Build Yourself a Sparkleball!

Got a few leftover plastic cups, a string of Christmas lights and some patience?

Make a Sparkleball!

Here's how, courtesy of sparkleball.com.

So sayeth the mysteriously unnamed creator of the Sparkleball site:

"I finally taught myself how to make Sparkleballs and now have made dozens. I've had Sparkleball-Making Parties. I made Sparkleballs for a bar in San Diego. Friends say I should start a business or charge for the instructions.

But every Christmas when I hang up my original Sparkleball and plug it in, I'm reminded of that dark Texas night and how it's those little detours we take in life that give us the most joy. And I reaffirm the fact that if I, an egghead serious negativizer, can get this much pleasure from something so simple, maybe I need to give it away. This website lets me do that.

Just call me the Missionary of Sparkleballs."

Oooh ooh! Me first!: "You are the Missionary of Sparkleballs!"

Wonderful! Saw it on notcot.

D.I.Y. Vacuum Tubes

This amazingly talented craftsman makes his own vacuum tubes by hand.

Fabrication d'une lampe triode
by F2FO

(also from the wonderful boingboing.)

Bio-Bling!

Morning All,

SuperForester Severine said this great thing the other day that we must share with you.

The thing she said:

"Dirt is the new bling. Dirt under your fingernails is the new gold on your neck. Bio-bling."

"Damn." we thought "That's awesome."

And how right she is. Buying some jewelry is out, making your own jewelry/cheese/beer/shoes/everything is in.

Bio-bling y'all. You heard it here first.

Special thanks to the incandescent SuperForester Sev.

Love,

Team SuperForest

Make Your Own Vacuum Former

Saw this on youtube via Make Magazine.

D.I.Y. vacuum former! Make your own everything.

Kevin Kelly: Homemade Trucks!

These incredible handmade trucks (and tractor) are over at kk.org

D.I.Y. Paper Wind Turbine

Marble Mad over at youtube has posted a film of a paper wind turbine. (in 3-D no less!)



The best part is that he also provided a free download so you can make your own!

Free Paper Wind Turbine Kit

Minty.

We were just on the Clockwork Robot website and ordered a very cool walking paper horse kit.

Check it out:



Only twenty smackers.

It feels good to support artist worldwide by buying their wares.

Robots and Octopi!

Over at Etsy, a maker by the name of "societysedso" is selling some seriously cute robots and octopi. Octopusses? Octopians.

Check 'em out:







Nicey nice nice!
We wantee.



If you've not yet checked out Etsy and their incredible collection of hand-made things, why not do so this very day?


Love to all,

Team SF

Mongolian Felt Making!

Good Afternoon All!

Wow, we've become obsessed with felt!

Having written about Stephanie Metz spurred us to inquire more, and that led us to the wealth of info online about felt and how one makes it.

Here's our fave so far:



Gorgeous.

Mast Brothers Chocolate

Rick and Michael Mast are two lovely NY hipster-types who happen to produce really scrummy chocolate from their factory in Brooklyn. Believe me when I say, it's really good chocolate. Take a look:




I know pictures can only go so far in conveying a sense of deliciousness, but I've had a taste, and I want more.




Here's their website: Mast Brothers Chocolate

And their Myspace profile.



So, if you happen to find yourself in Brooklyn, treat your sweet self to a few bars of delicious Mast Brothers chocolate.

Scrum-tums.


Love to all,

Team SF

p.s. And just for fun, here's Willy Wonka in 5 seconds.

Tom Sachs' NASA Video!!!!!!!

Good Morning!

Firstly, yes this post deserves seven exclamation points!
This is so exciting!

Who is Tom Sachs? What does he have to do with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration?

Tom Sachs is a New York artist who combines parody, genuine adoration, and a D.I.Y. ethic into his art, which consists primarily of sculptures and videos. He has zero to do with NASA.

Looky here! It's all mostly foamcore!






The wonderful thing about Tom Sachs' work is that while non-functioning, (i.e. you ain't going to the moon in the Lunar Lander,) the pieces are extraordinarily functional. By that we mean: if you were one of the lucky folks who went to the show at Gagosian in L.A. you were encouraged to climb the ladder into the lander and there hang out, warm yourself with strong drink, listen to music, and play a custom rigged Playstation. Even the Lander's toilet worked. Mr. Sachs and his team built everything from scratch. The spacesuits, the lander, Mission Control... everything.

We here at SuperForest are incredibly inspired and awed by Mr. Sachs, so it was a special surprise to hear (from SuperForester Andrew) that he'd gone and put the video he made for his last exhibition up on youtube!



So, without further ado, we proudly present Tom Sachs: A Film About the Space Program.
(We must warn you, there is Blue Language involved, so talk to your kids about the proper time and place for profanity if you let them see this. But by all means, let them see this.)

