Here is a photograph of a Clone Trooper pushing a gun and a Coke in a stroller at the Maker Faire. Really not much I can add to it at this point. Cool Clothes and Styles of Maker Faire...
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Category archive: diy
May 22, 2012
Big Gulp, Son Of Clone Trooper
May 16, 2012
Doug Harvey's Kids Sound Exhibition On The Phone, At 323 Projects
Well I don't know how this got by me. Los Angeles-based artist/curator Doug Harvey organized "The Patter Of Tiny Brains," an exhibition of audio of or by children, for the phone-based art gallery, 323 Projects. Basically, you can call...
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[read the full post...]
May 11, 2012
This Is How We Roll: Those Little Stick-On Vents Edition
Living near the National Zoo, our DC neighborhood gets more than its fair share of souped up daytripping whips. But I've seen this blingy Honda Odyssey a couple of times now, so this guy's either a neighbor or a...
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[read the full post...]
April 25, 2012
It'll Look Great On Her Pre-K Application
I showed this to the kid last night, and she was all, "Kickstarter? Back when I was 4, all we had to self-publish our homemade storybooks was blurb.com!" Actually, she said, "See, that kid gets to chew gum, and...
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[read the full post...]
April 11, 2012
Caine's Arcade, Directed By Nirvan Mullick
You know, I spent yesterday wondering about the mechanics of flashmobs, and how maybe a little less reality-TV-stagier might be better, like when Improv Anywhere showed up and freaked that one band out by singing along to all their...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 9, 2012
Lille Huset Slot-Together Eco-Dollhouse Kits On Kickstarter
Alright, this is pretty sweet. Chicago kids designer/author Alyson Beaton is using Kickstarter to launch lille huset, a collection of flatpack, slot-together dollhouses made from paperboard and birch ply. They're somewhere between permanent and recyclable, light and easy to...
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[read the full post...]
On Reinventing The Wheel
After 20 yrs of new dad rockers making kids records because they can't find any good kids music, you'd think they'd be able to find some.— Kevin Guilfoile (@kevinguilfoile) April 9, 2012 The more forgotten kid-related goodness I discover from...
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[read the full post...]
March 30, 2012
Playscapes Reissue Of Friedberg's Handcrafted Playgrounds
This is pretty amazing. Paige from Playscapes, the playground design and history blog, has acquired publication rights to M. Paul Friedberg's long out-of-print 1975 DIY classic, Handcrafted Playrgounds, and has made it available again as a PDF. It's just...
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[read the full post...]
March 12, 2012
First, Get Some Clippers And A Styrofoam Plate
Chris Paul's kid said he needed a protective mask now, too, so Paul made him one. This does not mean, however, that you can throw the ball into the kid's face. I mean, you're not Kobe Bryant or anything....
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[read the full post...]
March 11, 2012
TMBG Papercraft Monster Hearse & Boom Box
TMBG's track from their new "Join Us" album, "When Will You Die?" is as catchy as any of their kids' tunes, but unless you want to have it sung at you during a temper tantrum, it's probably best to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 7, 2012
Molded Ply Mayhem! Creative Playthings Ride-on Tractor
I'll be brief: this 1960s-era ride-on tractor from Creative Playthings is awesome, and you should buy it. If you live in or around Eastern Pennsylvania, because apparently, it is too heavy or unwieldy to ship. And then everyone else...
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[read the full post...]
March 5, 2012
Modular Ply Playhouse Cubes By Play-Modern
Well, these are cool. Play Modern is a modular ply cube playhouse system designed by Kansas City architect Kimball Hales and, uh, Mrs. Hales. Ah, here we go: Laura. BYU alums, in case the names didn't give it away...
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[read the full post...]
March 3, 2012
Transformer-Style: Changing Table In Disguise
I lose track of the awesome tiny space design blog Shoebox Dwelling for a couple of months, and it fills up with interesting kid-related posts. Like this "Swiss Army-style" studio apartment in Gramercy, which has a murphy bed and...
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[read the full post...]
March 1, 2012
Creative Playthings Ply Panel Van
The crazy thing about this rarely seen Creative Playthings truck/van is that I just saw one. A nearly identical but cleaner example just sold on ebay for $51 and change, shipped, and then not two days later, some feller...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 29, 2012
Death Star Pancake
Alright these ridiculous Star Wars pancake molds caused such a massive disturbance in the pancake Force, I had to do something. So I made some Death Star pancakes. Here's how: 1. Make pancake batter. I used Bisquik, because I'm...
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[read the full post...]
These Are Not The Star Wars Pancake Molds You Are Looking For.
Seriously? Is it a coincidence that Boing Boing points to the Williams-Sonoma Star Wars™ Vehicles Pancake Molds just days after Jason Geyer revealed another epic collection of horrible-but-failed Star Wars product licensing ideas? Because I am really not seeing...
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[read the full post...]
February 26, 2012
Rachel Hulin, 21st Century Hidden Mother
Thanks to Snorri, we can now see how photographer Rachel Hulin made her Flying Baby pictures: exactly as we thought she did, with a tripod and careful masking in Photoshop to erase her baby-holding self. Which is interesting and...
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[read the full post...]
February 21, 2012
The Flying Series, By Rachel Hulin
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog program, Art Direct The Hell Out Of Your Kid: Rachel Hulin is apparently [and needlessly] cagey about how she makes her Flying Series photos of her kid. The answer is tripod...
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[read the full post...]
February 16, 2012
Kid Ply Awesomeness By Gidon Bing
What's a sculptor with a talent for magemono, the Japanese art of wood bending supposed to do when he has a kid, and discovers nearly the entire baby gear industry is aligned against him, determined to drive him nuts...
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[read the full post...]
February 8, 2012
Bricked Out Lego Loft
Finally, some more data on building with Lego. A while ago, we had a new radiator cover made for the kid's room, and I had a mind to cover it in Lego bricks, like Simon Pillard and Philippe Rosetti's insanely...
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[read the full post...]
February 3, 2012
Metamorphokit (1971): Build It Yourself Modular CalArts Dorm Furniture
Good googly moogly, all this work on DIY/modular/industrial/plywood/Bauhaus bedroom furniture and I'm only finding out about Metamorphokit NOW?? I am clearly doing it wrong:Dubbed Metamorphokit by the designers [CalArts faculty member Peter de Bretteville and Toby Cowan], it was...
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[read the full post...]
January 30, 2012
Everything Counts By Dicken Schrader Y Ninos
STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND WATCH THE WORLD'S GREATEST DEPECHE MODE COVER EVER. And then go home and start playing music with your kid. It's like the Pitagora Suitchi of music videos. Dicken Schrader, with Milah and Korben, playing...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 24, 2012
3-D Printed 'Still Alive' For The Fisher-Price Record Player
I'm getting chills watching this. It's a 3-D printed record that plays "Still Alive," Jonathan Coulton's song for the credits of Portal. On a vintage Fisher-Price record player. The future, the past, the virtual and the real, all have...
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[read the full post...]
January 18, 2012
MakerBot 3-D Printed Playsets
Finally, not only does my blogging procrastination pay off, I get to call it a protest against censorship! Yesterday, the 3-D printing gurus at MakerBot unveiled the first MakerBot Playsets, a print-at-home, 1:18-scale dollhouse castle full of princesses, Utah Teapots,...
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[read the full post...]
January 12, 2012
Rosie The Hungarian Momblogger's Chair-Based Play Kitchen
Why not make a play kitchen out of a chair? Take a wooden chair, paint or stained to your liking, the leg holes of shelf brackets, it is plywood or sheet set a residual shelf "console". One of the...
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[read the full post...]
January 2, 2012
Darcel The Shill
I don't know why it took me this long to make the connection, but now it feels like the entire spectrum of hip culture can be mapped out by the travails of imaginary, big-headed, one-eyed, emotionally fraught misfits with...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 1, 2012
Future Systems For Kids: Dinghy Sofa & Josef's Bed
Until I just reorganized some shelves and went through my stash of their 1990s architecture books, I guess I'd forgotten how utterly awesome Future Systems was. The London firm comprised of Amanda Levete and Czech emigre Jan Kaplicky was...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 27, 2011
Homemade Toy Patch Panel By Erik Utter
Video engineering consultant Erik Utter's 2-yo son turns out to love cables, plugs, and control panels as much as he does. So for Christmas, Utter whipped up this sweet toy patch panel on AutoCAD, had it cut and engraved...
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[read the full post...]
December 14, 2011
Goth [?] Disney Princesses
Is this what the kids are calling goth these days? The neck tattoos and pierced septums and stuff? Because back when I was a boy, Goth was just guyliner and trench coats. Like The Matrix. Anyway, I'm pretty sure...
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[read the full post...]
December 9, 2011
Guess What I Think About Marcel The Shell With Shoes On?
It's adorable! How am I doing YouTube so wrong that I didn't find out about this until a year and 18 million views into its existence? Marcel was the offhand, one-week creation of Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp. Guess...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 8, 2011
Gingerbread Geodesic Dome Kit By Scout Regalia
Look, I'm as stoked as the next guy for a gingerbread geodesic dome. And while I was gonna grouse about how Scout Regalia's $25 dome kit is pretty much just two pieces of cardboard, and how, really, the gingerbread...
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[read the full post...]
November 30, 2011
Klinki Modular Furniture/Toy Construction System
Once again, the incomparably awesome, mildly impenetrable archive of Form Magazine yields a small treasure. This time, it's the Klinki building and play system, from Form 88, published in 1979. Klinki was made of wood, and came in three...
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[read the full post...]
November 28, 2011
Scrapwood Playground At Tule Lake Internment Camp
In WWII, Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from the west coast, stripped of basically everything they couldn't carry, and imprisoned in inland internment camps, rows of tarpaper barracks in the desert surrounded by barbed wire fences and guard towers....
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[read the full post...]
November 18, 2011
Star Wars Amigurumi
The best thing about amigurumi toys made using kotyar888's awesome Star Wars crochet patterns is not their cuteness, but the way you have no one to sue when your kid gnaws off those little beady eyes. There is no...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 11, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Lollipox Edition
Sometimes it's hard not to freak out over these stories when they're dribbled out by media. But then, that's exactly why Daddy Types bundles them up into one, giant Friday Freakout, so they can ruin your weekend, not your whole...
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[read the full post...]
November 10, 2011
See If You Can Guess What Arthur Is Now?
There's that awesome phase of having a kid before they start crawling, where you can kind of pose them. Which doesn't last as long as the phase where you can dress them up entirely for your own amusement. Fortunately...
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[read the full post...]
November 3, 2011
Wait, Where's The Car Seat?
Uh, we were to understand there would be a car seat in this lowrider? Yes, that is a car seat in my low rider: an interview with Liz Cohen [badatsports.com images may be NSFW, unless you work in a garage,...
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[read the full post...]
October 28, 2011
Baby Maddox Halloween Costume
Daddy Types has no Halloween advice for you, and you wouldn't need it if we did. I will say, though, that this Baby Maddox costume floating aimlessly and info-free around tumblr is pretty damn funny. [via afc]...
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[read the full post...]
October 17, 2011
Workman Twins Ikea Hack
Twins, whatryagonnado, right? Well, if you're Jared and Krystal Workman of somewhere DC area, the answer's simple: you jigsaw out a couple of holes in the free Ikea tabletop and drop in some plastic seats from a daycare activity...
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[read the full post...]
October 12, 2011
Nura, Nura Woodson Ulreich
Another incredible vintage children's book find at 50 Watts. This time, it's illustrations by New York artist Norah Woodson Ulreich, who worked under the name Nura. Above is The Buttermilk Tree from 1934, which, I hear the photogravures are...
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[read the full post...]
October 10, 2011
Bamboo Strollers High & Low
While researching the latest developments in bamboo resin concept cars, DT senior minivan correspondent JJ Daddy-O decided it has been way too long since we've had a decent bamboo stroller sighting around here. Coincidentally, it was way back in 2004,...
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[read the full post...]
October 9, 2011
A Report From The Occupy Wall Street Little People's Library
When the New Yorker's Alexia Nader first wrote about the library being created at Occupy Wall Street's protest headquarters at Zuccotti Park last week, it contained all of 100 titles, and "the only books that are sectioned off are the...
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[read the full post...]
October 8, 2011
DTQ: Supergraphic Play Cubes In A Modernist Maine Cabin?
Alright, let's figure this one out. Here's a LIFE magazine picture of an otherwise unidentified "Modern Home" in Maine, circa 1969, shot by longtime staff photographer Mark Kauffman. There are a few other images in the set, but no...
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[read the full post...]
October 6, 2011
Im Memoriam: The Kid's First iPhone
I really wasn't going to post anything about Steve Jobs here, but then I started watching his 2007 unveiling of the iPhone [via kottke], and I kind of inexplicably found myself choking up over the scrolling demo, and the...
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[read the full post...]
Rockin' Boats
Oh man, check out the beautiful set of little handmade toy boats scored at the Pasadena City College flea market. They came in this even sweeter case, with little canvas pads on the lid to hold them in. Which...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 5, 2011
Re-Creation! Les Jouets d'Hermès Petit h
Hermès is preparing to launch the second batch of products objets and jouets made from the scraps and seconds of the Hermès workshops, the Petit h collection. [It's p'tee asch, so you don't embarrass yourself too badly when you...
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[read the full post...]
September 29, 2011
Antonio Vitali Bus Just Begging To Be Reissued
So beautiful. Antonio Vitali designed this bus for Playforms, a division of Creative Playthings. It is so trippy, I half expect it to come with a Verner Panton action figure. Vitali's carved out design was originally constructed from two...
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[read the full post...]
September 23, 2011
Haus Birth
Looking through designer Erik Brandt's blog for more work like the one he did above, for this Supergraphics show, I spotted his post of how their daughter was born rather quickly, in the bathtub, with the midwife on the...
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[read the full post...]
