Geometric Sandcastles by Calvin Seibert

Geometric Sandcastles by Calvin Seibert:








Sand castle artist Calvin Seibert manages to construct nearly impossible shapes from one of the world’s most delicate mediums. While Colossal has seen its fair share of art made with sand I’ve never seen anything so perfectly angular and geometric. See much more of his work over on Flickr. (via fasels suppe)

Nudes in blurred motion

Nudes in blurred motion:
Shinichi Maruyama, whose magical "Water Sculpture Movie" I posted about last year, created a stunning photo series of human bodies in motion. (via PetaPixel)

Can a Jellyfish Unlock the Secret of Immortality? - NYTimes.com

Can a Jellyfish Unlock the Secret of Immortality? - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/can-a-jellyfish-unlock-the-secret-of-immortality.html?hp&_r=0

(via Instapaper)

Japanese firm offers expectant parents 3D-printed fetus from MRI scan

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Japanese firm offers expectant parents 3D-printed fetus from MRI scan

Tomohiro Kinoshita with 3D model of 9-month fetus in acrylic resin, and small phone charm. Photo: AFP.

A firm in Japan is offering expectant moms and dads the ability to purchase a 3D-printed model of their unborn child, for about $1200 USD. The "Shape of an Angel" is about 9cm, in white resin, encased in a transparent block that forms the shape of the mother's body. The modeling data comes from an MRI scan.

"As it is only once in a lifetime that you are pregnant with that child, we received requests for these kind of models from pregnant women who... do not want to forget the feelings and experience of that time," said Tomohiro Kinoshita of FASOTEC, the company offering the service.

It comes with a tiny little version version that can be used as a mobile phone trinket (young women in Japan often dress up their phones with little dangly adornments). More in the Australian paper The Age. (HT: @Gromit01)

Digital_discipline (Sherburne on minimalist dance music)

http://ciufo.org/classes/114_fl11/readings/Digital_discipline.pdf

Interactive laser-cutter

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Interactive laser-cutter

Interactive laser-cutter

Constructable is an experimental laser-cutter from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam. It uses a light-pen to direct the cutting beam, so that you can draw the cuts freehand, in realtime, rather than designing a pattern that is fed to the cutter. Basically, it transforms the cutter into a hand tool, rather than a programmable plotter.

Personal fabrication tools, such as laser cutters and 3D printers allow users to create precise objects quickly. However, working through a CAD system removes users from the workpiece. Recent interactive fabrication tools reintroduce this directness, but at the expense of precision.

Constructable is an interactive drafting table that produces precise physical output in every step. Users interact by drafting directly on the workpiece using a hand-held laser pointer. The system tracks the pointer, beautifies its path, and implements its effect by cutting the workpiece using a fast high-powered laser cutter.

Hasso-Plattner-Institut: constructable

(via Kottke)

The Internet of the Dead

Locus Online Perspectives » Cory Doctorow: The Internet of the Dead
http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2012/11/cory-doctorow-the-internet-of-the-dead/

(via Instapaper)

The Technium: Amish Hackers

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/02/amish_hackers_a.php

via mattlodder

via mattlodder:

via mattlodder

Videos of people playing bass flutes

Videos of people playing bass flutes:

Back when I was a junior-high flute player, I once heard somebody mention the existence of bass flutes. I was instantly intrigued. But, in the days before readily available Internet access, I wasn't able to track down examples of what they looked or sounded like.

Today, YouTube is filled with examples of deep-voiced, husky flutes — ranging from the simply extra-long alto flute to the gigantic subcontrabass flute, which is basically a percussion instrument with some woodwind features.

It's fascinating stuff, and a handy reminder that flutes can do really interesting things ... like improvisational jazz, and beatboxing. I've put together a small playlist of videos. Enjoy!

Exclusive excerpt from Creative Illustration, by Andrew Loomis

Exclusive excerpt from Creative Illustration, by Andrew Loomis:



Titan books has just released the fourth book in mid-century illustrator Andrew Loomis' multi volume instructional art library, Creative Illustration.

Here's what I've previously written about Loomis:

Andrew Loomis was an American illustrator whose work appeared in many magazines in the mid-20th century. In addition to his beautiful editorial work for magazines, Loomis also wrote and illustrated a half dozen or so instructional drawing books, and for the last 30 years or so they've been in great demand, even though they've been out of print.

But recently Titan Books has been republishing high-quality and very affordable facsimiles of Loomis' books: Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, Drawing the Heads and Hands, and Successful Drawing.

















Creative Illustration

What Happens Now That the War on Drugs Has Failed? -- New York Magazine

What Happens Now That the War on Drugs Has Failed? -- New York Magazine
http://nymag.com/news/features/war-on-drugs-2012-12/

(via Instapaper)

Mine Kafon; a bamboo tumbleweed that clears landmines

Mine Kafon; a bamboo tumbleweed that clears landmines:

The "Mine Kafon" is Massoud Hassani's artificial tumbleweed, made from lightweight materials like bamboo. It is designed to be blown across uncleared minefields, detonating forgotten mines. It was Hassani's grad design project for Design Academy Eindhoven. It continuously broadcasts its location, captured via GPS, plotting out safe, mine-free paths through the fields.


Mine Kafon

(via Make)

Cambodian Trees: Digitally Projected Deities and Sprits on the Streets of Cambodia

Cambodian Trees: Digitally Projected Deities and Sprits on the Streets of Cambodia:






Cambodian Trees is a digital projection work by French artist Clement Briend who traveled to Cambodia to photograph these sculptural representations of deities and spirits from Cambodian culture overlaid on trees in several urban areas. Of the series Briend says:

It’s a beautiful surprise when the projected spirits awaken and reveal themselves at night as though they are made of the towering trees themselves. The photographic light installations echo the spirituality of the few sprouts of nature in the predominantly urban landscapes. It is a visual imagining of the divine figures that inhabit the world, as seen through an environmentally aware spiritual eye.

Though I’m generally not a fan of digital projection, I really enjoy Briend’s utilization of tree branches to lend volume to the photographs of sculptures, in essence giving them life. To see several more images from this series, head over to his website. All images courtesy the artist. (via empty kingdom)

Turneresque painting of Mumbai trains

Turneresque painting of Mumbai trains:


Avi sez, "I came across this Turneresque painting of Mumbai Local Trains by Bhuwan Silhare. Not much info about the artist online."



Bhuwan Silhare Mumbai Local Trains 2010