September 17

Fibre Optic Star Map

I seem to keep posting rather high-tech geek crafts lately, but there are just so many good ideas out there that need to be shared. So today I bring you a hand-made Fibre Optic Star Map, created by Imgur user, krid7.

Fibre Optic Star Map

Bringing this wonderful Milky Way panorama to life is a beautiful idea, and I’m really impressed at how well krid7 was able to pull this off. All those fibres would have driven me bonkers! Krid7 has documented the process on Imgur to be sure to click here to see how the Fibre Optic Star Map was created. And the best part is, real star maps were used, meaning that thing is not only beautiful, but it’s also scientific, yo.

Have an Astro-geek craft of your own? I would love to see it – post in the comments!

 

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August 27

DIY High-Voltage Thor’s Hammer – 80,000 Volt Mjölnir!

Caleb from Hackaday wanted to make his own Thor’s Hammer. But not just any Thor’s Hammer, oh no, Caleb’s version of Mjölnir contains a mini Tesla Coil that packs an 80,000 volt, lightning strike punch.

DIY High Voltage Thor's Hammer

Click the image above to see Caleb’s video that demonstrates what I’m talking about. The hammer is pretty big, but in a cool, over-sized kind of a way, and would make a great talking point at any convention. There’s also a good video where Caleb shows how he made both the hammer itself and his pretty effective version of Thor’s armour, which appears to have only taken a few hours. Check it out: DIY High Voltage Thor’s Hammer: How it was made.

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June 4

DIY Constellation Scarf

Here’s one for all my fellow Astrogeeks! I LOVE this scarf. Love it. As an amateur astronomer anything with constellations send me giddy, and this is great because you can make your own scarf featuring your favourite constellations.

DIY Constellations Scarf

Check out the tutorial on A Beautful Mess to discover how to make your own using a scarf, some craft foam, and a bit of easy embroidery.

I’ve actually been thinking of doing something similar to this on some blinds, ever since I purchased the wonderful Dot to Dot tee from Threadless, but I reckon using this tutorial a lot more things in my life are soon going to be sporting astronomical designs pretty soon!

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May 31

Darwin – Friday Treasury

darwin treasury

Charles Darwin was one of the most influential minds of the 19th Century. To celebrate his contribution to science, here is a collection of arts and crafts inspired by Darwin and his work. As usual, click on the picture to go to the treasury!

 

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May 1

World’s Smallest Stop Motion Pixel Art: IBM’s “A Boy and his Atom”

Now THIS is a GeekCraft: A Boy And His Atom: The World’s Smallest Movie

A Boy and His Atom by IBM

Okay, so you need a $214 BILLION company to sponsor you to make one of these for yourself, but this is pixel art at its most tiny, and science at its most frivolous.

IBM this week released their mini stop-motion movie made using atoms. Yep, those dots acting as pixels are carbon monoxide molecules – two stacked carbon atoms – which have been manipulated frame-by-frame to create a story about a boy and his atom. It took a small team two weeks to complete using a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), which uses quantum physics to move atoms and molecules around. The video has earned IBM a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the teeniest tiniest stop motion film.

Want to know more? Watch the second film all about how they made it: Moving Atoms: Making The World’s Smallest Movie

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