Another view

via the always awesome Great White Snark

Speaking of octopuses… I got stalled on my update to the hexapus tutorial, but I’ll get it out this week, I hope!

We had a lot of fun messing around with lumps of plasticine and an old stamp pad, and I figured you’d probably like to see a load of examples of what went on, to give you lots of ideas. I’ve always been rather fond of rubber stamps and my kids love playing with rubber stamps too, but they are expensive, and so we only have a set of upper case and lower case alphabet ones from their great grandpa Norman and a couple of random cheap plastic ones. If you are like us and want a cheap and creative alternative to an expensive rubber stamp collection then this might be just right for you.

Go check it out! She has lots of examples of cool stamps that both she made, and that the kids made. I am so trying this with The Boy.

• Filth Wizardry – Plasticine Stamp Making

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PS: I know, I know.. .I’ve been such a slacker lately.   I’m pleading work–had a lot of web design efforts going on.  (Need web design?  Email me!)  So, forgive me!  I have an updated Henri the Hexapus tutorial coming up soon, and you know Halloween is right around the corner… So stay tuned!   So if you don’t find me here, you can always follow me on Twitter, and of course, pop on over to Foodwhirl!

Brian Despain

I love Brian’s work… the subject matter is right up my alley–robots and all manner of coolness– , and it’s just plain gorgeous.  I could just stare at the robot worlds he creates all day long–Inspiring!

Love these robots..

The Escape

The Haunting

Web: Despainart.com

Jason Thomas

Jason’s work is full of fun and whimsy.  Along with robots, he also shares my love of tentacle thingies and monsters.  A fellow Atlantan, too–he’s also a very cool guy.   In additional to prints and such, he was also selling some great 3-D wooden pieces (one of which I will soon be the proud owner of–and I’ll share that when I get it, since he doesn’t seem to have any of those in his online store right now.).

If you’re in Atlanta, he’s at a lot of the festivals… He’ll be in my write up of East Atlanta Strut when I get to it.  So go find him because his stuff is sure to make you smile.

Web: Red Rocket Farm

Jason Limon

I picked up a print of Jason Limon‘s a few years ago, and I love his otherworldly style.   A really interesting mix of natural / organic elements and  mechanical elements.

His most recent work has an ‘owly’ feel, but I’m of course fond of his robots especially– and you can even get his cool bots as an iPhone Skin!

Web: Limon-Art

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Pete Abrams (Sluggy Freelance)

All around awesome guy, and creator of the long running webcomic, Sluggy Freelance, I would be remiss in not including Pete in the list of cool people in Artists Alley!  If you never read Sluggy, you really should.  But be warned, there are 13 years of archives to go through – so you might want to just buy the books!  Still in my book one of the best comics ever.

(Plus he looks ever so cute in a wig!)

Web:  Sluggy.com

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Andy Runton (Owly)

Pete pointed me toward’s Andy Runton’s Owly series, so we picked up a book for the 5 year old.  I love the idea of graphic novels for the kiddo set.  With very few words, it looks like an ideal way to expose a pre-reader to sequential story telling.  Plus Owly is awfully cute!  We haven’t gotten around to reading it yet, but looking forward to it!

This is the one we got.

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Web: Andy Runton

Other shout-outs… I didn’t get a chance to speak to either Gus Fink or Meg Lyman, but I wrote about them last year!

Curbly is a great website with tons of cool projects… I’ve referenced them in several projects – including  Jewelry from recycled plastic: Homemade Shrinky Dinks.  And I’m very honored that they sent me a review copy of their great new DIY book:  “Make It! Hardware Store Decor”.   Many times books like these don’t seem to have anything new or unusual, but this one had several projects that I really liked–all based around materials you can pick up at your local hardware store. And this book, with all it’s creative re-use of everyday materials, is right up Dabbled’s alley.

There are 12 projects, all with detailed instructions and photos… and it’s available both as a pdf download, or as a printed book.

Some of the projects are easily doable with my level of tool expertise, and a few I’d probably rope in the handy husband to do, just because he’s got more experience with the big projects!    But the instructions are detailed enough that none of the projects look particularly intimidating.

A Peek at the Projects:

• A Brightly Lighted Letter
• Aluminum Accent Lamp
• Exposed-Bulb Chandelier
• Piped-Up Literary Ladder
• Plumbing Pipe Umbrella Stand
• Posh Pipe Desk
• Curblillies
• Hanging Hose-Clamp Mobile
• Veneer-able Wall Art
• Mod Slotted Steel-Angle Credenza
• Utility Chic Drop-Cloth Slipcover
• Top Notch Paint-Swatch Walls

I particularly loved the slip covers from canvas drop cloth, and the vintage inspired light up letter.  The aluminum lamp is just lovely.  And the paint chip inspired wall is genius!

