Swedish designer Hedvig af Ekenstam makes soft decorative radiators from heating cables; I love the patterns, and her name! [via Fashioning Technology]

Michelle Khine's lab at UC Irvine couldn't afford the $100K equipment to make microfluidic chips, a sheet of material with tiny channels used for certain diagnostic tests, so she made her own with Shrinky Dinks. From the MIT Technology Review:

Racking her brain for a quick-and-dirty way to make microfluidic devices, Khine remembered her favorite childhood toy: Shrinky Dinks, large sheets of thin plastic that can be colored with paint or ink and then shrunk in a hot oven. "I thought if I could print out the [designs] at a certain resolution and then make them shrink, I could make channels the right size for micro­fluidics," she says.

To test her idea, she whipped up a channel design in AutoCAD, printed it out on Shrinky Dink material using a laser printer, and stuck the result in a toaster oven. As the plastic shrank, the ink particles on its surface clumped together, forming tiny ridges. That was exactly the effect Khine wanted. When she poured a flexible polymer known as PDMS onto the surface of the cooled Shrinky Dink, the ink ridges created tiny channels in the surface of the polymer as it hardened. She pulled the PDMS away from the Shrinky Dink mold, and voilà: a finished microfluidic device that cost less than a fast-food meal.

[via BoingBoing]

Who is eating all these pancakes?! PT @ MAKE writes:

Wow! This robot sorts over 400 pancakes per minute. Right around 1:15 it gets amazing, it seems like it's sped up, but they need to slow it down in the video to show it off!

Computer vision, robots, and pancakes; I don't think this morning could get any better.

You can convert any bag into a solar charger for your gadgets, via ReadyMade.

I'm proud to announce the opening of Open Source Embroidery, an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art on October 2. It's a great show with lots of crafts intersecting technology, including my LilyPad Embroidery piece. The show has traveled all the way from Sweden and looks truly fabulous. You can check out pictures of what the exhibition looked like at the Bildmuseet in Umeå, or stop by in person when the show opens in SF; I highly recommend it!

Open Source Embroidery

October 2, 2009 through January 24, 2010
Museum of Craft and Folk Art
51 Yerba Buena Lane
San Francisco, CA 94103
(@ Mission between Third & Fourth)

More:

LilyPad Arduino Embroidery

Talk about extreme craft! This gorgeous textile is an 11-foot-long weaving made from spider silk, specifically the golden orb spider of Madagascar. The story of how it was made is fascinating and well worth reading (a few tidbits: the saffron color is the undyed color of the spider silk, the threads have five times the strength of steel by weight, and it took more than one million spiders to make the cloth). The weaving will be on display in the American Museum of Natural History for the next six months, so if you're on the east coast, you should go look! Check out the New York Times article for more details on the history of humans using spider silk and how this particular piece was made. It's an amazing account that lives at the intersection of tradition and technology, science and art, craft and craziness.

If you have a question for Ask CRAFT, shoot me an email at becky@craftzine.com, or drop us a note on Twitter! We'd love to answer your crafty questions on any topic: technique, projects, crafty culture, or anything else! Each week the answers are here; include your name, where you're from, and your website or blog if you have one!

Many of you write us with problems downloading our PDF patterns. We realize this can be very frustrating, and we're here to help!

So, you see a cool pattern and you want it for your very own. So you click the "download PDF pattern" link, but something goes wrong. We've heard it all, from "nothing happens," to "the download fails," to "I can't find where it put the file." Never fear. Here's the sure-fire method for getting those pretty patterns in front of your eyeballs:

• Right-click (or control-click on a Mac if you've only got one button) on the link.
• Select "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." or "Save As..." (will depend on what browser you're using).
• A dialog box will show up to ask you where on your computer to save the file. Pick a place, any place, and click "Save."
• The file will download, but may or may not automatically open when complete, depending on your browser settings. If if doesn't open by it self, go find it where you saved it to, and double click it to open it in your PDF viewer.

You're going to make sure you have a PDF viewer installed on your computer in order to open the pattern. These days, they all come with something capable of opening PDFs, possibly Acrobat Reader (which is free if you don't have it already).