A Film About the Space Program - 2008
(In two parts)





Ahhhhhhh. Safe back on Earth.


Happy Monday,


Team SF


Special thanks to keen eyed SuperForester Andrew for alerting us to this.

Simple's D.I.Y. Shoes!

Hello All,

I just wandered over to the Simple shoes site, as it is nearly Spring and I'm thinking about a new pair of Springtime kicks.

Imagine my glee upon clicking the collaboration link on the site and finding that Simple is offering a cool D.I.Y. eco-sneaker kit!

"We're proud to offer the experience of Stitch-It, the do-it-yourself shoe, and Overdue, the do-it-yourself bag! The Stitch-It and Overdue come with all you need to get started including step-by-step instructions and an invisible motivational shoe elf."

Motivational shoe elf? Could three words sound sweeter together?

And the best part? The amazing video that shows you exactly how to put your shoe together. (Set to some seriously minty ragtime, I might add.)











I wish they would let me embed it instead of just screengrabs, but you get the idea.

Now, to be frank, for 65 smackers (plus S&H), I usually prefer my kicks to come pret a porter (ready to wear) but I notice that all of the ingredients that go into the shoe are smart and sustainable, plus Simple is a great company that has repeatedly shown it's devotion to creating a better and smarter environment, so I'll just suck it up.

Now to find 65 smackers...

Need some Spring kicks for your kickers? Get 'em off Simple.

SuperForest Assignment 2

Hello All!

Okay, perhaps we were overreaching on SF Assignment 1, (create an ad for a fictional solar company), so to atone, we present Assignment 2!

Ready for this?

Make something. Anything.

Take a picture of it.

Send it to: SuperForestNYC@gmail.com with a brief explanation of how it was made.

That's it!


Love to all,

SFNYC

Turn a Candle Into a Radiator!

Are you cold? Great little link here that shows you how to turn an ordinary candle and flowerpot into a very energy efficient space heater.

SuperSmart!

Check out heatstick.com

They've got three cool projects up: a candle heater (that could also be powered by a 60 watt halogen bulb,) a year-round insulated greenhouse, and a passive solar water heater.

Looky here:











All of these items are for sale on the site, but the D.I.Y. spirit is plainly visible, and the pictures practically beg you to make your own versions.

Love to all,

-J

I Make: Laptop Case

Hello All,

I've been doing a lot of looking at D.I.Y. laptop cases on the ol' truth box, and it got me to thinking. So, last night, I grabbed an armload of studio trash, a roll of duct tape, a pen, an exacto, some scissors, and an Emergen-C, and set down to make my own laptop case.

Here's what I did:

First, I got some cardboard, which we've got a lot of. Then some thin type bubble wrap, not the kind with big bubbles, but nice and squashy just the same. A plastic bag for waterproofing and I was all set.

Here are my materials:


I lay the laptop out onto a doubled over length of bubble wrap and traced the outline, leaving room for the edges to fold up. Then I taped along the top and up one side. Then I used small tabs of tape to adjust the fit around the laptop, because if the sleeve was too tight, it would be frustrating to get in and out. Looked like this:


Then I just worked for a while and forgot to take pictures, but all I did was repeat the process with the cardboard. I taped an extra piece onto the top to serve as a flap, and that's what you see here:






Here I've taken the inner sleeve of bubble wrap out of the cardboard case and cut a plastic bag to size around it to serve as waterproofing. You can see it sticking out the top. I left it long so that I could fold it over for further protection.


I put a bit more tape on to protect against wear and tear and 'cause it looks nice, but I didn't cover up all the cardboard. That's because I wanted people to see that it was cardboard and duct tape. There is magic in simple things, and more magic still in what your hands can do with them. I also found a nice bit of velcro in the studio closet, and because it kept peeling off the case (strong stuff, velcro) I taped it down around the edges. Works great!


Here's the inner sleeve, all nice and waterproofed, next to the outer sleeve, and my Emergen-C.


Here it is all done. It took me three hours, start to finish, mostly because I didn't follow any directions. I just kept fiddling until it was done. Like Nero.


The best part about this laptop case, besides being cool, sleek, and hand-made, is that it kept a bunch of stuff out of a trash pile, AND I got a custom laptop case. All it cost me was time and a third of a roll of tape.
No logos, no worries.

You'll notice that these "instructions" are a little vague and maybe not all that useful. That's because I want you to see this and think: "I can do even better!"

And I want you to do better. Then I want you to take a picture of the better thing you've done and send it in to: Superforestnyc@gmail.com. Then I can put it up on the site so we can all admire you, you smart little duckling.

Then I want you to eat a nice piece of fruit or something, because maybe your blood sugar is a little low after all that makin'!

Have a wonderful and fruitful weekend.


Love to all,

Jackson



p.s. Be excellent to each other. Make each other laptop cases.