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Everyone, this is Jaimie Mantzel, and he is about to blow your mind. More »
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I never understood why they celebrated Christmas in the Harry Potter novels — I always assumed wizards would go apeshit on Merlin's Birthday or Talking Flag Day or some other arcane bacchanalia lost to the ages. But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, Canadian crafter Gabrielle offers an easy step-by step on how to build a golden snitch to hang from that special location you like to hang stuff. More »
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One easy way to save money on a Halloween costume is to try your hand at a little fancy make-up art. It's much cheaper than buying some over-priced store-bought monstrosity. Plus, they're sick as hell. Here are the best of the "how-to" videos that can turn you into the Black Swan, Mystique, and even Jadzia Dax (retro throw-back).

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Wow! Take a look at this for a little "bang! zoom!" in your day! This video shows an incredible video of an amateur rocket launch, which could be eligible for a $5,000 rocketry prize. More »
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Meet Shu Mansheng and his 18-foot-diameter octocopter. This device — which uses eight motorcycle engine — set Shu back $3000 and can hover for 10 seconds at a height of three feet. The action starts at approximately 4:30. No word on whether he'll be able to steer this DIY air chariot out of his home village of Dashu. More »
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Here's another entry for the DIY African aircraft files. In Kampala, Uganda, Chris Nsamba — freelance aeronautics engineer and founder of the African Space Research Program — is building an airplane in his backyard. Once he's done with this project, Nsamba will move on to constructing a homemade space shuttle. More »
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The cross stitch samplers of Wee Little Stitches blend pop pixel art with classic crafting, stitching up 8-bit-style renditions of everyone from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to all 11 Doctors. More »
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If you picked up the second issue of 2000 AD in 1977, you'd be the proud owner of these retro-ridiculous Biotronic stickers. And if you missed it, here's a second chance to print out and tape on that third eye. More »
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BERLIN - Lepht Anonym wants everyone to know the door to transcending normal human capabilities is no farther away than your own kitchen. It's just going to hurt like a sonofabitch. More »
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This little guy might look like a bio-luminescent creature from the ocean floor, or perhaps a super-advanced form of nanotechnology. But the truth is far simpler (and awesomer): this is a bendy-straw shrimp, and here's how to make one. More »
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Looking for that perfect t-shirt image that will make everything feel like it's 1978 all over again? Steven at Hey Oscar Wilde has resurrected real retro Star Wars iron-ons that can be printed out. Wear Chewie to the Yes concert! More »
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Graphene is a special form of carbon that's a only single atom thick. One of the world's only two-dimensional objects, it won its designers the Nobel Prize. And you can make your very own sheet with a couple everyday objects. More »
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Marc DeVidts decided that his Miami residency needed to look more like the future, so what did he do? He added air-powered doors to his home. Thanks to his guide, you too can transform your kitchen into the bridge. [MAKE] More »
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Microwaves within your microwave are invisible, but it is possible to see them with a little creative preparation and some mechanical know-how. More »
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YouTube user TroopTrent has built his own hovering lightsaber training droid from A New Hope. Of course, the droid doesn't attack you, but nothing's stopping you from wearing a frosted helmet and complaining at it. More »
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In the last couple years, amateur engineers from Africa have built DIY planes and helicopters out of recycled parts. These rigs look undeniably bad-ass, even if it's unclear whether they can get off the ground. More »
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Alicia Traveria built this awesome Luke Skywalker piñata — his hand flies off when you when bash him, and he spurts red confetti when disemboweled. Best of all, she's written a tutorial so you can build your own. More »
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Do you want to build your own lightsaber at home but have no idea where to start? Bradley W. Lewis has created step-by-step guide explaining how to weld, screw, and paint a laser sword into existence, sans the Force. More »
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Need to whip up a flier with that pulp panache? Adam Levermore has written this fun tutorial on how to create old-school scifi posters. Now your birthday party invitations will look like they have H.G. Wells' tales tucked inside. [Craftzine] More »
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An Instructables.com craftsman named spookylean has written a how-to guide on making the snap-action Batarangs from Batman: Arkham Asylum. His Batarangs were made out of Plexiglas, so you'll need a stronger material if you've scheduled some fledermaus-themed crimefighting. More »
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This gorgeous, custom bike was originally built in 1936, and yet it looks remarkably like the ultra-futuristic light cycles we're going to see in Tron: Legacy. We've got a gallery of this cyber-anachronistic bike, which has just been refurbished. More »
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Ever think that you could make a flick craptacular enough to light up the Syfy Channel? Starting Friday, they're letting online users collectively create a movie, from concept to the next Dinoshark. More »
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Jason Lentz has mastered the art of transforming everyday cardboard boxes into massive corrugated exoskeletons. And if you want to become a 100% recyclable man-machine, he'll build you a boxy body. Quick, destroy all the humans before it starts raining! More »