A note on browsers: We know from our analytics software that most of you use Firefox already, but there's still a large portion of you using something else. We highly recommend downloading (free, open source, safe, totally rad) Firefox and using it to browse Craftzine. It handles downloads gracefully, so you can click click click to your hearts content without worrying about a stalled download or failed file launch.

We hope this helps you enjoy our free pattern podcasts!

What do you do to view our patterns? And what browser/PDF viewer configuration are you using? Share with us in the comments!

Here's a way to let your inner geek shine: affix a mirror to the label portion of one of those old floppy disks you've got hanging around, and never again ask "is there something in my teeth?" Via EMSL.

Hilary Grant and Stefan Agamanolis have been developing conversational patterns into knitwear for their project, "Social Knitworking" at the distance lab in Scotland. I can't wait to see how the project develps! Via Fashioning Technology.

This fascinating Lego yarn ball winder works its magic in Portland's Twisted yarn shop. Twisted owners, Shannon and Emily, share how the Lego yarn ball winder came to be.

The ball winder was born out of boredom and concern. A good friend of Emily's is an out-of-work engineer, and he was in the shop, visiting us one day. We were winding a ball of yarn for a customer the old-fashioned way, and he was appalled - why were we expending so much energy to wind a ball of yarn!? So, he took an old winder home with him, and a month or so later, came into the shop with Mr. Roboto, version 1.0. We have since had an upgrade, and we absolutely love it!

He sent some technical info about the ball winder:

The Lego apparatus serves to electrically crank a Royal brand manual winder. Two 9V Lego motors, fed by an AC/DC power supply, drive the crank. On/Off and winding speed are controlled through a power button and potentiometer housed in an electronics project box. The entire assembly is mounted to an acrylic cutting board via zip-ties.

Our customers, as you can imagine, absolutely love it.

Love it, indeed! I can't wait to get back up to Portland and visit Twisted to see it in action! Thanks, Lee!

Related:
Lego Yarn Ball Winder

Earth Brooch Silver is a piece of jewelry made from a custom-selected piece of topography, 3D printed in wax and then cast in silver. Via Core77.

This week's Weekend Project on MAKE is this funky-cool electric cigar box guitar. Most of the construction is very crafty, and there's only a little soldering involved! You could always make it just acoustic, too. Check out the video and PDF instructions.

Last week I reviewed a new primer for design, Digital Textile Design, written by Melanie Bowles and Ceri Isaac (Laurence King Publishers). This week we have an excerpt to share: a tutorial on making custom plaid. Plaid is on everything in fashion right now. It's the print that unites grunge rock and school girls. And depending on the colors and line weights, it can be as unique as a thumbprint. Any crafter can learn to use Adobe Illustrator, and, with Bowles and Isaac's tutorial, create their own personal version of the classic and versatile printed plaid. The instructions for building the print are simple, and include images of the tools directly from the program.

Download the PDF to start working on a plaid. If you create one, share it in the CRAFT Flickr pool! And please visit Melanie Bowles' new blog, makeitdigital.

One of my favorite soft circuit mavens, Hannah Perner-Wilson, has teamed up with Mika Satomi to bring you a new site called How to Get What You Want, a container site for all the totally rad projects they've been cranking out recently. Bookmark their site for your reference, I know I just did. I love that the graphic is made up of a bunch of soft circuit techniques. Via Fashioning Technology.

More soft circuits and fashion tech on CRAFT:

• Soft Circuits Archives
  
• Fashion Tech Archives
  

Gareth @ MAKE points us to an awesome new resource for soft circuits and other electronic wearables called Open Softwear, produced by folks associated with K3, the Malmö University School of Arts and Communication in Sweden. I'm digging the simple illustrations and easy-to-follow examples. Downlowd the free PDF to get started.

More:

• CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino 101
  
• CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino Bike Patch
  
• TV-B-Gone Hoodie and Zipper Switch
  
• Electronic Embroidery/Sewing Kit

In the Maker Shed:

Lilypad E-Sewing Kit

Japanese artists' Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi have created an "esoteric" programming language called Pa++ern that translates input from visitors to their exhibit or from virtual visitors through Twitter and turns them in to graphics that can be embroidered on t-shirts.