September 22, 2011
Dad Warps Fragile Little Minds With Photoshopped Ewoks
Star Wars, I wish I knew how to quit you. Now that Lucas has opened the floodgates, all Star Wars-tweaking hell has broken loose across the Empire. And so it is that Anthony Herrera decided to Photoshop some ewoks into...
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[read the full post...]
September 20, 2011
GeekDad Investigates The 3-D Printed DIY Bugaboo Part Situation
I always thought Ken Denmead was GeekDad, but it turns out it's more flexible than that, like Marina from Fresh Beat Band, or The Yellow Wiggle. Good to know. Anyway, over at GeekDad, Roy Wood is doing Important Work, tracking...
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[read the full post...]
September 4, 2011
A Little Short For A Storm Trooper
I suggest you do what she says, and get Kristina Alexanderson's Clone/Stormtrooper photos one a day. Because clicking through them all at once is just too damn adorable. Oh, ok, just one more: CClone-365-2011 project and photoset [flickr via...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 27, 2011
Space Oddity: The Children's Book, As Imagined By Andrew Kolb
This is ground control to Andrew Kolb, you really have made the grade. This homebrewed, just-for-fun, not-for-sale, trying-to-get-blessed-by-the-Bowie-gods reimagining of "Space Oddity" as a kids book is flat-out awesome. Though it is also very, very sad... It would certainly...
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[read the full post...]
August 22, 2011
Depressing Caption, Meet Awesome Chairs
The photo blog on The Atlantic has been running extended looks back at images from World War II. Today's theme: Japanese-Americans forcibly removed from their homes and businesses and shipped to internment camps in the middle of the freakin'...
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[read the full post...]
Why Not... Wrap Your Old Digital Camera With Silicon Putty!
If there were a contest for a cute way to burn through a little $20 pack of Sugru moldabe, air-curing silicon putty, the bounce-proofed digital camera Stefan Stocker made for his 3-yo would surely have won it. And if...
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[read the full post...]
August 20, 2011
Eames Adjacent! Can You ID This Kid-Size, Mid-Century Mystery Chair?
From awaiting the future to decoding the past: Soon after super-collector Jim Linderman moved to the Zeeland metropolitan area, he snapped up this rather sweet, sculptural, handmade, kid-size mystery chair at a local vintage store. And then he sent pictures...
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[read the full post...]
The Future Will Be Kickstarted
Someday in The Future, an idealistic English teacher in Beijing with some furniture sketches and a translator friend will commission a giant furniture manufacturer like Beijing Jiangshan Country Home Decoration Company, Ltd., to make desks for the classroom in...
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[read the full post...]
August 17, 2011
Madeline Dollhouse Wallpaper
I was waiting for J. Courtney Sullivan's NY Times article about her deep commitment to her childhood dollhouse to turn out not to be one of those adults-way-too-into-dollhouses stories. I guess the fact that she started going to dollhouse furniture...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 15, 2011
A Baby Pallet Chair By Studiomama In Every Playroom!
Nina Tolstrup and her design practice Studiomama have been on DT before, for the awesome Kids' House she created in 2008, the one with the Lego and chalkboard walls. Now pieces her breakout Pallet Project [2006] are available at...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 27, 2011
Oh, THAT Mez! A Day In The Life Of A Breastfeeding Toddler
From my finance days, I remember this great story about a guy who'd ride his recumbent bicycle to Stanford every day along Sand Hill Road, where all the VC firms had their offices. When he went to interview at...
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[read the full post...]
July 12, 2011
There Is No Buy: Another Yoda Baby Hat There Is!
Nearly seven years after the first one hit the web, Australian knitter and Etsy seller Knitterkrys has introduced her own design for a Yoda baby hat. And unlike George Lucas's Yoda retreads, this is actually an improvement. Unfortunately, it's...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Tatt.ly: Awesome Design Tattoos In Short
Oh, Swiss Miss, you have gone straight for Adolf Loos's heart, and I wish you all the best. Here is Loos in his "Ornament as Crime":The Papuan tattoos in short everything he can lay hands on, he is not a...
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[read the full post...]
July 7, 2011
Big Cat Sleeping Bags For The Road
Last night we had some station wagon-loving, old-book-loving friends over for dinner, and so of course, I had to pull out the Ford Treasury of Station Wagon Living. Volume 2. And I guess I hadn't noticed before, but the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 25, 2011
You Probably Will Want Handy Dad In Like Five Years
Todd Davis has some TV show on the Real Estate Flipping Channel, but his old-school kid projects instruction book Handy Dad looks good anyway. Thing is, though, if you're reading this site on a Saturday night, your kid's probably...
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[read the full post...]
June 9, 2011
Mr. Mole's Awesome Attic Playroom
The NY Times goes poking around writer Tom McNeal's house, which has a couple of rather awesome playrooms hidden in the eaves. Their kids are tweens now, but I imagine these were pretty popular back in the day. That...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 12, 2011
The Handmade, Bespoke Pride Of Newport Pagnell: AML Soapbox Derby Winner
ON THE OTHER HAND. Wow, I mean, just wow:Lot No: 189 The 'AML' Soapbox, outright winner of the 2010 Newport Pagnell Soapbox Derby, designed and built by former Aston Martin employee Roy Pink of Roy Pink Cycles, Newport Pagnell, alloy...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 6, 2011
Hello Knitty
Get ready, you're totally gonna knit your pants over this one. This pattern is knit ready yet, but it will be soon! I got a million of them, but now I wonder if I should pre-sell my Austin Powers...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 2, 2011
Ikea Lack Chalk Hack
I tried it once and ended up with a disastrous mess, with chalk paint sloughing off all over me, the kid, and the house. But it looks like someone has figured out how to successfully make an Ikea Lack...
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[read the full post...]
March 29, 2011
Get Into My Crafty Swedish Jean Pocket Sleeper!
OhmyheckImgonnadie, all of Elisabeth's friends are just as adorably crafty as she is! Here's Anna, who whipped up a baby sleeping bag from a hundred pairs of old jeans she had lying around. Because they are closer to the...
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[read the full post...]
March 28, 2011
Yoko Ono Birth Announcement
While in Tokyo in 1963, pioneering performance and Fluxus artist Yoko Ono sent out this little, 3-card set of poems, art works and photographs to let friends back in the US know of the birth of her daughter Kyoko....
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[read the full post...]
March 15, 2011
Homebrewed Sci-Fi Growth Chart By Geeky Dad
This is so awesome. Geeky Dad made this growth chart for his daughter, who has rocketed past Tribbles and is now closing in on Yoda. It's available as a 7-foot long PDF. Geeky Growth Chart by Geeky Dad [geeky-dad...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 13, 2011
House Of Cash Museum Coloring Book, Part 3
Only three installments in, and I'm already behind. Here are the next few pages in the DT House of Cash Museum Coloring Book: Page 4: "The only thing that's real" Page 5: "The needle tears a hole" Page 6: "The...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 9, 2011
You've Come A Little Way, Baby! Marcel Breuer Coloring Book
The 1962 Marcel Breuer Coloring Book was featured on Daddy Types--wow--almost six years ago, but I'd forgotten about it. And the images on the Smithsonian's Archives for American Art site seem to be a little bigger now, so maybe...
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[read the full post...]
January 27, 2011
Oprah, Griffioen. Griffioen, Oprah
From now on, on my Internet, OMG will stand for "Oprah Meets Griffioen." Ho. Ly. Smokes. James Griffioen: The Super-Dad [oprah.com. OPRAH.COM, People!]...
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[read the full post...]
January 14, 2011
Very Much Like A Trike
When he saw the awesome plywood convertible balance trikes at the store, Andy at Beta Dad did what any self-respecting dad of twins who's already blown his $600 wad on a garageful of tools would do: he went home...
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[read the full post...]
December 8, 2010
Small Child Once Lived In Large Loft
The other day I came across this book, Converted into Houses, from an era, 1976, where the idea of converting a loft or industrial building into a house was still novel enough to hang a book proposal on. Nothing...
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[read the full post...]
November 22, 2010
But Your High Chair Ain't Got No Legs, Gunnar Daan
While we were in Amsterdam, we spent a lot of time in de Pijp, the neighborhood around the several blocks-long Albert Cuyp Markt which, once past the Heineken Museum, feels pretty normal and tourist-free. It's where we stumbled upon...
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[read the full post...]
November 18, 2010
أنا ♥ نيويورك Onesies & T-shirts, Kid Not Included
A couple of months back, I had the great idea of copying a flyer that started appearing on lampposts in downtown Manhattan about nine years and one month ago, and silkscreening it onto Onesies and kid-sized T-shirts. A bunch of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 4, 2010
Vasarely Planetary Folklore Participations No. 1 [through 3,000]
You know what, maybe things weren't all awesomer and more exciting back in the olden days, when people lined up on Lexington Avenue to get the newest "chic Christmas gift of 1969" at Bloomingdale's. And when they used to...
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[read the full post...]
October 29, 2010
On Jawas, On Gagas, On Dancer And Vixen
While Jean was traveling in Germany this week, I've been on bedtime duty, and we've been watching a few minutes of Star Wars: Episode IV each night in lieu of one of the kids' stories. So when this awesome...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 25, 2010
Build The Town Posters By Ladislav Sutnar
Wow, has it really been four years and two weeks since I first posted about Czech emigre designer [and area code parentheses inventor!] Ladislav Sutnar's beautiful-but-unproduced Build The Town block set? Well then, I'm only two weeks late in...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 28, 2010
Dunk The Kids In Angry White Politics With This Fine Tea Party Coloring Book!
You know, after taking a bit of heat for going all Wonkette on the latest car seat data, I have learned my lesson. So I'll just point out that this thing exists, and if you want to find out...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 20, 2010
Ringo Atelier, Qu'est Ce Que C'est?
If you wish to make a Ringo Atelier from scratch, you must first invent the universe. Paris is filled with a network of ateliers I've stared at it for a few days now, and near as I can tell, Ringo...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 19, 2010
Gerrit Rietveld The Impaler? What's Up With This de Stijlin' Playpen?
Alright, every time I think I've exhausted the Gerrit Rietveld kids' furniture, something else pops up. We already knew that Rietveld basically had his furnituremaking breakthrough by designing stuff for his own kid and his friends' kids. But somehow...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 18, 2010
OG Slot-Together Ply Shelves By Harry Davis, Editor
Andy found this this summer, and then after talking to the folks at Modern Times to learn more about it, I promptly lost the link. In any case, there's really not much more to say at this point besides...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 16, 2010
Alright, Southern California, Show Me Your H.U.D.D.L.E. Toobs
Four years ago, Daddy Types was the only Internet mention of Toobs, the awesome modular/homebrew/adaptive reuse children's furniture collection by Los Angeles designers Penny and Jim Hull. The Hulls and their new company, Hull Urban Design, Development, Etc., or...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 2, 2010
Alright People, Start Mosaicking! Charley Harper Murals
I know Charley Harper was so 2008 or whenever, but isn't now, after the Old Navy herd has moved on, the best possible time to make a Charley Harper-inspired mosaic mural? [Hint: YES.] In 1964, Cincinnati native Harper did...
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[read the full post...]
August 31, 2010
Ceci N'est Pas Un Crate Changing Table--Yet
Andy just sent this over, and he's right, it'd make an awesome changing table. This happens to be in Atelier Solarshop's pop-up store in Antwerp, which is up through Oct. 9, if you want to go scout it out...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 27, 2010
I'll Take Crazy Vintage Dollhouses For $500, Alek!
There's gotta be a story or two here behind this incredible, handmade 3-ft wide, hexagonal dollhouse, which dt reader Christine just spotted on eBay. First off, obviously, What the hey? Those steeply raked rooms look like theatrical set tricks,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 19, 2010
أنا ♥ نيويورك Onesies, Anyone?
I think I'm going to whip up a batch of these. With the two-color screenprinting, they'll probably be $20, plus a couple of dollars shipping. You can order either a onesie or a toddler t-shirt via Kickstarter. The Kickstarter...
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August 11, 2010
Prahawesome Crib In A Ramp House
Yes, that is what you think it is: an Ikea Gulliver crib on a little homemade platform on a big old ramp floor in a polyurethane-coated house outside Prague that was built for a psychiatrist who wanted a movie...
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[read the full post...]
August 6, 2010
Chapman Brothers Colouring Contest
Though Jake and Dinos Chapman's artworks generally include children--well, child-lookin' demonspawn with dicks for noses--it's rarely been for children. Now for some indiscernible reason, the Guardian's G2Kids section is sponsoring a colouring contest for kids ages 6-13. The winners...
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July 22, 2010
Why Not... Put A Gas Motor On A Radio Flyer?
Of course, the kit includes only the mounting bracket, not the engine. Which shows that even back in the day, people thought of liability lawyers once in a while. That, or everyone just had half a dozen small motors...
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Who You Gonna Call?
K2 went into a real panic at bedtime the other night; she was suddenly afraid of ghosts. We tried to tell her that ghosts were just pretend, which she already knew, duh. Poor kid, barely two, and she's already having...
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[read the full post...]
July 16, 2010
Ghosts In Vogue
An awesome Dan River sheets ad from Vogue magazine, circa 1964. Check out another one at artist Angelo Plessas' blog. Ghost or Host? [angeloplessas.com via dt reader alex]...
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July 12, 2010
Quick, To The Wary Meyers Machine!
Look, I know that breathing leaded gas fumes has resulted in an entire generation of Americans who see nothing wrong with taking their parents to job interviews 1. But that doesn't mean we should throw groovy vans themselves into...
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July 1, 2010
I Give Up, Where's The Retractable Baby Bed?
I was so keyed up to the a custom Korean playroom in the NY Times' Home Section slideshow today, that I completely missed this photo, which purports to show "a retractable shelf" which "could be used as a baby...
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[read the full post...]