It’s a beautifully designed book as well:

So, to sum up… if this looks like your kind of projects, go check it out!

Note on reviews on Dabbled: Dabbled receives occasional books or other items for review. We don’t get any other compensation and the views expressed here are our own. If we don’t like something, we’ll either say so, or not review it. If you have a website, product, or book you’d like reviewed on Dabbled–and it’s relevant to Dabbled readers– just email me! – dot

I’m bummed that I missed most of my crafty friends… I’ll have to plan ahead better next time!  But I did get to see lots of my artist friends, so that made up for it.  And of course, the people watching was awesome as usual..  here’s a few costumes for you.  Plus there are more photos on my flickr page.

<<=This was my favorite costume from Dragon-con this year.  The REAL Iron Man!  Love the details… like “Starch Industries on the handle.  (Though I have to admit, I totally didn’t get it the first time I saw it… I was just “wow, what a cool giant iron!”  Then it hit me!)

Other costumes and stuff below…

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Coming tomorrow – Cool artists from Dragon-con!

Here’s me… in a borrowed helmet and wig.  No, I did not dress up for Dragon con.. Too Much Work!

10 points if you can a) get the reference (what am I doing–it made perfect sense at the time, I swear!), and 10 more points if you can b) tell me why threatening this bunny is a very bad idea.  :)

Here’s a few more below – click on a photo to see larger or as a slide show. Or you can go to flickr for more Dragon-con 2010 photos!

Awesome step by step over at Filth Wizardry on how the kids made a Dr Who Dalek from recycled materials. Go Check it Out:

DIY Remote Controlled Dalek from recycling

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Photos from Dragon*Con coming tomorrow!

Ice Shot Glass Molds

I had to try the Ice Shooter Molds, because I kept thinking of so many interesting uses for them…

They are made by Fred, which always seems to make cool products, and these were no exception.   They are just simple silicone molds, in the shape of shot glasses.

The shot glass mold pretty much worked as advertised.  Fill with water, freeze, and pop out four shot glasses made of ice.   The only issue I found with it were that sometimes there would be a bump on the interior from the freezing process, so you wouldn’t get a perfectly formed interior.  It’s just the nature of the freezing process, the top freezes first, and then the interior water expands as it freezes, and the silicone (being soft) can’t stop it from expanding outward.  This can be eliminated by filling halfway, freezing, and then filling the rest of the way. Or you can just ignore it, I suppose.

Other things to be aware of:

• I’m sure you’re aware of the nature of ice, but these do melt fast, so have a plan to stash in freezer, and/or use quickly.  They are a fun conversation starter, but not overly practical.  Although I am planning to make a bunch for my halloween party.
• Ice will have bubbles in it.  Again, the nature of the freezing process.  I tried several techniques to try to get these crystal clear (like boiling the water before freezing it), but never really succeeded..
• These worked really nicely for shots which are best chilled, like a good vodka.
• Eco-friendly!  No glasses to wash or throw away!
• Freezing juices: Although the packaging says you can, and I did try some with layers of juices (to a neat effect), it isn’t really practical, as the shot glasses are then sticky as well as melty!

The Party Testers say:  Yum!….

Bottom Line:

I like these.  They are a fun and silly thing to pull out at a party.  Not very practical, but works as designed!

Herb Scissors

Looking at these Herb Scissors, the first thing that runs through my mind is Alton Brown saying “Single Tasker”!  But hey, there’s a place for some really good single taskers in my kitchen, so lets read on, shall we?

Basically you have multi-bladed scissors, similar to shredder scissors.  The idea is to with one snip, do the work of multiple snips of scissors.

Removing them from the packaging, they seem well constructed.  The metal is not flimsy, and I like the little plastic blade guard.  So how do they work?

Well, I’d give them mixed reviews.  The first herb I tried was basil, and I tried rolling up the basil prior to cutting, similar to how you do a chiffonade.  That did NOT work well.  The basil got caught up between the blades and ended up pretty bruised.  Not a good result.

Doing individual leaves fared better.  Less bruising, but still caught up between the blades.  So any time saved from just using regular scissors was lost poking the herbs out of the blades!  And it was faster still to actually roll up and chiffonade the basil with a knife!

Stiffer herbs, like green onions and rosemary worked better, with less getting caught in the blades.  I can see a use for these scissors if you are only adding a little bit of herbs (like for garnish) and don’t want to pull out a cutting board and knife.

Note: Maybe not a single tasker:  my 5 year old says he can’t wait to try them on paper!

Bottom Line:

While they seem to work as designed for stiffer herbs, softer leaves were more problematic.  Even in the best conditions, I can’t see any huge advantage in these over just regular scissors for adding herbs to a plate.

*Dabbled received  the items for review from Useful Things.  No other compensation was received and the opinions expressed are my own.  If you’d like Dabbled to review your product, email me!