Visitors to the gallery enjoy the movement and sounds of this highly used but rarely seen machines and can choose to operate them or witness how they are controlled by virtual visitors using twitter to send their Pa++ern program; an esoteric experience in itself.

Their Pa++ern program will be on display at the Beams Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.

[ via Today and Tomorrow ]

I'm so in love with this circuit board latch hook rug from Red Tarts, I'm not sure what more to say other than ... wow.

iPhone-owning Little Big Planet fans rejoice, this felt Earth wallpaper is for you. Via BBG.

Nice story about the Open Source Embroidery exhibition and movement over on Wired.com:

The movement brings together knitters, embroiderers and quilters who see parallels between the way they create their crafts and how open source software creators share their ideas. At the BildMuseet (art museum) at Umeå University in Sweden, an exhibition — also called Open Source Embroidery — showcases artworks that use embroidery and code as a tool for participatory production and distribution.

“The idea of collaboration has been made cool by open source software,” says Carpenter, the curator of the exhibition. “But artists have been working like this for a long time.”

Even the differences between needlework crafts and open source software are alike, she says. Embroidery is largely dominated by women, while software is created mostly by men, she says. In embroidery, tiny stitches come together to create a pattern visible on the front of the fabric, while its system is revealed on the back. It’s similar to how software is created.

The arguments about open source vs. free software can also be applied to embroidery, says Carpenter, where artists struggle with questions around borrowing and modifying patterns. “The Open Source Embroidery project simply attempts to provide a social and practical way of discussing these issues and trying out the practice,” says Carpenter.

There's also a nice shoutout to MAKE and CRAFT in the article, too!

From The New Yorker site:

"I got a phone in the beginning of February, and I immediately got the program so I could entertain myself," says Colombo, who first published his drawings in The New Yorker in 1994. Colombo has been drawing since he was seven, but he discovered an advantage of digital drawing on a nighttime drive to Vermont. "Before, unless I had a flashlight or a miner's hat, I could not draw in the dark." (When the sun is up, it's a bit harder, "because of the glare on the phone," he says.) It also allows him to draw without being noticed; most pedestrians assume he's checking his e-mail.

Watch this video below to see how he composed the cover.

[ via iPhone J.D. ]

NYU ITPer José Olivares presents his thesis project, Ancient Pixels, which crosses traditional Andean textile art with low-resolution gaming graphics. Via BB Offworld.

Brookelynn Morris is one crafter who is as diverse in her crafts as she is prolific. From fiber to mosaic to floral arrangements and smart crafting, you never know what amazingness will sprout from her creative mind. Brookelynn has contributed projects to 9 out of the 10 volumes of CRAFT, and a look at her author page gives a window into the wide range of her talents. Here is just a sampling from the pages of CRAFT before we check in with Brookelynn. From the tasty felted fruit that graced the cover of CRAFT Volume 02, she diversified to Custom Seat Covers in Volume 04:

From the simplicity of marzipan cake decorations in Volume 05, she switched gears to represented for the smart crafting movement with her LED Hula Hoop project in Volume 06:

Brookelynn taught us the folk art of making your own herbal, medicinal tinctures in Volume 07, and gave us a window into the ancient art of Bonsai in Volume 08:

What has Brookelynn been up to lately? Here's what she shared with us:

"The biggest thing that I have been working on lately is the upcoming release of my first book, Feltique. It's packed with projects that use needle felting, wet felting, commercial felt, and fulled felt. The entire process has been amazing, and I am really excited."

"I met some new friends who taught me how to spin with a drop spindle. They showed me an amazing technique where you ply the yarn as you spin it. Mind blowing, but simple. Spinning is addictive!

I've also been planting my garden, and working on projects that really capture the woodland vibe. I made a forest faux cake for my springtime table."

"Because temps are warming up, but I still live near the chilly Nor Cal coast, I've been working on light scarves. My favorite one is a scarflet of lightweight ruffles from a thrifted wool pancho. It looks like an Elizabethan collar."

"I love riding mountainboards, and springtime means time to ride. A mountainboard is basically a giant skateboard, with inflatable tires and mounts to strap your feet in. It's perfect for dirt roads, and I try to hit the trails at least two or three times a week."

