d-i-y
Since hauling several huge hunks of fallen trees home after Hurricane Sandy, we’ve been attuned to interesting ways of transforming them. We especially love Italian designer Marco Stefanelli‘s idea of illuminating the splits and cracks in the wood with LEDs (he embeds them in resin), and the thinking behind creating his wonderful luminous stools and tables:
I wanted to take inspiration from the research of natural objects that, in some ways, have reached their final step in the life cycle. They are for example sawmill’s outlets, pieces of urban architecture, logs carried by the river, firewood…
I have tried to give these pieces a second chance, tempting to make the light come out from the material and to amplify the sensorial experience. read more…
03.05.13 |
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in d-i-y, furniture, lighting, reimagine |
Looking through to the “bones” of this hutch by Amy Somerville London Ltd, we realize that is not that extraordinary. Its greatness lies in the clever surface pattern: blocks of color and what appears to be gold or silver leaf. Somerville’s website told the story ”satin-finished ebonised walnut…detailed in high-gloss red and green lacquer, white gold leaf and patinated brass…bespoke handles and solid brass hinges with a patinated finish.”
Ikea’s pine Hemnes wardrobe, already stained a dark black brown, might make a good base in which to color block high gloss paint (use oil-base for serious gloss; water-base can’t achieve it). But what about metal leaf? read more…
02.20.13 |
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in cheap + great, d-i-y, furniture, how-to, inside, materials, resources, resources blogs + sites |
Spotted in a the cube room, a concept room created by designer Fabian Gatermann for a design hostel in Cologne, Germany: a fab shipping pallet bed painted like one of Piet Mondrian‘s famous “Compositions” from 20′s and 30′s.
On close inspection, it appears that the bed was made to LOOK like it was made of pallets; it seems a bit too perfectly made, its wood a bit too smooth to be from real pallets.
Nevertheless, pallets provide great inspiration, and clever use of paint can take pallet furniture to a new level… read more…
02.19.13 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, diy, furniture, inside, materials, resources, sleeping |
john wellington
Our friend John Wellington is an artist whose controversial work has been called “classical, claustrophobic, fetishistic, beautiful, vulgar, architectural, humorous, morbid, decorative, and sexual.” He renders deeply personal imagery using Old Master techniques in unique ways and teaches his methods at the New York Academy of Art where he is an Adjunct Professor, and at his Manhattan studio.
For more than thirty years John created, copied, ruminated, lamented, critiqued, elucidated, explored and most importantly, drawn in sketchbooks. Recently, he created IDOLS DEMONS SAINTS, an iBook for iPads based on his sketchbooks. It is a kind of visual journal and art manual that offers insight into John’s creative process and the complex Old Master techniques he uses, from sketch to finished work.
IDOLS DEMONS SAINTS interests us for many reasons. First, we’ve learned a great deal from being able to see John’s process of painting; even though we are not painters, understanding his thinking helps us in our own work. The first page of the sketchbook, for example, lists principles useful in any creative endeavor.
Second, read more…
02.18.13 |
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in art, d-i-y, how-to, paths + processes, people, quotes, resources, resources blogs + sites, tools |
We are smitten with Lawrence E. Pierce‘s The Art of Fixing Things, principles of machines, and how to repair them: 150 tips and tricks to make things last longer, and save you money.
The title and its very long blurb are not quite accurate however. The book is also a manual about MAKING things, tinkering, and the realities of the creative process. Beyond really smart, practical, concrete tips about restoring a stripped bolt, the virtues of aluminum, and how to keep paint from dripping down the can, Pierce, who has been a farmer, mechanic, handyman and litigation lawyer, also addresses mindset and process. Take Tip 68, for example:
Tip 68: Practice Breaking Things
When a difficult problem arises, set up a test on a similar part.
Let your destructive instincts run wild with spare parts. Then you will know how far you can go. read more…
02.15.13 |
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in d-i-y, diy, how-to, learn, quotes, resources, resources books + zines, rules for living, solutions, tools |
We often take ideas from products that already exist, using a kind of x-ray vision to suss their inner workings and determine if we could make them ourselves. Danish company we do wood’s Scoreboarde, a graphic multifunctional rack for hanging coats and other things appears to be little more than hardwood boards with grids of holes bored into them at an angle; they accomodate wooden pegs whose tips are cut at an angle and painted, and which can bi configured in many ways. Do-able we’d say.