June 28, 2010
Ost-some! Spielwagen Pop-up Playgrounds In Berlin
It's not so much that communists hate children, it's just that the communist idea of fun centers on balls-out renditions of patriotic songs and large-scale choreography, not anarchic playground scampering. And so even after reunification, Eastern Berlin's parks and...
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[read the full post...]
June 26, 2010
Woodworkers' Kids Always Have The Nicest Hand-Carved Rocking Toys
Holy smokes. Master California studio furnituremaker Rick Pohlers created this rocking toy for his own kids in the 1970s. It's carved cherry with a leather seat, and features Northwest Coast Indian-style detailing on both sides. It's not huge, either,...
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[read the full post...]
June 24, 2010
Buffalo Holder
In 1965, Buffalo had a Festival of the Arts the likes of which Buffalo had never seen. It was wall-to-wall avant-garde art, theatre, music, dance, and film--and it was packed. Among the 150,000+ people who attended the John Cage...
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[read the full post...]
June 23, 2010
In Competition Blue & Yellow: Ikea Sniglar Co-Sleeper
As someone who made his kid's own sleeping situation, I will remind everyone that the first, middle, and last step of any crib hacking project is studying the CPSC's safety and testing requirements, and then assuring that your design...
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[read the full post...]
June 4, 2010
Mini Bugawho?
Ohdeeoh posted a handy roundup of toy strollers, complete with links to their earlier posts on each one. Front and center is this awesome-looking, homemade mini Bugaboo, hacked together from an aluminum picnic basket; the extendible feet from two...
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[read the full post...]
June 3, 2010
Your Moment Of Slot-Together Zen: Builder Boards
The post yesterday about Richard Dattner's awesome, slot-together, plywood panels from his 1966 Adventure Playground has unleashed a mini-wave of similar, if not quite as super-graphic designs. First up: Builder Boards, a playhouse construction set made of marine ply...
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[read the full post...]
May 28, 2010
FX Artists' Kids Always Have The Nicest YouTube Videos
What, you want the guy who made that awesome Ninja Unboxing video for the Japanese release of Google's Nexus One to just throw up an iPhone video of his kid blowing a giant snot bubble? I didn't think so....
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[read the full post...]
May 5, 2010
Han Shot First
I am thrilled for Jennifer and Jeff, and I'm glad they're using the last few months of their blissfully undisturbed, kid-free time to create such epic pregnancy announcements. It tactfully conveys the nuances of their conception situation while putting...
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[read the full post...]
May 3, 2010
The Decline Of Western Civilization
At least this guy Josiah didn't make and sell 98 Onesies in a weekend with this on it, but that's a damn flimsy hook to hang my hopes for the future of Our Country. Bieb Flag T-shirt [etsy via...
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[read the full post...]
April 29, 2010
Noby, Joby. Joby, Noby.
While I was Googling around, trying to track down this fleecy-soft version of Noby Noby Boy, from the cover of the just-released-on-iTunes soundtrack of Keita Takahashi's PS3/iPhone game, I found out Cabel from Panic had a kid way back,...
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[read the full post...]
April 16, 2010
Make One, Drop One. Need One? Take One. The Toy Society's Toy Drop Program
The Toy Society leaves little homemade toys in public for ye random other folks to take home. The toys have a little, "Take me home! Just spreadin' joy!" message and the URL of their blog, where "Found!" stories are...
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April 13, 2010
Crazy Old Playthings
They're starting to bubble up, photos of some of the crazy old playthings our great-grandparents made. That our grandparents managed to survive playing with. So they could eventually bring our own parents forth, and so on, and so on, until...
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[read the full post...]
Farmer Gram's Homemade Dog Wagon
I've had Jim's incredible, homemade Dog Wagon parked in my browser tabs for a week now, and I literally woke up at 5:00 and realized I had to post about it right now. Not because he basically invented this...
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[read the full post...]
April 12, 2010
Gummibandbild By Dieter Roth
It looks like the small trove of kid-related designs by Dieter Roth will only trickle out to the world one or two at a time. Stopping Off Place has an awesome one, Gummibandbild, a type of adjustable picture Roth...
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[read the full post...]
April 10, 2010
Holy Smoked Mackerel! Kay Bojesen Wallpaper
I swear, I've been to kaybojesendesign.dk, the site of one of the biggest Bojesen collectors around, a dozen times, and I've never noticed this. What an incredible story:...When the factory was closed in 2008 I was allowed to cut...
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[read the full post...]
April 2, 2010
Kiss Me Deadly: Awesome, Handmade Mid-Century LA Modernist Dollhouse
Check out this sweet & simple doll house Chris spotted on eBay; it's coming from Long Beach, CA:Created by a Los Angeles shop teacher clearly inspired by the case study and mid century modern homes that were being built...
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[read the full post...]
March 24, 2010
恋恋风尘
A massive Mongolian sand storm has descended on Beijing. The AFP's Liu Jin captured this sweet photo of a dad, packing his kid with a blanket and a mask. More photos and the story: Sandstorms sweep into Beijing [guardian.co.uk]...
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[read the full post...]
March 16, 2010
Knitscape 2.0
Wait, 1978? Didn't we just come through the craftiest era since the invention of macrame? Why has no one knitted an awesome landscape play blanket for a kid born in the 21st century? Which would mean updating it, by...
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[read the full post...]
March 5, 2010
Star Wars X Goodnight Moon Mashup By Noah Dziobecki
The Force is strong with this one. Noah Dziobecki made this awesome, Star Wars-themed Goodnight Moon parody for a friend's kid's first birthday. But there is another: Noah's a dad-to-be himself. And there could be yet another. Because you...
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[read the full post...]
March 3, 2010
Why Not... A Robert Gober Nursery?
I've always loved the cute-but-unsettling evocations of vestigial childhood memories that adhere to the incredible, hand-made sculptures of Robert Gober. And it continues to surprise me that no one has ever licensed Gober baby furniture--actually, that doesn't surprise me...
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[read the full post...]
February 25, 2010
I, For One, Welcome Our Ki No Haguruma Overlords
First, let me apolgize in advance for any feelings of inadequacy that may stifle your own woodworking projects after watching these videos. Don't sweat it. Your day job probably isn't in the engineering, mechanics, manufacturing, robotics or design industry, and...
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[read the full post...]
February 21, 2010
Giacometti-esque: Bumming Man
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } 5 table, originally uploaded by MrsBadger. How's that for proof of concept? DT regular Becster...
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February 10, 2010
4900 Fuse Beads, After Gerhard Richter
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Fuse Beads, After Gerhard Richter, originally uploaded by gregorg. We'll get through this Snowpocalypse one...
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February 4, 2010
Awesome Dollhouse, Much Else, Made By Joel
Joel is an at-home dad in Portland, where he just finished building this awesome modernist dollhouse for his son Jack. [His daughter's apparently more into bicycles at the moment.] Hardwood dollhouses are sweet. Holy smokes, he made all the...
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[read the full post...]
February 3, 2010
MoMA/Creative Playthings Collage Kit Definitely Worth Preserving In The Box
Wow, Airform Archives posted a mint-in-box Collage and Construction Set, "A Project by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Creative Playthings, Princeton, NJ" It looks like the perfect companion for Art for the Family the 1960 book...
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[read the full post...]
February 1, 2010
Awesome Jalopy Nursery Mural Couldn't Be Easier
Not only did Jive-Bomber post photos of his daughter's awesome animals-driving-vintage-cars nursery mural at JalopyJournal.com, he also provided complete how-to instructions for making one yourself: 1. Get a job at Pixar. 2. Ask a couple of artists from work...
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[read the full post...]
January 8, 2010
I'd Totally Keep That Picasso Toy Guitar, Too
Paloma Picasso was born in 1949, which means Pablo probably made this little toy guitar for her in the early 1950s. Picasso was in the sculpting zone at the time, creating playful, iconic works like his mother baboon with...
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[read the full post...]
January 3, 2010
DONE: The DT Instaproject Doll Cradle
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Well, it's done, and just in time, but don't look for me to be opening...
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[read the full post...]
December 31, 2009
DT Instaproject: OGGG Grandpa's Cradle
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } 1/2-in poplar boards instead, originally uploaded by daddytypes. Clock's ticking. And right away, I find...
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December 30, 2009
DT Quick [?] Project: Great-Great-Great Grandma's Cradle
K2's 2nd birthday is coming up quick, and I remembered that the wife and I had talked about getting her a cradle for her dolls--her babycount's already surpassed Angelina Jolie and is on its way to Octomom territory. When...
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December 7, 2009
Finally, Secrets Of The Cardboard Play Dome Revealed!
And here, all this time, I thought the secret to making easy, awesome cardboard play domes was the Esko Kongsberg i-XL24 die-less cutting and creasing table. [Actually, I knew that something was missing. Thanks to veteran domologist Tom Camilli's...
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November 30, 2009
Whatever Floats Your CLC Cradle Boat
After hearing that several customers were scaling down the plans for the Eastport Pram to make little rowboat cradles, the fine boat kit builders at Chesapeake Light Craft decided to make an actual cradle kit available. Should take you...
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[read the full post...]
November 15, 2009
Take Me To Your Little Brother's Homemade Spaceship On Etsy
Ah, what are older brothers for? For selling the insane flying saucer playhouse your dad or whoever spent 8 months straight building for you on Etsy for ten grand, that's what. The one with the removable dome, the reclining...
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[read the full post...]
November 1, 2009
That's No Moon
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Darth Vader and the Death Star, originally uploaded by andibob909. Wow. The Force is strong...
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October 28, 2009
But The Spider Didn't Answer
Glad to see NPR funnyman Peter Sagal wasn't too busy not painting his house to put up his Halloween decorations. [via @petersagal via boingboing]...
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October 27, 2009
There's More'n One Way To Make A Plywood Crib
Steve is an excited dad-to-be who wanted to design a crib or changing table that fixed "the one tangible thing about motherhood you [ladies] wish could be changed?" The answer he got back seemed clear enough: "I hate lifting...
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[read the full post...]
October 19, 2009
Yes, Please, Thanks: Lego Kitchen By Simon Pillard & Philippe Rosetti
Damn, but I love/hate the Internet. How a simple idea, beautifully executed, can race around the world in serendipitous hops and jumps, shedding facts and context along the way. I don't know who Philippe Simon and Pillard Rosetti or...
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[read the full post...]
October 13, 2009
Random 1940s See-Saw Still Around, Mistaken For Antique
New Jersey auction house Rago Arts has a $1,000-2,000 estimate on this c. 1940s homemade ply & pine see-saw they're selling in a couple of weeks. Even if it does convert to "a stepping toy," when you flip it...
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September 10, 2009
And A Little Woodworkblogging On The Side
Swedish illustrator Anders Nyberg keeps a blog for all his wacky side projects. Come for the fantastical wooden toys, stay for the giant Lego "thing" Nyberg and his daughter made one Sunday afternoon using all their Lego pieces. Anders Nyberg...
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[read the full post...]
September 8, 2009
The Triumph Of The Crayolatariat
On the Fourth of July, we took the kids to The Crayola Factory: A Hands-on Discovery Center in downtown Easton, Pennsylvania. Though it's impossible to say such crafty entertainment could not be found without three hours in the car, the...
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[read the full post...]
September 1, 2009
Mad World: If Kids Designed Their Own Xmas Toys
Seeing this old Al Jaffe spread from Mad Magazine was an "epiphanic" window into the design process for either Wary or Meyers, I'm not sure which. Also, it was one of the first things she or he picked out...
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[read the full post...]
August 26, 2009
Linux Baby Rocker Stuck In v0.9
Macjonesnz wrote this elegant MythTV code to rock an infant carrier by opening and closing the CD/DVD tray all the way back in January 2008, but it doesn't seem to have been picked up and expanded upon by the...
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[read the full post...]
August 10, 2009
Lovely Parting Gift: Gerrit Rietveld Dollhouse
I thought I'd tracked down every last kid-related design Gerrit Rietveld ever made, but it turns out I'd only covered the furniture, not the dollhouses [!]. Gerrit Rietveld presented the plans for this dollhouse to the Jesse family, repeat...
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[read the full post...]
August 9, 2009
Nomadic Car Furniture: Ford Treasury Of Station Wagon Living
We're Ford country, y'all! This is so awesome, it's like someone slammed on the brakes, and I just got plastered by all the awesomeness bouncing around in the back of the Country Squire Wagon. Lash it down, people! As...
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[read the full post...]
August 5, 2009
Indian Bamboo For Kids By MP Ranjan
Prof. MP Ranjan sounds like the Eames and Enzo Mari of Indian design. Or at least Indian bamboo design. He's the head of the Centre for Bamboo Initiatives at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, where...
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[read the full post...]
July 31, 2009
Why Not...Turn Your Old Clothes Into Diapers?
This early Meiji-era diaper at Sri Threads already sold, but you can follow these simple instructions and make your own, no problem! It's easy and economical, plus it helps the environment! Here's what you'll need: An old yukata summer-weight...
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[read the full post...]
July 26, 2009
ITandem And The Emergence Of Homo Portlandicus
One of the two theories about the emergence of behavioral modernity 50,000 years ago is called the "Great Leap Forward." It posits a sudden major change, like a genetic mutation, perhaps, or linguistic innovation, which triggered a rapid expansion of...
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[read the full post...]
July 25, 2009
Recycled LACMA Bears By Robert Fontenot
When the Los Angeles County Museum of Art decided to deaccession over 100 items from its collection, artist Robert Fontenot was there to scoop them up. He bought over 50 items, mostly from the museum's costumes and textiles department,...
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[read the full post...]
Caulk Sucker Blues
First up, caulk is evil. It is Vonnegut's Ice Nine, Spiderman's nemesis Venom, that mirror in The Matrix, that dropped vial in Moonraker. Alright, I'm clearly scraping the bottom of the analogical barrel now, but it's a disgusting, cascading mess...
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[read the full post...]
