This jewelry made from reclaimed gun parts is a beautiful conversation piece. The intention of the GUN Reclamation Project is a statement about non-violence and transforming weapons into peaceful wearable art. I wonder if people who use and enjoy guns will want to wear them as well?

[via ecouterre]

More:

• Gunfight Cross Stitch
• Gun Purse
• Papercraft AK-47

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

Felt Me a Smile by Toyoko Sugiwaka

It’s impossible to open up Felt Me a Smile by Toyoko Sugiwaka and not smile. I dare you to try it. With pages upon pages of some of the cutest felted animals, you’ll enjoy the art of felting while making these adorable toys, ornaments, home decor accents, and more. How cute is the cover project of the hanging Bird Tent? This felting book is great because it covers both the technique of wet felting as well as needle felting. I enjoy doing both but as a beginner I find it hard to come up with ideas on what to felt. This book gives it all to you including step-by-step photos and templates to complete each project and includes lots of tips for beginners.

I love the photo spreads in the book. I could just flip through each page and soak in all the pretty pictures.

See more photos and enter the giveaway after the jump!

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

Delicate embellishments are a classic way to spruce up just about anything. I remember having tiny pink ribbon roses on my favorite pinafore when I was young, and the dainty trend is retuning in a big way.

Materials:
Wide wired ribbon, about 1′
Thin ribbon, about 2′
Large eye needle

Thread a large eye needle with the narrow ribbon. Don’t knot it, just hold it in the needle with your fingers. Then run the whipstitch through a larger ribbon with a wired edge. Don’t worry about making a good even stitch, un-even and crooked whipstitching will make an interesting flower too. Then scrunch the wide ribbon down into a rose. To hold it all together, tightly knot the thin ribbon on the back side of the rosette. Beyond easy.

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

If you’re an argyle fan like me, you’ll love this argyle applique t-shirt tutorial from A Hoot and a Holler. Using scrap knit material from cut-up t-shirts and a little Heat ‘n Bond, she creates a fantastic argyle pattern on a long-sleeved t-shirt. I love it! [via Grosgrain]

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

Congratulations to Becky from Pittsboro, NC, Elsa from Portland, OR, and Enid from New York, NY for each winning a copy of Mason-Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne from our recent giveaway. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

This bird’s nest project from Tali of Growing Up Creative is an awesome twist on a paper mache process. I love that it incorporates recycled and natural materials. Best of all, it promises to be messy (and worth it!).

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

I’m swooning over these awesome postcard gardens from PostCarden. They arrive ready to open, plant and grow and come in three distinct styles (allotment, city or botanical). The stop-motion video shows the entire process, and you can see pictures of each PostCarden on their web site gallery. [via Benevolent Postcard Society]

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

For the past few weeks I have been covering preparations for the Fairytale Fashion Show at Eyebeam on CRAFT and Make: Online. The Fairytale Fashion Collection uses technology to create magical clothing in real life. Electronics, mechanical engineering, and mathematics come together to create clothing that changes colors and transforms shapes. Research and development for the collection are shared in an educational resource online at FairytaleFashion.org.

Here’s the official Fairytale Fashion Show video:

The outfits in the show used four different technologies, electroluminescent (EL) wire with a custom built driver, deployable structures, Twinkle Pad, and inflation. Some of the outfits will be sold later this month at my site,DianaEng.com.

Here is a look at the collection and some behind the scenes shots of how the garments were made.

1. EL Wire Dress: Aqua silk chiffon organically draped dress edged with electroluminescent wire controlled by an accelerometer. Circuit boards are housed in a custom 3-D printed neck piece. All of the EL wire garments were inspired by the movement and look of sea creatures like the jellyfish.

2. Deployable Hoodie: Red wool silk hoodie with Miura Ori structure pleat pattern to help the hood collapse small and open big.

3. Twinkle Dress and Twinkle Cardigan: LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection. Twinkle Cardigan’s removable black wool melton shoulder patches overlay a washable cotton sweater. Twinkle Dress’s removable gray silk chiffon twinkle pad circuit overlays washable black cotton dress. I have been working hardest to make Twinkle Dress available for purchase. I want it to be a sophisticated sparkling party dress.

4. Cameo EL Shirt: Peach silk organza edged with electroluminescent wire controlled by an accelerometer. Circuit boards are housed in a custom 3-D printed Cameo.

5. Twinkle Skirt and Deployable Scarf: LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection. Wool felt deployable scarf is created with the Miura Ori pleat pattern.

6. Origami Jacket: Lavender cotton canvas jacket with origami pleated sleeves inspired by the Miura Ori pleat pattern.

7. Inflatable Dress: Inspired by time lapse videos of blooming flowers and emerging insect wings, I used inflation to create a growing transformation.

8. EL Wire Coat: White silk organza illuminated by EL wire patterns beneath which are controlled by an accelerometer.

9. Dream Dress:I wanted to create a finale for the show that captures a moment of fairytale like magic.

Photographs by Rick Louis and Doug Eng.

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

Our own Katie Wilson spotted Laurent Milon’s magnetic rings over on her blog, Teagan Tall. Simply stunning!

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here

Over at Make: Online a great discussion is taking place about OK Go’s Rube-Goldberg machine video. Four of the makers involved in the machine’s creation are at their keyboards, answering reader questions. Head on over and ask yours! The photo above is by Sara Ross-Samko.

Read this article | Comment on this article

More: continued here