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Scifi fans know that debate about gun control is besides the point. Guns won't save anyone from rampaging Terminators, aliens, or Jason Voorhees. Liquid nitrogen will. Here's how to make some on a super-low budget, for home protection! More »
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Even pets showed up in their finest attire for the Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition, a three-day celebration of everything steampunk last weekend in Emeryville, California. Our travelogue gallery will take you back to a 19th century that never was. More »
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Do you know why Richard Branson was in such a hurry to unveil SpaceShipTwo last week? It's not because he loves cool toys — it's because he was worried an inventor who's created a personal UFO would steal his thunder. More »
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Thierry Legault, the 47-year-old French engineer, may be one of the most famous amateur astronomy photographers in the world. But what's really striking about his images is how busy they are, teeming with stars, unlike other astrophotographers' stark simplicity. More »
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This image of the Orion Belt gained the ultimate honor: Astronomy Picture Of The Day, but astro-photographer Rogelio Bernal Andreo started out as an enthusiastic amateur. He gives Wired a tutorial on going from drab night-sky pictures to cosmic revelation. More »
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Two MIT students managed to snap this incredible picture of our planet by spending just $150 on a Canon camera, a weather balloon full of helium, and a styrofoam cooler. The camera reached 93,000 feet before crashing to Earth. [CNET] More »
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Artist Lyle Rowell combined bits of cars and motorcycles to create Lrry-1, an animal-shaped vehicle that breathes fire as it stomps through the streets of Italy. More »
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Wish your childhood involved Lego playsets depicting the sandy deserts of Arrakis? Now you can enjoy the childhood toy that never was thanks to two Lego fans with a penchant for building Fremen and sandworms. More »
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The upcoming indie science fiction film In-World War combines a DIY ethic, virtual reality, the War on Terror, and the loss of identity into a globetrotting dark comedy. Ah, so that's where all the originality in movie-making went. More »
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Crafting may be a staple of Steampunk's DIY culture, but as Jane Vogelein explains, it's definitely not the safest pastime that any forward-thinking cultural throwback could enjoy. Well, unless they had a hazmat suit handy. More »
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When Batman Begins introduced the movie-going world to the Tumbler Batmobile, many an auto aficionado lusted after Batman’s ride. One fan, though, decided lusting wasn’t enough, and has been building his very own working Batmobile, complete with a V8 engine and Batcessories, in his garage. More pictures after the jump. More »
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Christmas is the covetous one, Thanksgiving the gluttonous one, but Halloween, the holiday that kicks off the great holiday trifecta, is the awesome, proud one. It’s a day when even the most ordinary of citizens take self-expression to heart and fly their freak flag high. That is, once they can figure out what to be for Halloween. Below, a few suggestions of varying skill—some DIY, some store-bought—to help you avoid the dreaded Oct. 30 crunch. More »
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In the arms race between local terrorist groups in Iraq and the US occupying forces, things just got more complicated with the development of the "improvised rocket-assisted mortar." Essentially it's IED 2.0, the next step in homebrew explosives that militant groups use against US forces. Though the IRAMs aren't being used widely yet, what's scary about them is that they're mobile, have really bad aim, and pack a punch that's considerably bigger than a conventional rocket. And in many ways, they're weapons of the future. More »
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When I see scifi flicks from the 1960s and 70s, I always love the blocky, blinky lights on all the computers. Though they were obviously considered "futuristic" at some point before we all started fetishizing miniaturization and gesture-based computers. But now the DiY geeks over at Hackaday have found a way to make those blinky blocks into something useful: a keypad combination lock. Instead of keying a number sequence into it, you can key a color sequence. It's a great home electronics project, and it makes your front door look like it should open with that Star Trek "fffwwp!" noise. More »
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It's time once again for the inimitable RoboGames in San Francisco. This weekend, June 13-15, you can pack the bots in your hovercar, zoom out to the west coast of the United States, and spend 3 action-packed days ringside while robots small, medium, and sumo-sized beat the crap out of each other with saws, fire, and sheer kinetic force. There is nothing like seeing a 300-pound robot smack into the plexiglass inches from your face. Oh, and also there are robots who dance, play soccer, and do non-violent things too. Plus, art. RoboGames is basically a DiY robot extravaganza. Want to see what you're missing? Video below. More »
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A new library in Casanera, Colombia shows us what humankind might have built with sticks and stones if they'd never discovered bricks, steel, and electricity. The Villanueva Public Library was built on a modest budget, designed by a bunch of university students in Bogota. And instead of importing fancy, expensive materials, builders used local timber and stones from nearby rivers to lower transportation costs. Then, instead of hiring experienced construction workers, they trained local people to build it. More »
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If you're in the U.K. and have always wanted to make a scifi movie in two days with a bunch of your pals, it's time to test your fast-movie fu. Scifi film geekfest Sci-Fi London is launching its "48 Hour Film Challenge" on April 5th at the Apollo West End. Entrants will be given a randomly-generated film title, some dialog and a prop. They have two days to turn those ingredients into a movie "no shorter than 3 minutes, and no longer than 5 minutes" by April 7th. Those conditions don't sound much worse than what B-movie directors of the 1950s and 60s dealt with. More »
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