July 24, 2009
The AT-AT Imperial Loft Bed
If you have never found yourself cheering for a slideshow before, you haven't seen Bykmandan's making of his son's AT-AT Imperial Loft Bed. Duude. Star Wars Imperial Walker Loft Bed [youtube via dt readers rolf, sara, eric, david, geoff,...
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[read the full post...]
July 6, 2009
The Tip Of The Iceberg
We went to Pennsylvania for the weekend, and one of our stops was The Crayola FACTORY® Hands-On Discovery Center [note: "not the real manufacturing plant"] in Easton. More on that later, but first, The Crayola Store next door, where...
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[read the full post...]
You Gank My Battleship!
The trick with the Monday morning What's New? email blasts from the vintage design gurus at Virginia-based Three Potato Four is realizing that they actually put the items in their online shop Sunday night. Usually, that means the awesome...
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[read the full post...]
July 2, 2009
Why Not...Use A Tool Cart For A Changing Table?
Indeed. Congratulations to Cookie editor Meryl's friend Sara and her husband for this innovative use of an automotive tool cart for a smart, sleek and chic industrial-style changing table! The industrial changing table that launched Daddy Types, which I...
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[read the full post...]
June 30, 2009
Finally, The DT Juddy Crib
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } I just posted some photos from a few months ago of the finished crib/toddler bed...
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[read the full post...]
June 29, 2009
Reference Library, Max Lamb, Enzo Mari At The Selby
The homebrewed messy modernist snake has eaten its tail, and it looks awesome. Andy Beach's April retail colabo in Milan with Apartamento Magazine has now gotten the The Selby treatment. Which means you can see the full-color, reissued awesomeness...
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[read the full post...]
June 28, 2009
Midcentury Family Modernism, Ch. 2: The Stahls
Just in time for several busloads of design pilgrims to troop through it during the CABoom/Dwell on Design festivals, the LA Times has a great article about Buck Stahl and his family who still live in Pierre Koenig's Case...
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[read the full post...]
June 24, 2009
Make Your Own Inaba-style Pool Noodle Rooftop Furniture
A bunch of art world non-profits [as if there were any other kind of organization in the art world at the moment] are holding a big love-in of some kind this week at X Initiative, the old Dia building...
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[read the full post...]
June 17, 2009
Awesome Homebrew Coffee Bar/ Play Kitchen
Come for the chalkboard paint in rainbow colors, stay for the awesome little stainless steel play fridge. Craig was one of the earliest DT reader/contributors, and a big modernist design fan, as you can see from the incredible homemade...
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[read the full post...]
June 13, 2009
Found: That DIY Plywood Bed Set-Up From The 70's
You remember that kind of awesome, Supergraphic-equipped plywood bed the American Plywood Association was propagating in 1975? The one with the optional boxes for TOYS, SHOES, and THINGS? Well, it truly was the Age of Free Plywood Love, because...
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[read the full post...]
June 11, 2009
'Dov Working On Various Construction Projects'
For those who have a hard time imagining American Apparel CEO Dov Charney making anything other than a complete, skanky, sexual harassing ass out of himself, this slideshow of all the crafty toys and furniture he made as a...
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[read the full post...]
June 4, 2009
The Family That Flays Together Stays Together: Freaky One-Eyed Kid Car By Elmer Presslee
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Now how is it that a kid in a music video full of rubber, gore-faced...
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[read the full post...]
June 2, 2009
Wood Paneling Dollhouse
One of the kid's early trademark phrases, which she learned by listening to me call my wife to tell her where we were in our NYC-DC commute, was "Somewhere in New Jersey." Near as I can tell, that's also...
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[read the full post...]
June 1, 2009
Crazy Racers That Go-Go-Go! [Out Of Print]
With the end of preschool approaching, I've been stockpiling some craft and toy and art projects to keep the kid busy. At the flea market today, we scored a couple of pristine, c. 1960 activity books from Whitman Publishing of...
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[read the full post...]
May 31, 2009
Lord Have Murphy! ECS, Eames Contract Storage
"ECS we hope will help architects, designers and school administrators whose planning and maintenance requirements are extraordinary and multitudinous." In an attempt to expand their reach into the dorm and contract furniture market, Herman Miller launched the ECS, the Eames...
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[read the full post...]
May 27, 2009
American Plywood Association Kids' Bed, c. 1975
Dave recently posted some scans on Grain Edit of awesome, vintage vacation house plans from the Douglas Fir Plywood Association . The DFPA changed its name to the American Plywood Association in 1964 when it brought in the new...
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[read the full post...]
May 20, 2009
Futuro House, DIY Futuro House
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Why buy a vintage Futuro House at auction for $50,000, which you'd still have to...
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[read the full post...]
May 19, 2009
25 Pedra De Sal: Portuguese Changing Table X Bicycle Mashup
Except for the linkless mention on Designboom, I can't find any information at all about Jacinta and Casimiro Costa, the parent/designer duo who apparently made this crazy contraption. Dubbed 25 pedra de sal [25 rock crystals], it's a mobile...
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[read the full post...]
May 15, 2009
iPhoney: Gorgeous Handcarved iPhone Teether
This is so beautiful. Corey Jones made a hardwood iPhone for his somebody's daughter to gnaw on. It's so precise, I assumed it was laser-etched, but the flickr photoset says it's all handcarved. Just fantastic. iPhoney photoset on flickr...
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[read the full post...]
May 13, 2009
How To Draw Animals The Robert Lambry Way
In case you're ever called upon to draw some animals, you may want to brush up on this flickr set of scans from Robert Lambry's les Animaux tels qu'ils sont [Animals as they are]. Lambry's instructions were originally made...
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[read the full post...]
May 8, 2009
Faces Tape By Our Children's Gorilla
The Swedish kid's design company Our Children's Gorilla has advertised on Daddy Types before, but they come up with such awesome stuff, sometimes I think I would pay them to write about it. Seriously, I think I'll PayPal them...
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[read the full post...]
April 30, 2009
Living On The Earth [While Mostly Naked, And With A Kid]
As soon as I saw the cover of Alicia Bay Laurel's Living on The Earth at the library sale, I knew I was buying it, and as soon as I opened it and found out the whole thing was...
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[read the full post...]
April 29, 2009
What Do You Make Of This? A Pteradactyl! Custom Crafty Purse
The kid is a non-stop art machine. We are literally drowning in art, which comes home from school in totebag-sized loads, and which has transformed every box that passes through the house. [My printer cartridge box? Now a duplex...
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[read the full post...]
April 22, 2009
Milano Watch 2009: Color Me Villa?
On the bright side, it's nice to see that Magis didn't invent a method for turning petro-plastic into cardboard to make Javier Mariscal's Villa Julia playhouse. On the, uh, not so bright side, the Villa Julia may be the...
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[read the full post...]
April 21, 2009
Recycled? And How: Color Me House Cardboard House Wins Dr. Toy Award, Costco Deal
I've been covering the children's cardboard industry long enough to know that recycling is the norm. What I don't do, though, is go around trading on my purported reputation as a toy expert by anointing straightup knockoffs with meaningless...
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[read the full post...]
April 16, 2009
Oh, BTW, The Juddy Crib Is Done
I guess now that K2's been sleeping in it for a couple of months, it's safe and stable enough to mention that the juddy crib is done. Stay tuned for some more glamour shots and lessons learned. Besides the...
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[read the full post...]
April 13, 2009
A Dollar And A Dream: Dish Towel Baby Clothes
Sure, any In 'n Out Burger employee can make a wrap skirt with a dish towel and a big-ass safety pin. But it only lasts to the end of the shift. But if you're in need of some seriously cheap...
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[read the full post...]
April 4, 2009
The Family That Bikes Together Can't Steer Together
Found this awesome Family-Cycle in a story titled "Eccentric Cycles," which ran in the September 1949 issue of Mechanix Illustrated magazine. It was right under the French guy who strapped a 56-pound, four-tube radio to his bike so he...
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[read the full post...]
March 20, 2009
Daddy Makes: Just Some Jetty, Happens To Be Spiral
I've had this image in my head for a long time, and I thought, with proper steps to assure a transformative work exemption under fair use law, it'd make a great t-shirt for the kids. And sure enough, it...
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[read the full post...]
March 11, 2009
Why Buy A Calder When You Can Make Your Own Abstract Mobile?
From the December 1954 issue of Popular Science, "How to make an abstract mobile," instructions which were preceded by "How to Make a Christmas Tree Mobile": You can really express yourself in an abstract mobile. Unlike the Christmas-tree mobile,...
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March 4, 2009
Jesper K. Thomsen's Play Furniture Will Help You Keep Up Your Poor, Homemade Front
Flaunting one's wealth was always kind of tacky, but in this straitened times, it has become unseemly even to invest in quality. When one's investment banker neighbor has been laid off, it's impolite, not to mention inconsiderate, to be...
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March 2, 2009
DT@CPAC How-To: The NRA Changing Pad
For all the hubbub about focusing on the family, CPAC, the big conservative movement gathering, was almost totally devoid of anything kid-related. I didn't see the 13-year-old kid who was apparently elected to lead the Right out of its...
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[read the full post...]
March 1, 2009
DT @ CPAC: Supporting Your Right To Hunt Baby Gear
So I'm watching Ana Marie Cox's flickr stream fill with photos from CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, and I'm like, "Dude! I known that parking garage-turned-exhibition-hall! It's right down the street!" Sure enough, the same hotel that was...
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[read the full post...]
February 23, 2009
Can Your Mother In-Law Make A Crawligator This Awesome?
A couple of weeks ago, when we started huntin' Crawligators in the Internet swamps of eBay and craigslist, DT commenter John suggested this blog post, where a little kid in the Bay Area named Sibyl was cruising around on...
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February 21, 2009
Well Done, Except For The Obvious: The Staypuff Crib-on-Wheels
Check out this spectacular crib, headsmacking for both its "why didn't I think of that?" practical ingenuity, and "what were they thinking?" name. The Staypuff Crib is a managed forest pine crib built on top of a utility wagon....
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[read the full post...]
February 17, 2009
Friendly Frontier: Climb Every DIY, Inflatable Slide-Equipped Mountain
Friendly Frontier is the second is the artists Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich's Dummy Landscape series. It's an inflatable mountain range, "of the kind so commonly used by nature to divide countries," which is equipped with inflatable evacuation slides....
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February 15, 2009
M-I-C See This Awesome Vintage Mickey Mural
K-E-Y Why? Because as Joey Ellis says, "I love Mickey Mouse and I force my family to like him too." M-O-U-S-E. And what did we learn this week about the arrival of a baby, boys and girls? That you...
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February 14, 2009
They Might Be Monsters: Here Come The A, B, C's by Joey Ellis
While other kids are merely learning the alphabet, graphic designers' kids "study letter forms." And their dads make awesome Letter Monsters to help them. And then their dads go like five extra miles and put their Letter Monsters online...
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[read the full post...]
February 9, 2009
Black Panther Coloring Book: Color The Police! Color, Color, Color The Police!
Depending on which Internet you're on, the Black Panther Coloring Book was either: a forgery by the FBI, mass-mailed to whites in the summer of 1969 to undermine support or the Black Panther Party's political complaints a crazy-unhelpful idea...
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February 7, 2009
Dude Makes Indy Pedal Racer Out Of Pots & Pans
Suh-weet. Hoosier native and kitchen raider Joseph Inhat made a sweet, 1930's Indy-inspired pedal car for a 4-year-old he knows [kid? grandkid?] out of pots, pans, and a maraschino cherry lid. Pictures of the build are at Hemmings' blog....
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[read the full post...]
January 24, 2009
Pudding Khaaaaann!
Suh-weet. What started last fall as a dad putting an offhand doodle on his kids' lunch bags [above] has become true art. Lunch Bag Artist Dad has already broken major new ground in the medium of lunch bag, and...
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[read the full post...]
January 16, 2009
So I Finished The Juddy Crib
Long-time readers of Daddy Types might remember my grand plan to make a sweet, minimalist toddler bed for the kid out of thick slabs of plywood. The design was an adaptation of a Donald Judd daybed [which is visible...
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[read the full post...]
January 15, 2009
Dude Made A Coffee Table From A Stroller!
And by dude, I mean Dutch artist Tina Pireira Filipe. And by stroller, I mean the chassis of a big old pram. And by coffee table, I mean glass-topped coffee table of death for any kid that gets near...
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[read the full post...]
January 12, 2009
Mama Mia! That Is An Awesome Throwback Nursery
Just when you think you've seen all the awesome, old school nurseries the LIFE Magazine photo archive has to offer, Andy finds another one. How did he do it? I have no idea. There's no caption, no date, no...
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[read the full post...]
January 9, 2009
DIY Pre-School & Playground, Topaz Internment Camp, Delta, Utah
The Central Utah Relocation Center near Delta was later renamed Topaz Camp, after Topaz Mountain, which loomed over it to the west. When it opened on Sept. 11, 1942, several rows of tarpaper barracks had been finished and outfitted...
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January 1, 2009
Playing For Kepes
So far, I haven't been able to get the LIFE Magazine photo archive on Google to return more than 200 images at a time. So who knows how many photos Ralph Morse actually took of the awesome nursery Juliet...
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[read the full post...]
December 23, 2008
DIY Bantha Plush: Finally, Something Good Comes From The Star Wars Holiday Special
Anyone who has ever seen the 1978 variety showsploitation travesty that was the Star Wars Holiday Special cannot pretend to have been betrayed by the treacly offenses of baby Annakin and Jar Jar Binks. We knew Lucas had it...
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December 17, 2008
First, Dump Out The Dry Cleaning Solvent: DIY Pedal Car From A 55-Gal Drum
I lost the pictures, but when we went to the Pioneer Day parade in Ivins, Utah last summer, there was, in the parking lot next to the inflatable slide that got so hot in the desert sun, kids would come...
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[read the full post...]
