Thor voted sexiest man alive!

Last week People Magazine announced that the lovely Chris Hemsworth (photo Credit: Ben Watts), aka Thor, is this year’s Sexiest Man Alive.

Well, duh.

In honor of this prestigious award, I thought, for my first post as a contributor to Geek Crafts, I’d share some awesome Thor related tutorials.

Thor’s Hammer

Of course, you can’t talk Thor and not talk Mjolnir, his big . . . hammer. :) Here’s a great Instructable on building your own hammer.

If you’re looking for something a little less “cosplay” and a little more “toy“, try this tutorial from Doodlecraft . It’s a bit more kid friendly, and you might even have the materials needed already, since it uses things like a hot glue and an old pillowcase.

Thor Costume Fun

The folks at Cutesy Crafts have this delightful tutorial on making your own superhero masks, including the mighty god of thunder. Supposedly these awesome masks are meant just for kids, but really? I think these would make fabulous accessories for everyday wear.

This tutorial from Life Sprinkled with Glitter has to be my favorite. It’s a baby Thor costume DIY, and Colleen Wickersheim has got step-by-step instructions, with pictures, on creating the costume, helmet, and hammer. I’m thinking this would be perfect for my nephew’s first Halloween next year.

Need a Thor of your very own?

Over at Photobucket you can find this free printable to make your very own 3-D paper Thor created by Jim Bowen (username trogdoriangrey).

You may have seen this one featured on Geek Crafts before, but it’s so worth sharing again. Ravelry creator Jess Newstone has got the cutest little god of thunder amigurumi pattern ever and it’s free! She’s even got Thor’s adopted bad boy brother amigurumi pattern (free to0!).

Marvel craft: DIY LED Tesseract

Did you know that in geometry, a tesseract, also called an 8-cell or regular octachoron or cubic prism, is the four-dimensional analog of the cube? According to Wolfram MathWorld, in Madeleine L’Engle’s novel, A Wrinkle in Time, the characters in the story travel through time and space using tesseracts. According to Google, Tesseract is also probably the most accurate open source OCR engine available.

Of course, in the Marvel universe, there is yet another use of a Tesseract – as an Infinity Stone, one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe. It can open rifts in space, which ties in nicely with Madeleine L’Engle’s use of it. While Odin keeps watch over the Tesseract in Asgard, you can create your own replica based on this quick project by Venessa Baez (complete with 3-1/2 minute video). With an acrylic photo cube, a few swipes of paint, some LED garden lights, and waxed paper, you can have a great geeky decor item for your desk or bookshelf.

If you could open a rift in time and space, where would you go? And would you make the “Vwoop, vwoop!” sound effect like a TARDIS?

Tesseract tutorial by Venessa Baez
More Marvel crafts on GeekCrafts
More math crafts on GeekCrafts

Category: Comics, Craft, Geek, Movies, Sci-Fi | Comments Off

August 3

Female cosplay worthy of the name of Thor

With Marvel’s recent announcement that the Thor comics will soon have a female lead, I thought it might be fun to see if there was any female Thor cosplay out there. The internets did not disappoint.

Not only did Anna Lee of Glitzy Geek Girl put together a great Thor cosplay costume, she also provided a tutorial for creating the winged Thor helmet and beveled armor plating out of craft foam! I would not have thought of using gesso for a primer before spray painting – great tip!

What do you think of Marvel’s choice to make Thor female? What do you think of females cosplaying as male characters? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Links of Interest:

Female Thor cosplay tutorial by Anna Lee/Glitzy Geek Girl
More Thor crafts on GeekCrafts
More cosplay projects on GeekCrafts

Category: Comics, Craft, Geek, Girly | 3 Comments

November 10

Thor: The Dark World, and the Amigurumi

Ohhhh my gosh, you guys. I just saw “Thor: The Dark World.” I’m not even going to bother fully reviewing it – there are plenty of reviews out there to fill that need for you. Besides, from the reviews I read, they’re just not that encouraging. I actually really enjoyed the movie, as did my comic-book-geek husband. The visual effects were stunning, almost too much to absorb. There were solid elements of humor, and Loki got even more time to shine. The battle scenes were epic – I actually had chills the entire last 20 minutes, waiting to see what happened next. When it was done, it took me a few minutes to catch my breath – I felt like I’d just been on a roller coaster! What a ride!

So take any quasi-negative reviews with a grain of salt – if you’re looking for a comic book movie with great effects, and just want to be entertained, you won’t be disappointed.

P.S. We saw it in IMAX 3D – totally worth it. Gorgeous.

P.P.S. There are TWO bits to stay after for. One after the visual cast credits, then another one after all the behind-the-scenes names scroll past. Stay for both.

Now, to make this crafty, how about some Thor crafts?

Jess Newstone has an adorable amigurumi pattern for a Thor, complete with Mjollnir (see below). She also has a Loki pattern. Be sure to check out the rest of her Tumblr; I love the concept. She puts her “pocket Loki” doll in all sorts of fun scenarios and photographs it . Fun and adorable.

Thor crochet amigurumi — © secretlyginger

Nikki Olida/Golden Jellybean has created a doll with a different look: a Thor Sackdoll (see below). Check out her video description, and the pattern in her Etsy shop.

Thor sackboy by Nikki Olida — © Nikki Olida

And finally, Dedfa has created a fun crochet Thor helmet (see below).

Feel free to share your thoughts on the movie in the comments section below!

Links of Interest:

Thor amigurumi pattern on Over the Bifrost
Loki amigurumi pattern on Over the Bifrost
Thor sackboy pattern on Etsy
Crochet Thor helmet on Bats in My Belfrey
My previous post on Crafting Valhalla (viking crafts galore!)
More Thor crafts on GeekCrafts

Category: Comics, Craft, Geek, Movies, Toys | Comments Off

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.

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.

Category: Comics, Craft, Geek, Science | Comments Off

June 6

Avengers Amigurumi

Last week, I decided to crochet my way through the Avengers. By combining two different Cthulhu patterns and nixing the tentacles, I managed to get the look I wanted. I made Black Widow, The Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and Hawkeye. Hawkeye was the most difficult to recreate since, in the film, he wears mostly black which makes him a bit more difficult to place than, say, Captain America. Still, I added a little bow to give a heavy hint as to his identity. The Hulk’s my personal favorite. I just love his angry eyebrows.

Category: Comics, Craft, Geek, Movies | 4 Comments

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