Hm. I quite like the art of Booknick—lots of great sci-fi–themed art printed on salvaged book pages. I love the delightful C3PO in Lolita glasses and the charming TARDIS. Super reasonable prices, too.
Unfortunately, the tragically short-lived TV series “Firefly” wasn’t on the air long enough to do a crossover episode, but clever crafter came up with the idea to do a Firefly/Dr. Who mashup project: a knit Jayne Cobb hat done in Dr. Who scarf colors. She (HolyNarf?) calls it her “Doctor Jayne” hat.
The effect is so subtle that most would probably not recognize that it’s Doctor Who colors, even if they might recognize the Jayne Cobb hat style. And the colors are definitely male-friendly, which I love – it can be hard to find manly hat patterns. At least for my men. Do you ever have the same problem? Would this hat make the “acceptable crafting” list for a man in your life? Or maybe yourself?
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:
…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]
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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Being active myself in historical reenactment for many years, the colder months were often spent at the sewing machine prepping for the upcoming events throughout the year. The same can be said for people who love attending Cons. Their creativity and ingenuity forever astounds me!
Working roughly off of a pattern and adapting on the fly, graverobbergirl on Craftster has made a great version of the original Star Trek costume! Even the hair and accessories show her dedication and attention to detail that are sure to make her stand out in the Con Crowd.
What makes graverobbergirl’s costume extra special is that she has planned for the inevitable. She has a patch to sew onto her costume when she finally (and inescapably) gets hit by the phaser aimed for a commanding officer!
One of my favorite fantasy creatures, the dragon, gets such a bad rap. So they burn villages, eat fair maidens and have magical powers, does that them bad? For centuries, knights have attacked them with lances, magicians have cast a myriad of spells, and random people with pitchforks have attacked the dragon’s lair. I think that if I was constantly harassed by human kind, I would be cranky too. Maybe our Society’s perspective is all wrong. Maybe the Dragon just wants some understanding! To quote the Most Knowledgeable Hagrid, “They’re seriously misunderstood Dragons.” We should all keep our minds open to the good that Dragons can do.
For example, how about a dragon made out of recyclable materials!
This is a sculpture was created by~toge over on DeviantArt using only plastic kitchen utensils and hot glue. It proves that they can be just as concerned about our environment as we are. We need more positive press about dragons so that our society no longer discriminates against these reptiles! Remember, dragons want love and respect too!