December 16, 2008
Toyota 4Runner MacGuyvered Into 3rd World Incubator
Trying to save newborns and preemies in developing countries from preventable deaths by donating crappy old incubators apparently doesn't work. Even if they work, no one ever sends the manual. But really, the things break down pretty quickly, and there's...
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[read the full post...]
December 11, 2008
Crochet A Circle. Crochet A Circle Now. YGG OG Amigurumi
Wow. I wanna go to the crocheting party in etsy seller Crafty Is Cool's tummy, too. Sure, she's created plans and kits for making your own amigurumi versions of Yo Gabba Gabba! characters. Which is great. But if you...
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Make Your Own "Traveling Playpen"!
DT reader Moni flagged this in the September 1951 issue of Popular Mechanics. It's a do-it-yourself "traveling playpen" made from a couple of pieces of hinged plywood, custom fitted to the dimensions of your car's rear seat. The article...
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Back When I Was A Boy, We Built Our Own Damn Cribs!
As you may know, Google has begun scanning magazine archives, something which was apparently completely impossible until this year. Among the first batch are the venerable DIY bibles, Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. If it doesn't give you an...
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[read the full post...]
December 2, 2008
Makey The Make Magazine Mascot Shirts
Main man Mark made Makey the Make Magazine mascot. Magnifico! Makey: infant shirt, just $5; kids shirt, just $6! [makershed.com via the make mailing list]...
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[read the full post...]
November 25, 2008
Fantastique! Papa Built His Kids A Birds Nest In 70's France
Readers of the previous Ikea post may have the mistaken impression that I disapprove of the "shipping palette aesthetic." Pas de tout. I mean, just check out this insane kids room built by a dad somewhere in France sometime in...
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Ikea Store Ikeahack? Play Kitchen Made From Something Else
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Ikea play kitchen in the Elizabeth City, NJ store, originally uploaded by daddytypes. When I...
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November 22, 2008
Quirky Canada Has Own Laws, Crazy, Calder-Inspired Sideways Circus
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } circus, originally uploaded by Rob Cruickshank. If it weren't in Canada, and thus even colder...
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November 21, 2008
Before MTV, There Was Life Cribs
Here's a short thematic post from the archives of Life featuring some of the cribs of our parents' generation which serves as a roundabout tribute to the CPSC: I'm guessing that after Leonard Mccombe's 1957 photo of "Babysitter Judy...
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[read the full post...]
November 18, 2008
Muji ABC & Kanji Stamp Sets
You know the old saying: there are no atheists in Muji Xmas Gift Departments. Once again, the minimalist, eco-friendly, no-frills retailer has come up with a giant mountain of stuff I want to buy. First up in the Mujimix: great...
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[read the full post...]
November 13, 2008
Cookie In The Oven?
The upscale online boutique Stupid.com is selling this fetus-shaped cookie cutter for $10, and that's all I'll have to say about that. update: Except to add that Jason Higgins, the creator of Fetal Bites, The Original Fetus-shaped Cookie Cutter,...
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[read the full post...]
November 12, 2008
Stroll In A Circle, Stroll In A Circle Now
Apparently dissatisfied with the performance of the current offerings on the Neglect-o-matic market, Evan Staul decided to take matters into his own hands. And so with little more than a cordless drill, a cheap-ass umbrella stroller, and an extra...
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[read the full post...]
November 11, 2008
Hey, Little Buddy! Mingei Bamboo Stool/High Chair
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A tale of a shopping trip Involving Euro Modernists and architects--so hip. The greatest: Charlotte Perriand, Designed Corb's furniture. Bruno Taut also sailed that way For an East Asian tour,...
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[read the full post...]
November 2, 2008
Whoops, Missed The [OG Milk Crate] Potty
There's milk crates, and then there's Milk Crates. The brands branded [is that where that term comes from?] on the sides of some of the crates used to make this old potty chair date to the turn of the...
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[read the full post...]
October 31, 2008
Mega Nerd Dad Makes Mega Cool Mega Man Costume For Kid
Wow. Kevin Craine made old school video game costumes for himself and his two sons. But so far, he's only posted the build and demo for his 3-yo son's insane Mega Man costume online. The giant boots, the sweet,...
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The Kid Designed Her Own Halloween Costume This Year
Until she went to the dinosaur museum in St. George, Utah on our visit to the grandparents, the kid was going to be that easiest of all Halloween staples--a ghost. Then suddenly, a few days after we got back,...
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[read the full post...]
October 26, 2008
Mini Mies: Dad Builds A Farnsworth Dollhouse
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } exterior 1, originally uploaded by j&mgorman. Josh's' son Camden is almost two and getting into...
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October 25, 2008
On The Road With Misters T And JDG
Jim found a 1983 coloring book, On The Road With Mr. T in a thrift store. "The captions were incredibly boring," he says, "so I rewrote some of them." And how. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine...
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[read the full post...]
October 17, 2008
What's The Story With The Four-Armed Swami Counting To Twenty?
Alright, so I'm a little obsessed with what is admittedly my favorite old school Sesame Street animation ever: the four-armed swami counting to 20. But what can I do? To this day, I don't say "Once, doce, trece, catorce"...
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[read the full post...]
September 28, 2008
Took The Kid To Crafty Bastards, Er, "The Craft Fair"
So the kid and I went to Crafty Bastards after church today. We were overdressed and underinked. Still, we got to meet Spooky Daddy in person, which was awesome. He was working the puppetmaster thing pretty spectacularly, and it...
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[read the full post...]
September 27, 2008
Yet Another Rietveld Kids Chair [And Table!]
Just got my copy of the 2001 edition of Peter Drijver and Johannes Niemeijer's How to construct Rietveld Furniture; it's pretty sweet. There are designs and plans for 38 pieces, including four kid-specific designs: two high chairs and two toys,...
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[read the full post...]
September 19, 2008
And So Comfortable! Dad Builds Awesome, Kid-Sized Rietveld Chair
First, let me apologize to all the people who love nothing more than curling up in their Rietveld chairs; they apparently only look unsittable. As little Hugo above demonstrates, they are the height of seated comfort. After mulling it...
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[read the full post...]
September 17, 2008
The Awesomely Unsittable High Chairs Of Gerrit Rietveld
The world--if I may speak for the world for a moment--may have Gerrit Rietveld all backwards. The world sees Rietveld as a leading furniture designer and architect of the geometric purity-obsessed De Stijl movement who just happened to make...
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[read the full post...]
September 15, 2008
Crate Chair Junior By Gerrit Rietveld, Reissued By Other Rietvelds
In 1934, the Dutch architect and furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld sought to combine the utopian geometric elementalism of de Stijl with an economics and authenticity of material by--look, everyone was broke, so he made furniture out of wood from...
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[read the full post...]
September 12, 2008
Welcome Back To School, Children! Our First Lesson: The Baby Box
Apparently, the annoyances of blogs in the 2000's--hyperbole, lack of context, not linking back, acting like you're the first to discover everything--is merely a speeded up re-enactment of magazine stories in the 1940's. Take, for example, this March 1947...
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[read the full post...]
September 6, 2008
This Is Neil Fraser's Brain On Blocks. Any Questions?
Neil Fraser had an MRI, then he laminated his various cross-sectional scans onto a stack of 1" wooden blocks. Now he can do nifty tricks like cut away 3D models of the inside of his head. Wooden Brain [neil.fraser.name...
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[read the full post...]
September 4, 2008
Little Riggin': UK Dad Makes A Mini Foden Just Like His
After 150 years of British lorrymaking, Foden ceased production in 2006. Which, coincidentally? is when a truck driving dad in Herefordshire named Paul started making a kid-sized replica of his own Foden rig. Now it's done, and it looks...
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[read the full post...]
August 30, 2008
Feet Shirt
Why should delivery room nurses and their paperwork have all the fun? Congratulations to Andy, Erin and Elsa, and welcome, Astrid!...
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[read the full post...]
August 27, 2008
Vintage DIY Scooter: They Don't Make Them Like They Used To
Instructions: Take one set of roller skate wheels, an old handlebar, a 2x4, some boards. Add a bent sheet of tin to give it that proper Ralph Kramden Drives This Bus snout, then paint it with whatever's left over...
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[read the full post...]
August 25, 2008
But There's No P-Train! NYC Subway Map Rendered In German Bathroom Tiles
NY Times illustrator and subway fanatic spawner Christoph Niemann is at it again. Last month, it was his awesome story-in-paint, "The Boys And The Subway," which detailed his young sons' fascination with the New York City subway system. Now...
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[read the full post...]
August 22, 2008
La Grande Petite: The Smaller Minivan Canada Couldn't Wait For Any Longer
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Super short wheelbase Plymouth Voyager Minivan, originally uploaded by dave_7. Whether it's complaining about the...
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AWE.SOME. Vintage Go-Cart-To-Stroller Conversion At Hemmings
Hemmings Motor News, the bible of the classic car world, just launched a new title: Hemmings Fifties-Era Midget Race Car Into 21st Century Hot Rod Stroller News. There's only one issue so far, but I'm hereby signing up for...
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[read the full post...]
August 19, 2008
Crocheted Katamari Prince/ss Cap
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Katamari Prince(ss) of All Cosmos!, originally uploaded by Veronica M. Crochetblogger/meganerd/new mom Veronica and her...
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[read the full post...]
August 14, 2008
Das Boot Mit Zwei Kinder
The NY Times has a nice-but-crazy story about artist Brad Hwang and his family who live aboard the Odin, a 98-foot barge in Berlin. Hwang built out most of the spaces himself, starting with the playroom for the two...
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[read the full post...]
August 13, 2008
Karmazing! Little India Kali Plush Doll By Leeanna Butcher
See? Not everyone riffing on Sanjay Patel's awesome little Little India Hindu deities is knocking them off. Plush artist Leeanna Butcher went to art school with Patel, and he recently asked her to create this plush incarnation of Kali,...
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[read the full post...]
August 12, 2008
DIY Sun Canopy Mashup: Phil & Teds & Jeep
Once the euphoria of stacking two kids into one strollerspace wears off, many Phil & Teds users start thinking about improvements: like figuring out a sun canopy for the rear seat so their other kid doesn't fry. Some track...
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[read the full post...]
August 9, 2008
Look, I'm Your Father's Darth Vader Stained Glass Window
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Darth Vader Stained Glass Window, originally uploaded by axoplasm. Finally, a decades-later Star Wars sequel...
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[read the full post...]
August 7, 2008
Some Assembly Required: The Porcupine Playdome
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Waiting for The Last Hex, originally uploaded by daddytypes. Alright, I've finally got my photos...
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[read the full post...]
August 1, 2008
Vaders Shorter Than A Light Saber? Must Be Comic-Con Season
Since the 31st anniversary of Star Wars doesn't have quite the convention draw as the 30th, we've had to wait until Comic-Con to see fanbois' kids dressed up in little stormtrooper and Darth Vader costumes. Star Wars Blog has...
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[read the full post...]
July 24, 2008
DT On Location: Pioneer Day Festival In Ivins, Utah
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } jeans quilt for sale in the Ivins town Pioneer Day celebration, originally uploaded by daddytypes....
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[read the full post...]
July 20, 2008
Wow, Wow What Have We Here? Plush Noggin 'Clones'
When you've been sewing for 50 years like Gramma Ruth, you don't "knock off" anything, least of all the so-far unlicensed, unmonetized characters of some media conglomerate-come-lately like Nickelodeon. No, when you make your own homebrew plush versions of...
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[read the full post...]
July 13, 2008
From Ortho, Makers Of America's Favorite Herbicide, Comes America's Favorite DIY PoMo Cradle
When you're a dad-to-be with a nursery to outfit, the most important thing is to go with a name you can trust. That's why Ortho, a division of the Chevron Chemical Corporation, and the maker of Round-Up, America's favorite herbicide,...
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[read the full post...]
July 8, 2008
The Difference Between Campana And Country
So about this chair: I always keep my eyes out for a good base that I could use to make a kid-size Campana Brothers-style stuffed animal chair. I'd imagined using either Takashi Murakami plush dolls or Ugly Dolls, but...
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[read the full post...]
July 7, 2008
Finn Jet: Born From Mercedes
By now, I'm sure you've seen the crazed, 4-axle GM van conversion on eBay, the one with the sauna and shower in the trailer, "so that your wife can take a shower while you are driving"? [jalopnik is preserving...
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[read the full post...]
Ever-Innovative Pampers Invents Way For You To Buy Fewer Diapers
note: this post began as a link roundup, but the topics were so far-flung, I broke them all out into separate posts. The glass-half-empty crowd at Consumerist is treating the shrinking Pampers count as a sneaky, 5% price increase [from...
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[read the full post...]
July 3, 2008
Can We Enamel It? YES WE CAN! Hello Kitty Tonka Truck
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } GVWR Payload Testing, originally uploaded by Telstar Logistics. Uh-uh. I guess when your dad's the...
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[read the full post...]
June 26, 2008
Garden Gnomes Not Included: Sweet Community Playthings Tractor On eBay
Dayton, Ohio bidders will have the advantage on this awesome, old Community Playthings ride-on tractor. Though it's just under 11 inches high, all that maple lumber and those chunky Firestone tires will cost a bundle to ship. Maybe when...
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[read the full post...]
June 17, 2008
So THAT's What's In Crinkly Books
Sheesh, NonToxicReviews makes me feel so unproductive. I don't know what you did last weekend, but Mr. Stinkhead created PDF's and howto's for two awesome DIY kid's books in the course of just three days--and the one day he...
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[read the full post...]
June 16, 2008
DT Renegade Craft Fair Round-up
Staging the Renegade Craft Fair in the Pool at McCarren Park Pool is a great way to crystallize the cultural divide that is Williamsburg: you walk through thousands of Hispanic families camped out under every tree in the park,...
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[read the full post...]
June 11, 2008
Rad Mod Play Table & Stools At Hi+Lo Modern
Here's where I'd normally suggest that buying this sweet, vintage table and stool set for just $80, and installing it in your kid's room. But they're only 1 1/2 inches high, so you'd probably store them in your kid's...