Hot! Thanks, Brookelynn!

Brookelynn has already contributed some great content to Craftzine (my favorite being her gorgeous Ikebana tutorial) and starting this upcoming Monday, May 18th, she is going to be our guest blogger for the week, bringing us fresh content every day. Stay tuned!

Brookelynn will be also be co-hosting the Needlefelting Playground with Miss Moxie at our Maker Faire Bay Area in San Mateo on May 30th and 31st. Stop by, meet Brookelynn, and play with wool!

Special thanks to Michelle Feileacan Photography for the top picture and to Stella the adorable boxer for modeling the scarf!

At the beginning of April I was lucky enough to get to go to New York City to help Mark Frauenfelder, editor-in-chief of MAKE prepare for his appearance on The Martha Stewart Show!

The show was taped on April 1st, and will finally air this coming Monday, May 18. You can see a quick preview by clicking here, and then clicking on Monday's show at the top.

On an insider's note, being at the studio and taping the show was amazingly fun and exciting! All the staff was friendly and helpful and very, very competent at what they do. Even when some of our projects were lost for several hours in transit, everyone was calm, cool, and collected. I, on the other hand, started to run down 20+ blocks, from Midtown to Chelsea, desperately trying to figure out where we were going to find a cigar box, an old VCR, an electric screwdriver, and some lumber at 6 p.m. on a Monday in Manhattan.

Studio from the outside; dress rehearsal with the producer and Mark Frauenfelder.

But no need for alarm; the projects looked great on camera, Mark did a fantastic job describing the projects, and then for the finale, he and Martha made little vibrating, jumping robots out of a candy tin, a paperclip, and a little motor from a Dollar Store fan. The audience seemed to like it, the staff liked it, and Martha kept one afterward, so I'm guessing she liked it!

Mark's family was on hand to watch the taping; the teleprompter.

Don't forget to watch or DVR Monday's Martha show! Yay, Mark!

Ellie Roundtree, a Rocketboom technology correspondent, takes us on a tour of the spring show at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, highlighting wearable technology projects. I'm digging Adam Harvey's Paparazzi defense flash and Anaid Gomez's heartrate-sensing iPod controller. Via Core77.

More:

• CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino 101
• CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino Blinking Bike Patch
  

I'm digging these pillows that mimic the icons for the Adobe software suite programs. You could hug the ones you love and practice your punches on the one that causes you the most frustration!

Remember the joy of writing your first Hello World application? Do you still have a copy somewhere so you can gaze upon your coded baby steps into the world of binary goodness? In knitting, creating something beautiful is just like binary, with a series of knits and pearls you can dream up the most sophisticated of patterns. In the spirit of hi-tech meets hand-tech, I will show you how to convert your binary Hello World app into a pattern of stitches (think knit =1 purl = 0), so that you can create, mount, frame and hang your Hello World genius for all to see.

Cool Hunting Video got up close and personal with the three men who run Grafica Fidalga, a printing press in São Paulo, Brazil. They use a machine from 1929 using hand-cut wooden letters. The way the machine works is mesmerizing.

More:

A Visit with Hello Lucky - CRAFT Video Podcast

Hannah Perner-Wilson put a small push button, battery holder, and LED/vibrating motor inside these little limpet shell. She writes:

I've always liked collecting seashells, and have always wanted to do something more with them than accumulate them in my parent's garden. So now I want to see how far I can go to integrate small electronic circuits inside them. Limpits are nice to work with because they are totally open on one side and the bigger ones even offer some depth.

The limpit buttons are very simple, they use a push-button to trigger LED light or a vibration motor. I decided to use a push-button rather than a switch so that they are only active when touched/pushed.

Limpet push-button

Gareth @ MAKE found this simple setup for transferring your old film to digital. From the Flickr user svofski:

A lens (or a macro lens, or a lens with extension rings) is inserted in the circular hole in front. A negative holder made of two sheets of vinyl with spacers is at the opposite end. After film is inserted, the box is closed and camera is aligned.

Since any remote source of light will be hopelessly out of focus in such setup, no special diffuser is really necessary. I normally use LCD display.