The name sounds rude, but I love the results I’m seeing online: Rasterbator (Download the free software.)
While I’m talking about cool decorating stuff, this Sun Light project has possibilities. Somewhat related, Nightlight in a jar.
I’ve always been dazzled by rosy views of the future. Here’s a website that delights me: Transportation Futuristics.
It’s an .EDU website, and sometimes great pages like these vanish when university policies change or a student (or staff member) leaves.
If you love any of the graphics–as I do–you may want to save them to your own hard drive.
Or, you can hope that the Wayback Machine saves them.
Also see: History of Robots in the Victorian era. Wonderful fantasies!
If you like this kind of retro stuff, you may want to send a Retro-Gram.
This week, I’m looking at sewing-related resources, online. Mostly, I want to focus on quilts and wall hangings, but… I also need to redesign my wardrobe. I need clothing that fits me at my current size (40 pounds more than I’d like to weigh) but also “trims down” as I do.
So, with that in mind, here are links that I want to bookmark:
Stuff to wear
Clone Yourself a Fitting Assistant – Four under-$15 ways to create a dress form.
HotPatterns.com includes designs that look like they’ll meet my sewing needs… fashionable and flattering while I’m a little too large, and adjustable when I’m trim again. (Okay, I may look for similar designs in commercial patterns, but I want to support cottage industries.)
Lace panties. Really. I’m tired of paying obscene amounts for underwear that doesn’t really fit, or isn’t quite what I had in mind, but I’m too tired to keep looking. I’m definitely trying this pattern.
I’m not sure that I’d wear LEDs in my clothing–though my kids might–but I’m very seriously thinking about incorporating lights into my fabric art. So, I’m very interested in the instructions at GRYNX – Make your own wearable LED display.
Oooh, free period clothing patterns, especially Victorian and Edwardian clothes.
SewTrendy.com may say that it’s “sewing for teens,” but I see plenty of designs there that I’d wear.
And, this seamless square bracelet instruction sheet took me back to summer camp. No, it’s not sewn, but… it’s cool anyway.
Finally (in the sewing category, anyway), I want to note SewingPatterns.com, which may be a useful resource. Or maybe not. I’m not sure. I’ll go back and look at it again, later.
Quilting links
Paula Nadelstern is making lovely kaleidoscope quilts. I remember when my friend Mary Golden was developing this concept, about 20 years ago. I’m not sure that I’ll work with kaleidoscope designs, but if I do, I’ll want to revisit this site for inspiration.
Free spirit fabric offers free quilting patterns–many of them contemporary–in PDF format for immediate download. Very cool!
Okay, that’s enough for this week. I’ll look for more quilting links for my reference list… and a later blog entry.
I’ve been collecting these hippie-type links for awhile. You’ll either love them or hate them.
Don’t try to watch this if you’re on drugs. Or meds. I mean, even aspirin might be too much: Vai Avanti (Timothy Leary would love that webpage. And, it looks as if that’s all there is… that one, weird page.)
It’s not quite psychedelia, but it is another blast from the past: Space Invaders invades the world. The whimsy of a project like this… it’s just so very cool.
Back to “don’t watch this on drugs” stuff: My brain wanted to explode when I watched Wildcard for a few minutes. Seriously. I was getting really crossed eyes. I love the concept, but… I can only watch it for about a second.
Typeorganism won’t play with your head quite so much, but it’s definitely a funky series of experiments. I’m not sure which one is my favorite.
Getting back to normal-ish stuff, I’ve been a fan of fractals for a long time. Rose Rushbrooke is combining fractals with fabric art. Brilliant!
And, on that note, I’m going to go make art and think about unusual ways to mix graphics & fabric.
I’m collecting links again. This week, I’m focusing on printable art and stuff to play with.
Important: Nothing remains the same for long, online. So, some (or even most) of these links may be broken. I apologize for that, and I try and update links when I can.
Fwis*Readymech Series features free printable flatpack toys. I love it!
The Word on the Street is an online collection of nearly 1800 broadsides, and it includes downloadable PDFs. Totally, utterly cool.
It’s not printable, but you’ll get some great art ideas at the video, Stencil Art 101.
Flowers at ZeFrank.com… Go play! It’s simple but charming. (It took me a few minutes to figure out how it works. Now, I’m hooked on it.) It makes me want to cut out stencil shapes from origami paper, and make them into mandalas or something. Seriously.
Levitated is another site to play at, but it’s more high tech and a little bit psychedelic. Okay, some of the “games” there are just plain weird… in an artsy-techie way, of course.
And, it has nothing to do with the rest of this, but I want a website like Dave Werner. It’s multi-media heaven.
Update: My friend Faith let me know that she has a page of cool stuff that you can print out and play with, too: http://hometown.aol.com/faithduck/printables.html
I found another great printable paper toy: Optimus Prime, a transformer-type robot that changes into a truck.