We like that they can be hung vertically or horizontally, or grouped…lots of possibilities. As is often the case, the product’s specs offer a recipe with which to riff:
- Material: Bamboo or Ash
- Colours: Black edging on board, pins in white, pink, green, light blue, dark blue
- Dimensions: Vertical Scoreboard: L100xW18, Horizontal Scoreboard: L18xW10, Small Scoreboard: L36xW17 read more…
02.14.13 |
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in d-i-y, furniture |
We love the possibilities inherent in the great valentine DIY we found at Mineco Co UK, made of woven paper. All you need is an exactto knife and straight edge and some nice paper. Mineco’s site tells how-to, but there’s lots of room for improvising (were thinking cut up photographs, magazines, ribbon…)
read more…
02.13.13 |
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in celebrations, copy this!, d-i-y, family + friends, gifts, how-to, materials, strategies |
oldworldgrange.tumblr.com
Of the many inspired DIY ideas to be found in the rustic Sunset House we posted previously is a beautiful and rather startling floor made of wood “bricks”. We’d never thought of simply cutting the ends off wood planks to make wood bricks. Industrious owners Lilah and Nick made a pattern of the wood bricks, end-cuts-up, above, and then grouted it with cement, which makes some bricks darker, while others take on a muted silvery sheen. read more…
02.12.13 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, diy, dream houses, floors, outside, reclaim, resources |
Over our many years of traveling to West Virginia, we’ve admired a number of eccentric, cozy dwellings, including a school bus with a giant stone hearth built onto it, nestled by a river. But this shack we spotted at Cabin Porn incites serious envy.
A couple named Lilah and Nick built the Sunset House using lumber from a barn on their property which was cut and milled from the land by the previous owner many years ago. All the windows are reclaimed from junkyards over their history of thrifting together. read more…
02.12.13 |
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in before + after, cheap + great, cool spaces, d-i-y, diy, dream houses, materials, outside, reclaim |
We found this today on the strange, great, illuminating Daily Fluxus Do It Yourself Instructions:
Instructions:
1. Identify the happiest feeling of the day.
2. Put it in a jar.
3. Switch it if something happier happens.
…
We’re wondering if this happiness jar would work in a similar way as jars full of air captured in a special place we posted about some time ago: when we look at them, we know that there is a bit of that place in there, along with good memories.
Can we activate happiness with this iteration from Fluxus?
What else could we store in a jar to remind us of what we need to remember?
via Daily Fluxus Do It Yourself Instructions
Related posts: a jar of air + memory
3 powerful principles for remembering + learning anything
stealing and tailoring ideas
quilts as memory-keepers
digital memory archive (photograph stuff then give it away)
02.12.13 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, diy, gifts, resources, tools |
justin beal
Autoprogettazione, roughly translated “self design,” was a project and book by the modernist artist and designer Enzo Mari that gives instructions for building easy-to-assemble furniture — tables, chairs, bookshelves, wardrobe – using rough boards and nails. Originally published in 1974, it has been reprinted many times. Mari created the project because he thought
…if people were encouraged to build a table with their own hands…they would be able to understand the thinking behind it.
And if they understand the thinking behind it, just imagine what they could do…
Just leafing through Autoprogettazione makes us feel empowered to pick up a hammer. And we can’t help but think the rough boards Mari envisioned his readers using resemble – indeed could be culled from — the wood from shipping pallets.
Taking Mari’s basic approach and inspiration, many artist’s and designers have made their own iterations. We love Justin Beal‘s bed with a fab hot pink mattress, above. And we WANT Kueng Caputo’s Lampada lamp: read more…
02.07.13 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, furniture, gifts, people, resources books + zines |
photo © melissa catanese,
We stumbled on some compelling photo placemats done as a public art project for Atlanta Celebrates Photography: photos printed onto large size paper, perfect IF you have a big color printer. The standard size of a placemat is 12″ x 18″, bigger we can print, although we suppose, we could have them done at Kinko’s.
The photo placemats got us mulling what we have around besides our roll of kraft paper for making some impromptu placemats. Our 11″ x 14″ pad of Strathmore Drawing Paper 
makes for nice big sheets with a ruffled edges where they were pulled off the spiral spine, and white space that invites a drawing, collage, quote or…
read more…
02.04.13 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, diy, elements, food, inside, materials, resources, strategies |