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[read the full post...]
June 10, 2008
Freakin. Awesome. Banaue Filipino Like-A-Biker Gang
So you want to talk about wooden walking bikes? Kevin Kelly's got a small but amazing collection of photos of Like-A-Bike-like wooden bikes from all over the world. [If you're a bike entrepreneur looking for a way to out-maneuver...
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[read the full post...]
June 7, 2008
Kid's Wall Unit From Shipping Pallets
As this awesome wall-mounted shelving/desk structure demonstrates, Wouter's "palletsized research" is really paying off. I just hope he reclaims some sandpaper while he's at it. Pallet-based construction and design by Wouter, featured on The Raw Foundation [rawprojects.org, via andy]...
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[read the full post...]
May 15, 2008
Handknit Dissected Frog On Etsy, 100% Formaldehyde-Free
It's made with wool, not formaldehyde and that weird, snappy blood vessel rubber, so this dissected frog is totally safe for the the kid's room. And when she becomes a little animal rights activist, she'll have an unassailable argument...
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[read the full post...]
May 12, 2008
The Playhouse That Love Built In The Garage
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } playhouse - full view, originally uploaded by shanecyr. A trip to Lowe's and a weekend...
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[read the full post...]
May 7, 2008
DTQ: What Do You Think Of Your Dozuki?
So I'm still kicking around the idea of building a dining table using a design by Enzo Mari [see some longwinded discussion of it here.] It's supposed to be made out of plain, unfinished pine lumber, which you can...
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[read the full post...]
May 6, 2008
Daddy Improvises: The Ikea Stroller
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Ikeahack: Car Seat + Ikea Bag + Cart = Stroller, originally uploaded by daddytypes. Here's...
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[read the full post...]
May 5, 2008
Tetris Baby Blanket
Kayster is a crafting genius. I mean, every time I sit down to crochet a Tetris baby blanket, I get a row done, and it just disappears. Very annoying. Topic: Tetris blanket [craftster.org via wonderland]...
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[read the full post...]
April 28, 2008
Sweet Vintage Ply: Childcraft Nesting Chair Blocks
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Childcraft Nesting Chair Blocks, circa 1974, originally uploaded by daddytypes. I just got a fat...
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[read the full post...]
April 22, 2008
Play-Dodecahedron! The Popular Science Meditator By Ken Isaacs
"'Bye for now,' says the man of the house as he retreats into think tank. Though it dominates a room, it can be quickly disassembled. At [right] Isaacs contemplates interior collage." Ken Isaacs, is there anything modular and plywood...
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[read the full post...]
April 21, 2008
I'm Kenny Scharf's Kid-Sized Gumby Chair, Dammit!
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Keith Haring, originally uploaded by mario.mc. So obviously, I found this photo of Keith Haring...
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[read the full post...]
April 14, 2008
Ikeahackable? Laptop Workstation-Into-Diaper Workstation?
I know what you were thinking--or at least I know you know what I was thinking--when you saw that new Ikea PS series Laptop Workstation on minor details last week: sweet, but could you make a wall-mounted changing table...
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[read the full post...]
April 6, 2008
Dad The Builder: Can You Fix This?
Clive Thompson, who just wrote an article for Wired about the resurgence of DIY culture, points to an excellent essay by Matthew B. Crawford, "Shop Class As Soulcraft," which ran in 2006 in The New Atlantis, A Journal on Technology...
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[read the full post...]
March 27, 2008
Where's Childsply When You Need It?
Robin Day's Rocking Bird Childpsly Chair, 1999, for twentytwentyone, via For an extremely awesome-sounding collection of affordable, sustainable, kid-related design that's not even ten years old, Childsply is pretty-near invisible on the web. Childsply was the name of a...
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March 26, 2008
Built-In And/Or Wheeled Nursery By Merge Architects
Judging by her firm's online porfolio, Merge Architects principal Elizabeth Whittaker has never designed a plywood loft built-in she didn't like. And that apparently goes for her own kid's nursery, too. The April issue of Boston Magazine features awesome...
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March 21, 2008
WooHoo! DIY Crib Of Death Takes Design*Sponge Bronze
Let's all celebrate with mom-to-be Melissa, whose hand-painted, death-slat-equipped, fallout-optimized, mini-crib won 3rd Prize in Design*Sponge's recent DIY Project Contest. I'm sure she'll use the $300 prize money to buy some infill slats. I think we've all learned an...
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March 19, 2008
D'Oh! Missed The Thunderball Wallpaper Auction
I'd flagged this eBay listing for posting, and then I totally missed it in the whirlwind of family that descended on us over the weekend: five rolls of Thunderball wallpaper, circa 1965, were sold on Saturday as part of...
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March 18, 2008
Sugoi: Japanese Folk Toy Design Database
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } halloweenesque octopus, originally uploaded by peacay. FYI, "sugoi" means "great!" and is used sort of...
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March 14, 2008
Average Weight Of Ineke Hans Furniture Drops Dramatically
Dutch designer Ineke Hans' Black Beauties collection, begun in 2000, was one of the first significant attempts to make cool, contemporary furniture for kids. The chairs, tables, and rocking toys are made out of heavy-duty, black, recycled plastic--which weighs...
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March 12, 2008
Ooh, Will Homemade Crib Of Death Win Design*Sponge's DIY Contest??
Killer crib, dude! Vote now, and help turn Design*Sponge's DIY contest into a potentially lifesaving learning opportunity for everyone about the safety hazards posed by crib slats that are more than the government-mandated 2 3/8 inches apart [head gets...
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March 10, 2008
Crosley Davidson: "I'm As Happy As A New Daddy!"
"On the hood, you will see the brown extends down the front. It follows the outline of the 'CROSLEY' badge that goes there. I'm as happy as a new daddy!!!!" That's Barry "Bearman" Dennis talking about the new paint job...
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March 8, 2008
The Custom Playmobil Kid Is Not My Son
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Mobison 3-1, originally uploaded by 091. Playmo91 is a mad Playmobil customizer in Taiwan who...
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March 7, 2008
Ausgezeichnet! Phidibus Bassinet Converts To Rocker, Bench, Desk
"Aus 1 mach 4" is right! When it comes to children's furniture, the German penchant for convertibility uber alles is well known. [uh, citation needed] So let's just point out the obvious about the Phidibus 4-in-1 bassinet/rocking bench/bench/desk made...
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March 6, 2008
Oh My Heck! Extreme Yo Gabba Gabba! Craftiness
If their rabidly crafty fans keep up this pace, Yo Gabba Gabba! may never need to bother putting out actual merchandise at all; instead they can be like PBS painting guru Bob Ross, making mad bank by selling raw materials--paints,...
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HAHAHAHA! "Luke... You're My Father"!
See, it's awesome because really, Vader is Luke's... uh, right then. Major maker geek Steve Lodefink is guestblogging on Mister Jalopy and Mark Frauenfelder's new blog, Dinosaurs and Robots. In other words, Flashlightsabers, Water Rocket Parties and Coconut Shell...
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February 29, 2008
Do You Know Who Makes This Molded Ply, Fold-Down Changing Table?
Someone emailed me recently asking if there were any cool fold-down changing tables. The Man On The Television says you should just make one yourself. [Frankly, after seeing the results, I'm not convinced. "Wasted Spaces"?? You could dock an aircraft...
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February 26, 2008
DT Followups: Outsized Efforts Edition
Here are some follow-ups to recent posts on DT: From the NYT report that after spending several years and millions of dollars, Korean scientists have developed space kimchi:Ordinary kimchi is teeming with microbes, like lactic acid bacteria, which help fermentation....
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Handknit Sackboy From LittleBigPlanet
To those PlayStation 3 people who have been waiting like a year for LittleBigPlanet to be released, you'll be relieved to know the delay is not due to a sudden breakout of knitting circles in the Media Molecule offices;...
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February 24, 2008
DIY Dad-To-Be Loses Study, Gains Sweet Oeuf-like Built-in Crib
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes someone losing his home office to the new baby. This time, it's a dad-to-be and hardcore DIY'er named Jason, who is filling flickr with updates on the transformation of a narrow...
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February 21, 2008
What Does Daddy Do With All His Playmobil?
Finally, Mr. Stinkhead has figured out what to do with his massive Playmobil collection while his son is still in the Serious Choke Hazard Stage. he set up little dioramas, took some pictures, and made a little book called,...
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February 20, 2008
A Long Time Ago In A Star Wars Tie-In Pitch To Pepsi Far, Far Away
I think we can all agree that, in retrospect, a Jabba the Hutt beanbag chair would have sold far more Pepsi than a life-size mannequin of Jar Jar Binks, even though Jabba wasn't even in Episode One [d'oh, I've...
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February 18, 2008
"Fabricators' Kids Have The NICEST Bikes."
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Vanilla Cycles 001, originally uploaded by brianwickman. The North American Handmade Bicycle Show was held...
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February 17, 2008
DTQ: What To Do About The Plastic Bottle Crisis?
It figures that just as we get back into the swing of the baby bottle phase, and we break out a new pack of the Playtex Ventaire bottles--in mix-and-match pastel colors--a new study comes oot of Canada showing that all...
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February 14, 2008
Ay Caramba! Behold, El Miniboo
Though I've blocked the pain from my mind, longtime readers of DT may be familiar with the trials of the original Mini-boo, the toy-sized Bugaboo I tried to make one Christmas from one of those Riesenthel picnic baskets at...
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February 12, 2008
It's Fun To Crochet A Muno Amigurumi, And That's How You Do It
I'm no expert, but I think if you have the Brother NC-7340 printer/scanner/fax/crocheter set up on your network, you just load whatever color of yarn you need--in this case, red-- and cut & paste this crocheting code from Craftster,...
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February 9, 2008
Come To Papa: The Only Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3 Wagon
Wow. The Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3 was the stealth supercar predecessor to the better known muscle car from the late seventies, the 450SE 6.9. From a single prototype in 1967, about 6,500 cars were sold over the four year...
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February 7, 2008
They Sure Don't Make'em Like They Used To: c1946 Cardboard Bassinet
It's my kid in a box, baby! From the 1946 advice book, Mother and Baby Care In Pictures, comes this cardboard box done up as a crib:An improvised bed made from a corrugated carton by an ingenious father. Not...
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February 5, 2008
Dad Van Or Rad Van? The Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter CDi
You know what's been lost in the whole minivan era? A suitable appreciation of the maxivan. Back in the day, when the customized Dodge van was a-rockin', you knew not to come knockin'. Ahh, good times. Now it turns...
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January 30, 2008
Crafty Rec Room Masterpiece: Atari Breakout Pillow
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Crafting 365 Day 010, originally uploaded by jackrabbit.etsy.com. Holy smokes, It's like I'm eight years...
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January 28, 2008
Did Buckminster Fuller Really Design A Crib Called The Kiddie Koop?
Kut the krazy krap; you've got to be kidding: Buckminster Fuller, the father of the geodesic dome, was also the creator [kreator?] of the Kiddie Koop crib? The Kiddie Koop made by the Trimble Nurseryland Furniture Co. of Rochester, NY?...
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January 26, 2008
On Etsy, Pacman, And The Law Of Comparative Advantage
As a free market economy develops and becomes more efficient, participants begin to specialize, providing those inputs to which they are most optimally suited, relatively speaking. To update an example of the great neoclassical economist Paul Samuelson, you probably could...
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January 24, 2008
The Baby Zebra Skin Rug Is Just The Beginning
So I'm looking at Dwell's new baby zebraskin rug [coming to Target next month, just $180!] and wondering "Seriously, is that somehow not supposed to be a reference to the skin of a baby zebra?" I worried if I...
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January 23, 2008
Whoa, Dad Made His Own Oeuf Crib
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } The Crib, originally uploaded by Burton F.. I'm slow to the game, obviously, but I'm...
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[read the full post...]
January 16, 2008
Awesome Ikea Quilt Hack
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Numbers quilt, originally uploaded by stitchindye. I've always liked this Ikea numbers fabric, except that...
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January 11, 2008
So About That Juddy Plywood Crib...
When we last saw the Donald Judd daybed-inspired plywood toddler bed I was trying to get made, it looked like this: Just out of sight to the left is the meter, ticking away as I contemplated the invisibility of various...
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January 10, 2008
My Mom Made This Rather Awesome Quilt For The New Kid
My mom likes to make a quilt for each grandchild. As we were sweating over what design to go with and our--ok, my--ingracious inability to get enthused about the traditional quilty patterns was probably getting on her nerves, I...
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January 1, 2008
Via Toy Box, Now Available In Chalkboard Black
L: before, R: after I had decided to repaint the red doors on the kids' Via Toy Box cube tower, and though I had some glossy Ralph Lauren black paint left over after refinishing all the doors in the...
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December 30, 2007
Awesome Ndebele Cardboard House From Driade
The men of the south Ndebele tribe of South Africa are responsible for building dried mud house compounds for their families, while the women are charged with decorating it with the tribe's distinctive, bold geometric patterns. Inspired by this...
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December 20, 2007
Saks To Be You: Club Libby Lu Exec Discovers Joys Of Online Sock Puppetry
Well, if a "concerned" mom who was interested in the tween skankover mall chain Club Libby Lu because her daughter "was considering working there," and who had "read some horrible things online" took time during the busy holiday season to...
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[read the full post...]
December 13, 2007
Nanny Rockers Not Just In Wicker Anymore, Before
Master craftsman Scott Morrison describes his awesome Rocker Cradle this way: Here I updated a 1700's stlye Windsor Nanny Rocker using Sam Maloof's Classic Rocking Chair design as a basis. I wanted to add interest by creating different shapes...
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December 12, 2007
Wait, So Did He Build The Plexiglass Playhouse?
From a photo tour of a Massachusetts family's loft, which is in a converted elementary school, Apartment Therapy, March 2005:That huge cardboard tube is going to be an access route through which the kids will crawl to reach a...
