Make Your Own Music with ToneMatrix

I am blown away by Andre Michelle’s awesome visual music synthesizer, an instant d-i-y way for anybody to make charming syncopated Steve Reich-ish music that repeats endlessly. The more boxes you touch with your cursor, the more complex the tune becomes. If you get tired of a tune, continue to build it, listening as it…

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sewing advice for beginners

I have a lot of sewing projects I’d like to do – making pillow covers our of sari fabric, aprons out of gorgeous linen, for example –  but didn’t know where to begin. So I asked my friend Lydia, who is the absolute best and most gifted textile person I know.  (She’s masterminding some projects…

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cool on-demand paint color matchers

ColorCapture Ben, a new iPhone and iPod Touch application, allows users to zoom into a particular color in a picture on their device, tap the “match” key, and see a display of paints closest to the color, along with a range of lighter and darker shades. (The app, created by Benjamin Moore,  will reference its…

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diy: words on walls

I am a big fan of writing signs on walls, either as decoration or reminder, or both. Using colored masking tape is one nice impermanent, easily change-able way. Painting words means more work and more permanence, but is wonderful looking. It’s pretty straightforward to do:  Make a form for each letter with masking tape and…

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Chicken Under a Rock or a Brick

I use rocks a lot in my kitchen. I haul particularly good ones home when I find them at the beach or in the country knowing that, at the very least, I’ll enjoy looking at them and for sure, at some point, they’ll present an impromptu solution to something I’ve set my mind on. For…

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architecture of the poor

What would you do if you had to make a home with whatever you found around you? What would it look like? You can often find the answer by looking at the constructions of homeless people, who take “live locally” to its root level, repurposing the detritus of their community.  Or take a look at…

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