm trooper turned around and said “That’s not very nice” and Kenny Baker’s handler replied “well , you did try to kill him!” – priceless!!

*well he uses a wheelchair now, so he was being pushed by a handler, which made the whole scene even more surreal!

• Go to the Tutorial
• Star Wars on Geekcrafts
• R2D2 on Geekcrafts
• Other Tutorials on Geekcrafts.

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With the weather getting cold, I’ve been thinking about trying some new knitting and crochet projects, and this awesome R2D2 amigurumi pattern is right up my alley. You can find it it in janama‘s Etsy shop right over here.

[via Craziest Gadgets]

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I hate the smell of pumpkin so I was thrilled to see such a long thread on Craftster (and a couple other places) of jack o’ lanterns that I don’t have to look at in person. Here are the geekiest:

1. Muppets Dr. Bunsen and Beaker by knottie on Craftster

2. Carl Sagan by Kirk Mona on Twins City Naturalist

3. CSI Crime Scene by ConcreteJungler on Craftster

4. Dr. Who Dalek by sloth003 on Craftster

5. Lord of the Rings Gollum by bethiej78 on Craftster

6. The Simpsons Itchy & Scratchy by knottie on Craftster

7. Knit 1 Purl 2 by domUNIQUE on Craftster

8. Star Trek Spock by patty_o_furniture on Craftster

9. Twilight Team Jacob by patty_o_furniture on Craftster

10. Wall-E and Eve by knottie on Craftster

11. Where the Wild Things Are by miss catbread on Craftster

12. Flesh Eating Zombie by teriyakimoto on Craftster

13. Star Wars R2D2 by Derringdos on Flickr

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Jamie Price from Instructables.com sent in this robotic bartender he designed (look like anyone you know?). This R2D2 with booze is perfect for the Star Wars fan who loves to party (and hates to walk). He calls it his “Mobile BaR2D2″. It’s a relatively simple design, for a an extremely cool little roaming robotic bartender!

• Mobile BaR2D2

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Russian Nesting Dolls, or Matryoshka, lend themselves perfectly to themed sets on any subject. Artist Matt Brown made this Star Wars set for his brother for Christmas. These are soooo cool – did you catch the teeny, tiny Yoda in there too? I almost missed him!

• Star Wars Nesting Dolls [via Craftster user dink]

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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

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

• Super Mario Brothers in Perler Beads by Danny_8bit

2. Float Eye Boss from Final Fantasy

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.?

• Float Eye Boss from Finaly Fantasy in Perler Beads by Faith9990

3. Pokemon

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.

• Pokemon in Perler Beads by Fashion

4. R2D2

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.

• R2D2 in Perler Beads by Copy + Waste

5. Ape Lad’s Spock illustration

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.

• Ape Lad’s Spock Illustration in Perler Beads by blakewest

6. 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!

• Donkey Kong in Perler Beads by Danny_8bit
  

7. Sinistar

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

• Sinistar in Perler Beads by CoderKev

8. Space Invaders Key Chains

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.

• Space Invaders Key Chains in Perler Beads by Faith9990

9. Gameboy Color 3D

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

• Gameboy Color 3D in Perler Beads by Doctor Octoroc

10. 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)

• Samus Aran vs. Omega Metroid in Perler Beads by Doctor Octoroc

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