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Ted Sears' Awesome Homemade Christmas Cards
Wow. Ted Sears was an animator and the first head of the story department at Walt Disney Studios. According to his IMDb bio, he was very influential in the adoption by the film industry of storyboards. He wrote the...
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December 9, 2007
Microdorm 2: Ken Isaacs' Living Structure For Kids
In 1963, Isaacs was contacted by a University of Chicago child psychiatrist, who wanted to provide individual work/play/living/storage spaces for handicapped and disabled children in state institutions. The resulting design was two 35 5/8" plywood cubes with storage spaces...
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December 3, 2007
It's My Hippie Kid In A Box! Ken Isaacs' Living Structures
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Where are all the hippie visionaries when you need'em? In the 50's and 60's, designer...
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November 26, 2007
DT Checklist: Fixing Torn Bugaboo Foam?
H is for Holy Crap, we're gonna have another kid in a few weeks. My wife's now solidly in the Alien stage, where you can see her belly writhing from across the room. Superficially speaking, we're ready for the new...
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November 23, 2007
Supergraphic Wall Painting System Contains Everything An Expert Canadian Wallpainter Needs!
My elementary school had swoopy graphics like this once, I think. And according to the box, Canadian designer Ted Butler's complete Supergraphic set makes it super easy to create your very own Electric Company-ish graphics, "even if you've never...
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November 18, 2007
Paperpod Singlehandedly Revives The British Cardboard Spaceship Industry
Just as they once ruled the seas, the British once led the world in the development of the cardboard playspace race. The date was 1969, and while the US was fiddling around with some moon landing or another, the...
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November 14, 2007
British And Knittish And Looking For An iPhone?
Right this way. Thanks for stopping by. It's four months on, and our 3-year-old daugther still loves her iPhone, by the way. The iPhone You Won't Have To Queue For [guardian.co.uk]...
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[read the full post...]
November 12, 2007
My First Real World Of Color Boardbook
This is so sweet. One of my biggest gripes about the whole DK My First Whatever Book series is the ridiculous absence of logos. I know exactly why it's the way it is, but it still bugs; it just...
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November 11, 2007
Hopscotch & Bugs: From The Awesome Carpet Files Of Ms. Karin Mannerstal
The kid's been learning to hop on one foot at pre-pre-school this year. So this sweet Hopscotch carpet by Karin Mannerstall, uh, really jumped out at me on swissmiss. It's part of the Play series Mannerstall did for the...
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November 7, 2007
Some Puzzle Furniture From Tokyo Designers Week
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } puzzle pillows, originally uploaded by INV/ALT. Hmm, maybe I won't try so hard to find...
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November 5, 2007
Borat's Stuffed Thong, Or Knitted Icons: The Most Complete List
Alright, I notice there is no comprehensive list of all 25 celebrity doll patterns in Carol Meldrum's book, Knitted Icons: 25 Celebrity Doll Patterns. So I've compiled what I can from the various write-ups, which only make me wonder...
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November 4, 2007
DTQ: Chinatown Shopping Bag Furniture?
Alright, design gurus, I'm stumped. I swear I remember someone stuffing foam blocks into these dollar store plaid nylon shopping bags and making a sofa and chairs. It was a few years ago, maybe even Y2K, and I think...
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November 3, 2007
It's My City In A Box, Baby!
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } , originally uploaded by asa*. Alright, the punch-out cardboard toy in a box student project...
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November 1, 2007
OK, Seriously. Do Any Kids Watch Yo Gabba Gabba On Their Own?
The only Muno & Plex face painting I did at the kid's preschool pumpkin party was on myself. Lumpyhead's mom makes his DJ Lance Rock costume. And above, DT reader Jonathan and his East Village dadfriend were both rocking...
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October 31, 2007
The Night Some Kid Wore His Wolf Suit: Etsy/Babble Halloween Costume Contest Winners
Babble was a sponsor of the baby & kid's division of etsy's homemade Halloween costume contest. The winners were announced today, too late for you to steal an idea for your own kid, sorry. The winner's on the left....
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Making DJ Lance Rock Costumes Is AWESOME!
Orange fuzzy hats off to DJ Lance Rock Lumpyhead. Very niice. [lumpyhead via jason]...
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October 30, 2007
Plush Companion Cube [Non-Weighted]
Some noob with awesome sewing skills posted a picture of this sweet, plush Companion Cube [from the X-Box 360 game Portal] to the papercraft/origami section of rambunctious anime fansite 4chan, where Kotaku picked it up. The result: a foul-mouthed...
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[read the full post...]
October 28, 2007
Sweet DIY Slot-Together Cardboard Play Kitchen
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Toy Kitchen 2, originally uploaded by annam42. Very nice. Anna, a craftblogging mom who knows...
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October 27, 2007
Yo Gabba Gabba! Hoodies: I Swear, I Had NO Idea
Obviously, a brilliant design, though I gotta say, I think it works better as a t-shirt. From the Kidrobot November Releases announcement [kidrobot.com via boingboing, thanks jason] Previously: Winner of the DT DIY Muno Lisa t-shirt...
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[read the full post...]
October 26, 2007
Graffiti Coloring Book
It's one of the things that bugs me most about DC: the graffiti in our neighborhood just plain sucks. No style at all, just one nervous hoodlum's crappy black spraypainted tag on every newspaper box. If I thought it'd...
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We Have A Winner...
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Yo Gabba Gabba Muno Shirt, originally uploaded by super-structure. ...and that winner's dad has a...
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[read the full post...]
October 22, 2007
RAW Clothing, Awesome Handmade Gifts, By My Modern Life
My Modern Life is an eBay seller in Lincoln Nebraska who first crossed my radar when she posted some vintage toys in insanely great condition by Creative Playthings and Kay Bojesen. As if that wasn't awesome enough, My Modern...
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[read the full post...]
October 19, 2007
Suh-Weeet. Modern Design Alphabet By Blue Ant Studio
This is so great. Joel created it for his daughter Isabella. Though I could get nitpicky about why G is for Gehry when K is for Konstantin, the truth is, I don't know how to pronounce Grcic, either. And...
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She's Baaack! ModMom Designs, Builds Owyn Toy Box
See, was that so hard? Kiersten at Mod Mom Furniture is making kid furniture in her garage again, furniture that's even based on her own designs. And it's not bad at all. As before, you can buy with confidence,...
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[read the full post...]
October 12, 2007
Eames High Chair? Sure, Just Get A Saw...
Eames Hack is part of a DIY-focused charette by a team of industrial design students at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. They modded two iconic Eames chairs with the intent of liberating "these once iconic, elite, forms." And...
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[read the full post...]
October 8, 2007
See-Through Predator Plush
See-through Predator from robertogreco on Vimeo. Bwahaha, medical ethics and bodily integrity implications aside, this is awesome. See-Through Predator is a wolf whose teeth were removed so he wouldn't bite his prey, and whose stomach was replaced with a...
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[read the full post...]
October 4, 2007
Recycling? Finish Your Self Junior Cardboard Chair & Nomadic Furniture Cardboard Car Seat
This was on BabyGadget a little while ago, the FYS Finish Your Self Junior chair made of recycled cardboard--oh wait, no, it's "100% recyclable"--by David Graas, an Amsterdam designer interested in environmentally sound products, or as he puts it...
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[read the full post...]
October 3, 2007
Eyes On The Prize: The Muno Lisa
So what better prize for the unofficial YGG! contest than an unofficial YGG! T-shirt? Basically, it's made with a stencil cut from the iron-on transfer images on the Nick Jr. site. If you make one yourself--possibly because you don't...
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[read the full post...]
Hand-Painted Restaurant High Chair In Springville, Utah
The kid and I went to Springville, Utah last week, in the Provo metropolitan area [sic, but less and less sic every time I go back]. La Casita #1 is still a reliable source of decent Mexican food, and...
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[read the full post...]
October 2, 2007
Free Burma Marching Monks Stencil T-Shirt
I needed to practice making the YGG! contest prize--see those stencils on the left?--so I tested a stencil on one of the kid's American Apparel shirts. It's from the blog Saffron Revolution Worldwide, which was an early, active resource...
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[read the full post...]
October 1, 2007
Waiting For The Boardbook: Beckett For Babies
Haha, of course, who else but Samuel Beckett could make sense of the first four months of parenthood? Here's mom/blogger Stephany Aulenback talking about the boardbook she conceived [heh], Beckett for Babies:Beckett's work is bleak yet comic, much like...
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Are Crafters The New Carnies?
Seems like we missed the Crafty Bastards Craft Fair down in DC yesterday. For a second, I thought I should be bummed, but then I realized there are about 10,000 edgy craft fairs popping up all over the country...
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[read the full post...]
ElmoSapien: What'd I Tell You? Gotta Watch Out For The Robots
The wholly independent human robot modders of RobotsRule.com have loaded a harmless, hilarious Elmo personality into the RoboSapien, then they chopped up an Elmo hand puppet, and created a fleece RoboSapien bodysuit to complete the transformation. It's all good-natured...
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[read the full post...]
September 29, 2007
Thomas The Tank Engine Of The People's Glorious Revolution
Awesome:I hate Thomas. These stories, written from the 1940s by an apparently rather crusty old vicar, seem to me to constantly harp on about how all the little engines should be obedient and "really useful" to the corpulent rich...
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[read the full post...]
September 27, 2007
Manhattan Couple Celebrates The Miracle Of Square Footage
How does Joyce Wadler find these people? The NY Times Home section has the renovation fairy tale of the extremely handy drummer Mark Robohm, who gut-renovated his 400-sq ft Chelsea studio for $11,500 while living in it. Now he and...
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[read the full post...]
September 24, 2007
Well, I Love Trash [Can Costumes For The Stokke Xplory]
This auction ended a couple of weeks ago, unfortunately, but it deserves a shoutout: eBay seller and master craftyperson nimbus8895 [update: who only now comes out as DT reader and frequent tipster/commenter Melissa] made an Oscar the Grouch Halloween...
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[read the full post...]
September 21, 2007
Wow, Undoboy Mega-Blik Installation Video
Sheesh, I sure love the way the vinyl wall decal thing has taken off. But watching this 2-hour installation of a massive Blik decalscape condensed to 1-minute, I just can't imagine not totally screwing this up somehow. [Not that...
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[read the full post...]
September 20, 2007
H Is For Han Shot First
StarWars.com blogger Neil Baker made a Star Wars Alphabet for fellow Star Wars bloggers to put on Star Wars t-shirts to wear to the Celebration IV Star Wars anniversary commemoration a few months back. Then he turned his alphabet...
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[read the full post...]
September 18, 2007
Macrametastic Patchwork Wall From 1975
Heath and the BLT Boys are scanning in pages from the 1975 magnum opus, The Complete Encyclopedia of Crafts. It's 24 full-color volumes of fantastic craft projects your parents never got around to finishing for you. This wall of...
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[read the full post...]
Robots In The Nursery
Artist/illustrator Patrick Lau started with a painting of a robot for his kid's nursery, which began, as his wife Maya put it, "to slightly have a theme." He added giant gears to the walls, and there's a shelf full...
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[read the full post...]
September 16, 2007
Paul Rand, Punk. Punk, Paul Rand: "Graphics Incognito" By Mark Owens
The kid's sick, the laptop battery was dead, so when I curled up with her [the kid, that is, not the laptop] for a little Sesame Street Therapy this morning, I grabbed a copy of the Dutch/LES design journal/zine...
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[read the full post...]
September 11, 2007
Man Tries, Fails To Look Mean In Adorable R2-D2 Beanie
image via mega(k)nits Better to figure out how to scale the various knitting patterns for kid-sized heads. When I asked her how easy it'd be, she said "very easy," and then she said she was going to Europe and...
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[read the full post...]
September 10, 2007
Hand Knit Starfleet Baby Blankie Subtler Than Most
It seems I've wandered into the web's Knerdish Knitting Knook. Samantha made a little snuggly/baby washcloth thing with the Starfleet insignia on it for some pregnant Star Trek fan/friends. [with Trek-themed music, but no Starfleet uniforms or Klingon cake...
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[read the full post...]
September 9, 2007
Whoa. Knit A Space Invader Baby Snowboarder Hat
This is awesome. On Instructables, Tracy_The_Astonishing shows how to knit this sweet 6-12 mo-sized Space Invader earflap hat in just three easy steps. Granted, one of those steps involves drawing a sheaf of arcane stitch patterns on graph paper,...
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[read the full post...]
September 4, 2007
Mario Power-Up Cube Mobile
When the Mobile Industrial Complex left him high and dry, new dad Will took matters into his own hands. Now he just watches for the day when his Baby not-Mario can jump up and reach these question cubes; that's...
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August 31, 2007
Decide Your Own Lead Levels By Making Your Kid's Toys Yourself!
If you're sick of waiting for months--or even years--for a recall to find out just how much lead is in your kid's Made In China toys, have I got the blogpost for you! Craftzine has rounded up a giant list...
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August 16, 2007
Sweet Ikeahack: Gulliver Crib + Thinply + Router
Wow. I don't know what's more shocking: the sweet DIY goodness that resulted from this classic Ikea Gulliver crib and some specialty lumber, or the fact that an Ikea somewhere didn't have a Gulliver in stock, and the expectant...
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August 11, 2007
Patented Modernist Dollhouses
Ever the eBay shark, Andy found this sweet, modernist plywood-and-plexi dollhouse for sale on eBay and posted it to Stork Bites Man. The description says it was designed and built by an architect; the plexiglass walls can slide out...
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July 31, 2007
Dash Snow's Children
Oil industry-and-art-world scion-turned-graffiti artist Dash Snow has always done his best work with semen. As he explained last January in a New York Magazine cover story titled, "Warhol's Children" [he's the tattooed one on the right]:“I’ve always been a big...
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Freebirth!
