Lost Foam Metal Casting

http://www.buildyouridea.com/foundry/lost_foam_howto/lost_foam_howto.html
Someday, when I own a farm with several abandoned outbuildings and a rusty Land Rover, I am so doing this, oh yes.

kosmos

http://www.fleischfilm.com/html/kosmos_1024.htm
Okay, this is deeply weird. It's also long (5 mins), and at 50-odd MB takes a while to download - but it has a certain aggressive, hypnotic attraction to it.

Basically, this... person... grew crystals directly onto film, and projected the result. It's odd. People with epilepsy, or a tendency to hear voices in random noise, should probably not try it. For the rest, just make sure the volume on your PC is at fairly low.

Worn Again: First pants, then shoes

http://www.wornagain.co.uk/
The idea of wearing a pair of trainers made of someone's old underwear might not seem so appealing, but the shoes themselves look pretty damn good (although I was particularly tempted by the satchels rather than the shoes)


Via superuse, which I've mentioned before. Also among its top picks at the moment is this awesome table made from a bit of DC-3:

Ooo purdy: 30 The Bond, Sydney

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/03/19/30-the-bond-sydneys-greenest-building/
Billed as Sydney's greenest building, it's just the latest ecobuilding to be bragged about. Yeah yeah... but what caught my attention was the big fat sandstone wall in the atrium. When (yeah, when, not if) I design my own house, I've always promised myself it would have a big fat thermal mass in it to regulate the temperature. Imagine doing that with a couple of massive blocks like this... yeah, I'm so doing that.

Superuse.org: Where recycling meets design

http://www.superuse.org/
"Superuse is a online community of designers, architects and everybody else who is interested in inventive ways of recycling."

Most of the references seem to be Dutch, but that's just another good reason to register and post more stuff that's local to you. My favourite is the 'materials' section, which ranges from the eminently sensible through the perversely attractive to the pointlessly desirable...

The ubercustard you can hit with a baseball bat.

Gotta love d3o,
every designer's material du moment. Not only does it come in funky skiing
hats ( I soooooooooooooooo want one), but here's a little
demonstration of just how violent you can get with it:

What is Art Clay Silver?

http://www.artclay.co.jp/htm/what.html


It's cool, is what it is!

Apologies to an arty crafty people who have seen this stuff before, but I am intrigued. Art Clay Silver is a malleable putty made up mostly of pure silver particles, with added water and 'organic binder' (which with a name like that could be anything - the mind boggles, recoils, and boggles again). According to the sales blurb, it can be worked like ordinary modelling clay, but when fired in a kiln the water and binder are burned off, leaving something which is 99.9% pure silver.

Although a kiln (which I don't own) is recommended, there is a method described for firing it on a gas hob (which I do own - yay!). Strangely, though, using a microwave isn't mentioned...