In a great post by Jonathan Hoefler titled "On the Death and 441-Year Life of the Pixel", Giovanni Ostaus' alphabetical bitmap embroidery from 1567 is juxtaposed against modern typographical design: Renaissance ‘lace books’ have much to offer the modern digital designer, who also faces the challenge of portraying clear and replicable images in a constrained environment. Ostaus’s alphabet follows the cardinal rule of bitmaps, which is to always reckon the height of a capital letter on an odd number of pixels. (Try drawing a capital E on both a 5×5 grid and a 6×6, and you'll see.) Ostaus ignored the...
Pixel-based typography from 1567 - On the death and 441-year life of the pixel via DF. The struggle to adequately render letterforms on a pixel grid is a familiar one, and an ancient one as well: this bitmap alphabet is from La Vera Perfettione del Disegno di varie sorte di ricami, an embroidery guide by Giovanni Ostaus published in 1567. Renaissance ‘lace books’ have much to offer the modern digital designer, who also faces the challenge of portraying clear and replicable images in a constrained environment. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts |...
Via Mister Jalopy at Dinosaurs and Robots: As close as we come to a corporate D+R meeting, Mark Frauenfelder, Jenny Hart and I [Mister Jalopy] will all be at Felt Club this Sunday. All it takes is a trip to another craft fair to realize that Felt Club is a full 1000% cooler than those other pikers. Jenny will be teaching embroidery, but only to those who sign up early. Two classes, 10 people each, buy a starter kit at the Felt Club info table. Get there early, suckers!Pillowcase project for my mom from Vital Organs patternI took Jenny's embroidery...
Zazzle, the site that lets you custom-design and sell everything from T-shirts and hoodies to sneakers and skateboards, has launched a new feature that may well put it leagues ahead of its competitors: embroidery. And while the prospect of having an embroidered shirt may not sound appealing at first (I’ve always associated embroidery with tacky nametags emblazoned on polo shirts), Zazzle’s new feature is very impressive and will likely draw a large number of new customers. In the past, most custom shirt designs from Zazzle and its competitors have used flat prints that are essentially glued on top of...
Photo via Tony Hisgett at flickr In the fashion parade that is İstiklal Caddesi, the massively popular pedestrian shopping street running through Istanbul's Beyoğlu district, denim is the undisputed king. And you don't see too many plain pairs of Levi's here, either--more often, jeans are artfully ripped, thick with embroidery, covered with pockets, dyed, distressed, or bedazzled to death. While some of the craziest styles risk making fashion victims of their wearers, the trend for manually sandblasted jeans is taking real vic......
If you're headed to Maker Faire Austin this weekend, please come by the Maker Shed to visit the Make editorial staff. You can also take workshops there. On Saturday at 11:30, and Sunday at 2:30, my friend Jenny Hart will be teaching embroidery. Maker Faire Austin...
I'm running a demo at Maker Faire on integrating electronics components onto fabric using conductive thread. No sewing, embroidery, or circuitry experience required, and it'll be once each day of the Faire. Hope you can join me for some soft blinky fun! Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Maker Faire | Digg this!...
If you have been following fashion trends, then you’ll know that just as in years past, metallics are once again coming back strong this fall. I’m not sure what it is about changing seasons and the muted colors we women tend to adapt as the weather grows colder, but a subtle flash of metallic color can do much to jazz up an otherwise conservative outfit. With this in mind, Proporta has just released their new Maya Case Gold, a fashion forward slipcase done in metallic gold leather with black embroidery; this should catch the eye of all fashion magpies without...
This week: The Himawari Prototype, Embroidery with a Regular Sewing Machine, TonchiDot's Sekai Camera, iphoneas, Tenori-Off, Plushie: An Interactive Design System for Plush Toys, squarewave surfers ~ memory of 8bit, Craftwife, Turning Chopsticks Into Hairpins - Using Cat Paws?, and the KikiMimi Audio Board Game. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Made in Japan | Digg this!...
New from SparkFun: A small, but very mighty power supply. This board was designed to be as small and inconspicuous as possible. The nice thing about LiPower is the ability to use rechargable Lithium Polymer batteries. These batteries are smaller, flatter, and last much longer than a AAA battery. Attach a single cell LiPo battery, flip the power switch, and you will have a 5V supply to power your LilyPad network. Good up to 150mA. Short circuit protected. One word: want. More: LilyPad Arduino - a small, sewable family including a microcontroller, sensors, LEDs, etc. LilyPad Arduino Embroidery Read...
Patterns are there, in front of you and me, on the blog you’ve come from, on books and album covers, wallpapers, t-shirts, chocolate boxes, almost everywhere. Every now and again we find a new pattern design which somehow manage to become the main element in catching our eyes, we just don’t know it until we search for it. In this post we present a showcase of different examples using stunning pattern designs, just open your eyes and watch out for the next pattern. 1-Soulgazer 2-YEAH logo Pattern 3-A Perfect Pattern 4-Give me Colorrr and Pattern 5-Toy Monsta Pattern 6-Money...
My current Cutest Thing Ever, after the jump. This is the video for Architecture in Helsinki's "Like It Or Not," and it is the first time I've seen the beautiful art of embroidery animated...and dear God, I hope it won't be the last....
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Get Douglas Adams', the genius behind The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, very own and very old autographed Hermes Standard 8 typewriter for $25,000. — Gizmodo Rumors are swirling that Amazon is planning to release two new Amazon Kindle models by the holiday season. — CrunchGear Samsung has just unveiled two flagship camera models for Fall '08, which are ultracompact, chic, and offer neat media-friendly features. — Crave Betsey Johnson has added some bling bling cases to her Betseyville accessories line, which boast copper-toned studs and embroidery. — Chip Chick Parrot goes glam by introducing an Andrée Putman-designed digital...