Unassisted childbirth advocate Laura Shanley and midwife Mairi Breen-Rothman will be discussing the "over-medicalization" of childbirth and the issues, advantages, and challenges of giving birth at home--and taking your requests!!--live today at 1pm EST on the Washington Post's website....
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July 29, 2007
SDCCspotting: Coney Plush & Neighborwood DIY Kit
Here are a couple of interesting-looking SDCC finds from Kidrobot's photostream: Up top is a DIY version of Mike Burnett's awesome Neighborwood toy figure. When it comes to the preferred mediums of the indie toy scene, wood is a...
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July 28, 2007
R2-KT: This Is The Pink Droid You're Looking For
Wow, I was definitely taken in by The Dark Side of The Force on this one. I was about to blast George Lucas like a Tatooine womp rat when I saw this picture of a kid hugging a pink...
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July 11, 2007
1955 PopMech Dad Makes Toy Rocket From Bomb
Don't worry, the 500-pound bomb was lined with rubber as part of the conversion to a toddler plaything. If there's any sense in the world, this thing should be turning up at a Honolulu garage sale someday. Popular Mechanics,...
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July 8, 2007
The IKEA Diaper Bag & Changing Pad, Complete [Thanks Again, Mom!]
So a couple of months ago, after seeing Funk-Station's computer bag reworking of the classic blue IKEA bag, I wondered if you couldn't tweak it into a diaper bag, too. It has three separate pockets and both hand and...
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July 6, 2007
AT-AT Stroller Dad Interview: The Thingamababy Strikes Back
What, another interview with the AT-AT strollermodding dad? Thingamababy's got a sitdown with Florida Star Wars fan and new dad Rick Russo, and it's just like ESB vs. SW: the sequel is definitely better. I'd go so far as...
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July 4, 2007
My Mom Hand-Knit An iPhone
My mom was insanely cool even before she knitted an iPhone. Last week, as the hype was peaking, I braced for reports of kids across the country grabbing for their parents' new iPhones; it was a drool-soaked disaster waiting...
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July 3, 2007
ReBuilding Center Dollhouse
Wow, it's amazing how the same basic idea--make the kid a modernist dollhouse out of recycled building materials--can have such different executions. Dutch's Miesian townhouse is spare and unfinished to an extreme, letting the kid play God by filling...
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Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Tuning?
David from Hemming's sent me this link to Sniff Patrol's latest spy shots of the BMW 1-Series, which got me thinking about sweet, small coupes. Totally unrelated to that sight gag, I remember seeing a momblogger who'd repainted her kid's...
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Marcel Wanders' Daughter's Rare Bead Necklace
Droog-and-beyond designer Marcel Wanders spent six months collecting rare and unusual beads, beads with stories, to make a necklace for his daughter, Joy. Now, whether he had enough beads left over, or he just replayed the concept, I'm not...
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July 2, 2007
Use The Craft Glue, Rick! Star Wars Stroller Modder Speaks
After his son's AT-AT Imperial Walker-modded stroller made the Internet rounds, Star Wars fan dad Rick Russo finally stepped into AJ's Thingamababy spotlight. And now he's given an interview with the Star Wars Blog, explaining his inspiration for the...
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Awesome Dutch Miesian Dollhouse Costs $15 And Half A Day
That's Dutch as in JD, Juniper's dad, of course, not the country. Though the Netherlands is known for the quality of their kid's design, I'm afraid the whole Bugaboo-pushing lot of them takes a backseat to our Dutch, who...
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June 27, 2007
Kickass Geekdad Ikeahack Problemsolves Topbunk Smackdown
What a great feeling it must be to take a hacksaw to a piece of Ikea furniture. Wired's Geekdad needed an efficient reconfigure for their two sons' room, so they chopped up the bunkbed and bolted it to the...
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June 20, 2007
DIY AT-AT Stroller: Who's Luke's Father?
AJ's the Jedi Master of stroller detective work. He tracked down the origins of the awesome AT-AT Walker stroller mod that's been making the rounds on the net recently, and he's deduced quite a bit of the DIY that...
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Your Spear And Magic Helmet? Knitting Needles And Magic Helmet, Actually
Knit the helmet! Knit the helmet! Oh mighty warrior t'will be quite a task How will you do it, might I enquire to ask? I will do it with this kit from Bella Knitting! This kit from Bella Knitting?...
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June 17, 2007
Did Anyone Get A Handknit Golly Jumper For Father's Day?
Unbelievable. And an interesting discussion in the Threadbared comments, too. Maybe you could tweak them to be a Mr. T sweater instead, you know, to match the kid's doll. There are vintage patterns for Golly Jumpers coming up on...
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June 15, 2007
Let's Go Riding In My Munny Mobile
I was going to ask for some suggestions on how the kid and I should pimp out the Mini Munny Mobile that Kidrobot sent us to try out, but then I saw that they launched a Munny Mobile Custom...
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June 14, 2007
No Word On X-Ray Glasses, But Comic Book Ad Submarine Didnt' Suck
Like everyone else, I wanted sea monkeys and x-ray goggles. Unlike one guy, though, I was never able to convince my parents to pony up for the crap advertised in comic books. Now it turns out, the $6.98 Polaris...
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June 11, 2007
Dad's '67 Camaro Not Just Family Car, It's Family
Since he got it at age 14, Ryan Bell's has shared some of the most important milestones of his life with his 1967 Camaro. It was with him as he dragraced his way through high school. He dropped the...
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Let's Stitch Frank! Sew-It-Yourself Toys From Egg Press
Egg Press has released Let's Stitch Frank!, a hand-screened canvas dog kit that's the first in a promised series of sew-it-yourself toys. [Well, the first if you don't count Hoot and Scoot, the other DIY stuffed animals Egg does.]...
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June 3, 2007
Dad-Tuned '92 Passat Wagon Hauls Groceries, [Not] Ass
Charlotte, NC dad Rodney Huss needed to tune a new daily driver, something “'Euro' with the 'Bad Boy' attitude with a mix of the old school and racecar technology...and the clean, simple styling that makes the German cars stand,...
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June 1, 2007
Rocking Dinosaurs, Both DIY And Thrifted
Sarah With An H thrifted out this sweet rocking dinosaur last fall for just five bucks. While I was trying to identify it {note: which I never did. Anyone recognize it?], I found plans to make a different rocking...
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DIY Kid-sized Robot Rickshaw
So the kid's Miniboo is sitting in the corner of her room for a year-plus with one of the wheels broken off, meanwhile, a Mr. Wu of Somewhere Outside Beijing has made not one, but two robot-powered rickshaws, a...
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Twin Cradles From The New Chinky Workshop
The New Chinky Workshop began when Crazy Asian Uncle Dude decided he could make a better table cheaper for his nephew's Thomas The Tank Engine set. Then his sister had twins, so CAUD whipped up a pair of pine-and-mahogany...
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May 30, 2007
Better Homes & Gardens For Dolls, Circa 1972
Hey-o, a fantastically mod doll house--with a floating fireplace, no less--that you make yourself with tinted and transparent acrylic, balsa wood, an ice cream carton lid, and some blocks? Damn right it's better. You know what'd be even better,...
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May 25, 2007
So Chicks DO Skate. In Germany. On The Mama Board.
A bit of friendly, unsolicited advice to the makers of the Mama Board: If you're gonna go and do something as awesome as engineering and manufacturing and marketing a skateboard that can latch onto a stroller, DON'T give it...
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May 19, 2007
Nintendo Baby Rattle
I gotta say, I'd like this Nintendo Controller baby rattle more if it was on etsy, not craftser. Until I can buy one in ten seconds, it's just sewing machine people rubbing it in my face, and that gets...
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May 15, 2007
Daddymade Newborn Toy Kits
I would imagine if you're running a handcrafted wooden toy company in a fully developed, expensive country like Germany, you constantly feel pressure from low-cost factories in China or Vietnam or Romania or wherever. What's the logical strategic response?...
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May 10, 2007
DIY Pointer Sisters Pinball Clock From Sesame Street
If you're planning an old school Sesame Street disco pinball machine/Pointer Sisters theme for the kid's nursery--and who isn't? look at all the possibilities down there--brother, has Thydzik got the DIY clock tutorial for you. [There are even cleaned...
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May 8, 2007
The IKEA Diaper Baghack
I just heard today from diaperbagmaker to the stars Mia Bossi that blue is the new black: “We know blue is going to be a big color this fall, so we wanted to incorporate it into the line—but also...
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May 7, 2007
Holy Buckminster Fuller! Dad Makes Playdome At Home
OK, I am officially in awe. DT reader AJ just sent photos of the freakin' geodesic dome he just built for his 2-year-old daughter. Here are his simple tips for cranking out your very own dome in no time:...
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Ten Worst, Single Best Spiderman Tie-Ins
If I had to pick the most egregious examples of Spiderman 3 marketing asshattery we've seen, it'd be a tossup between the posters taped to the ends of the shelves and carts at our public library in DC, and...
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Dieter Roth's Kinderbuch
In 1954, the German-Swiss artist Dieter Roth created a book for the son of Claus Bremer, the German dramatist and concrete poet. Known as Kinderbuch, the book consisted of op-art-y geometric shapes and patterns rippling across 28 letterpressed cardboard...
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May 2, 2007
I Never Saw A Purple Creative Playthings Hobby Horse
Very interesting. Gloria Caranica may beg to differ, but I'm not really minding the vintage mod on this Creative Playthings "Rocking Beauty" hobby horse. True, it doesn't have the elegance of the original natural wood and bright red ball...
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May 1, 2007
Totally Suck These Star Wars Costumes Do
You've got to be kidding. I guess in the world of crappy, commercially made costumes, these Star Wars baby costumes might rank above average, but that's only if you include those drugstore ripoffs that are nothing more than a...
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April 30, 2007
Chemobil
Why, viva my Revolucion, it's Playmobil Che! Look on the wall of Richard Unglik's photograph of a typical 1969 living room from his book, La grande aventure de l'Histoire avec Playmobil. Acros from the Playmobil Warhol, next to the...
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April 26, 2007
Fire Up The Ink-Jet & Break Out The Iron-on Paper: Weird Wheels Trading Cards
And get a case 'a them American Apparel bodysuits, because this summer, the kid's gonna be wearing nothing but Weird Wheels Wunzies, with pictures of vintage 80's grossout hot rods ironed onto them. Frankly, I'd like the source images...
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April 25, 2007
Welcome To The [Cardboard Geodesic] Playdome, Under Construction
You wanna know the difference between our hippies and the hippies in the 70's? They both lived in lofts on the Lower East Side; they both went on about the environment, and they both built geodesic domes out of...
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April 20, 2007
Vintage Mr. T Cabbage Patch-y Dolls
From now on, I pity the fool who tries to tell me pop craftiness is a 21st century trend. In 1984, "Miss Martha Originals, through a license with Big T Enterprises, (Mr. T’s licensing company) created a pattern book,...
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April 17, 2007
What Else Could You Build With A Bunch Of Refrigerator Boxes And Mr. McGroovy's Box Rivets?
Mr. McGroovy is dad and an art teacher-turned-entrepreneur, the success of who's main product, Mr. McGroovy's Box Rivets, is almost entirely dependent on getting more parents to make more play-related structures for their kids out of large cardboard boxes. On...
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Dad Builds PBSKids.org Kiosk
We've expended an enormous amount of energy keeping the kid from touchscreening our laptops, so we're already doomed on this one, but maybe it's not too late for you. A dad named John loaded Firefox onto a surplus point-of-sale...
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April 11, 2007
DeWalt - Radio Flyer Trike Mashup
Good thing all the crazy DIY dad projects came to an end in 1962. Nowadays, folks do completely safe and wise things like using bungee cords to strap a DeWalt-powered saw motor onto their kid's Radio Flyer Tiny Trike....
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Wait, Don't Throw Out Those Old Paint Cans!
Does it explain a lot to know that Baby Boomers were apparently raised on a steady diet of lead paint, motor oil, and My Three Sons? According to Popular Mechanics [45 years, or in product safety testing and liability...
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Convert Your Back Seat To A Baby Bed!
...if I should die before I wake, it's cuz Dad hit the gas and not the brake. Frankly, it's a miracle any of us is alive to have kids at all. I just posted a scan of some plans...
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March 12, 2007
Crafty Miracleworkers Transform Busted Entertainment Center, 10 Lbs. Cottage Cheese, Into Mod Toy Kitchen
Instead of dumping their busted, old entertainment center, a fine Craftserwoman and her hubby [...] transformed it into a play kitchen for about $40, not counting the cottage cheese:...We measured just below the rim of the bowl, cut a...
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March 1, 2007
Some Vintage Swedish Kid's Furniture
I just bought a couple of musty 1962 issues of Popular Mechanics from 1962. They have huge spreads of photos and plans for building nine great-looking pieces of play furniture by Swedish designers: toy bins and play tables, little...
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February 14, 2007
Will You Be My DIY Wall Mural/Decal Friend?
Here are some great-looking techniques for turning any image you want into a wall-sized mural or decal, whether it's digital or analog, an Eric Carle kangaroo or a crazed, hammer-wielding yakuza. At his new blog Daddyhack, frequent DT contributor Eric...
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February 13, 2007
"Fun On Wheels" By Stephan Gip: Furniture In Disguise
This might just be cool enough to make up for the high chair. Swedish architect Stephan Gip is credited with the 1962 design for the all-wood, no-tray, trapezoidal stacking high chair that we wipe off a little every day...
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February 10, 2007
C&C Custom-Painted Eames Shells
Cynthia & Chris are husband & wife designers who salvaged a store of vintage Eames shells from an auditorium fire and set to refinish them by hand. Rather than just return them to an impractical and ultimately inauthentic "vintage"...
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October 13, 2005
Handknit Robots
I think I read somewhere that all the snowboarding kids are crocheting these days, making their own hats and stuff. Now unless crocheting and knitting don't mix--like how racquetball messes up your tennis game--all you crocheters can probably just look...
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