Discriminating Weirdos

Look at me! I'm in a beautiful Treasury!

Look! I'm in a Treasury West Treasury!

I sure wish I could figure out how to take a screen shot that's a little bigger than my screen. 

But Look! And click! It's beautiful!

(Emily)

Another VERY Cool Etsy Find

I've said it more than several times on this blog: Etsy never fails to surprise me.  If you can spend ten minutes searching the site and not find something new and exciting, then I'm afraid that you are dead from the belly button both ways

Today, I searched the first word that came into my head -- shadow -- and found one of the coolest things I think I've ever seen on the sight.  I bring you the world of Canbots!

Canbots (and Canrex) are the brainchild of Sage 12888, a folder from Hong Kong who says he has made thousands of prototypes in order to get the folds for his work exactly right.  Why so hard, you ask?  Well, because he uses aluminum soda cans to create these tiny robots, each fold can only be made once or the metal breaks.  According to his shop information, each 3 cm creature is made only by cutting and folding.  There are no fasteners of any kind.  Each also comes with its own hand-folded aluminum case.

You can learn more about creation of Canbot and Canrex at the official website.  The site shows some of the steps he uses to create the little guys, as well as a photo gallery of some of the earlier attempts at getting it just right.  If you are interested in the experimental phases of creativity, the site is well worth a look.  It's interesting to see the evolution of the design over time.

I've included a couple of the illustrations from the website here, just because I find them so interesting.  First, there is a shot of the can actually being made into the various pieces for the Canbot.  I also included a scale illustration, just to show you how teeny these pieces are.

Now I think I'm going to go make something.  (ADAM)

Another Cool Memory Stick

Over the past few years, I've fallen in love with creative design.  Specifically, I like designers who take an existing object or product, and then make it more visually interesting.  It's amazing to me how many different designs there can be for a chair, or a bed, or a bookshelf.  Design is tangible proof that creativity is like a fingerprint.  Everyone has it, and no two are the same.

Perhaps no useful object in the past five years has garnered as much fun design as the USB port.  That one little plug-in has brought us so many toys and tools that I could probably devote a year's worth of blog entries to it.  From the silly (foam dart shooters and electronic humping dogs) to the sublime (rechargeable batteries and living terrariums), the USB port has become more than just a place to plug in a camera.

As a student, I never would have thought that the Trapper-Keeper would one day be replaced by the memory stick.  Today, thanks to USB ports, students all carry their homework, assignment books, calendars, and various bits of mischief on their keychains or hanging around their necks on lanyards.  And like all keychains and jewelry, the memory stick has become another way for people to show their individual tastes and personalities.

Memory sticks come in endless shapes, colors, and sizes.  They have been made into finger puppets, covered with fur, and encased in fruit-scented rubber.  If you can think it, it's probably been done to a memory stick.

Of course, being who I am, I particularly like design that pushes perception a bit.  I like useful objects that look silly, and silly objects that look useful.  With that said, I bring you a memory stick that I stumbled across a few days ago that really caught my eye.

I don't really have a lot to say about it other than it serves a purpose while at the same time making decapitation fun and cute again.  There's something about this little green man with a detachable head that makes me laugh, and I think that if I were a student again, he'd sit prominently in my locker or on a table in the computer lab.

The best part, I think, is that the actual memory stick is the head.  Basically, on your way to class, you'd just pop your little friend's head off and stick it in your pocket, reattaching it later for safe keeping.

And the little guy would smile the whole time.

(ADAM)