Video: White Walker Makeup Tutorial

"WHITE WALKER GAME OF THRONES - HALLOWEEN MAKEUP TUTORIAL"

Los Angeles professional beauty and special effects makeup artist Mykie of Glam&Gore posted a special effects makeup tutorial where she demonstrated how to turn yourself into a terrifying White Walker from Game of Thrones using cotton and liquid latex.

Video: Khaleesi Makeup Tutorial

"Game of Thrones - Khaleesi / Daenerys Targaryen Makeup Look & Tutorial" by Glam&Gore

"Khaleesi, Daenerys Targaryen, mother of dragons and badassery, done in the style of both glam & gore. If you follow this tutorial, whatever you do, don't use burlap to make your top. I'm still itchy. The horse heart scene being referred to in this tutorial is from season 1 of Game of Thrones. If you don't watch that show or remember that scene, I probably look insane to you. :)"

Tutorial: Cola Pens

Cola Pens Photographed by Gustavo Angeli via Pinterest

A cola pen is a calligraphy pen with a nib curved so that line width can be varied with pressure or holding the pen differently. It's called a cola pen because you can make one yourself with a cola can! Be careful, though.

Of course, if you're making your calligraphy nib for free, why pay for ink?  You can just make your own from black walnuts, berries (video), or acrylic paint.

Crafts: Enterprise Bridge Playset

Star Trek: TOS Enterprise Bridge Playset by David Weiberg

Via: Make

Up close, this may look like a photograph of a television sound stage, but it's actually a tiny handcrafted playset created by uber-geek David Weiberg as a gift to his eight year-old son to compliment a hand-me-down set of Star Trek: The Original Series action figures.

As you can see in the close-up shots, the playset is fantastically detailed, but the best part is that Weiberg has posted step-by-step instructions for making one of your own!  The set was constructed from a combination of wood, styrene, PVC sheeting, and Apoxie putty.  Those tiny chairs were cast from urethane resin.

It might be beyond the skillset of your average hobbyist, but the process is a fascinating read.

"This project started when I found my old Star Trek TOS playmates figures. I gave them to my eight year old son who had become a fan of the old show. He began building simple cardboard play pieces. Inspired by the clean wooden design of some of his other toys I set out to design and create a modular play set that he could use to assemble various rooms aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. I wanted a set that could break down and store easily. I tried to use scrap materials where I could. The bridge was the biggest challenge so I started there."

Lego Creation: BB-8

Legos BB-8 by Redditor Hendrikdejager

It took Lego a really long time to give us an accurate R2-D2 got an LEGO model.  Let's hope BB-8 gets fast tracked.  Until then, check out this model made by Redditor Hendrikdejager.  Hendrikdejager’s fellow Redditors have been prodding him for instructions or at the very least the parts list, and he was kind enough to release a detailed video explaining the build. You can download the parts list on Pastebin.

Sweets: BB-8 Cake Pops

"BB-8 CAKE POPS" by Rosanna Pansino of Nerdy Nummies

Rosanna Pansino celebrated the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens by paying tribute to her favorite new droid, BB-8, with a set of adorable cake pops.

Sweets: Thanksgiving Turkey Cake

Thanksgiving Turkey Cake by How To Cake It

Yolanda Gampp of "How To Cake It," offers this step-by-step demonstration of how to meticulously carve a cake to resemble a turkey, then cover it in textured chocolate fondant skin.  I've never put this much effort into anything in my life, much less a cake, so I found the demonstration fascinating... and slightly exhausting.

Cosplay: Clicker

Clicker (from The Last of Us) by Corroder

Instructables has a tutorial on how to create this creep-tacular masterpiece. I'm not sure I'd ever put this much work into a costume, but if there were a costume content with cash prizes, this would certainly be a way to go.

Video: Rainbow Fire Jack-o-Lantern

"Rainbow Fire Halloween Jack-o-Lantern" by Anne Helmenstine

aaaand now I know what I'm doing with my pumpkin tomorrow.  Thanks, Youtube!

Sweets: Jack O'Lantern Mousse Cake

Jack O'Lantern Chocolate Mousse Cake by Blissful2015

Made from scratch, these chocolate pumpkins are not only super delicious, they are quite magical and playful when it comes to presentations.  Click through for the Instructables tutorial so you can make your own!

Lego Creation: Medieval Village

"Durnovaria Avalonia" by Luke Watkins Hutchinson

LEGO builder Luke Watkins Hutchinson (Derfel Cadarn) offers this massive 300 photo guide to building a massive medieval village scene out of Legos.  The resulting model has a lot of nice little touches, and it looks vaguely like the hamlet from the XBox game Fable.

Also check out the cobblestone streets of Brick Time's Dunholm, part of the fantasy realm of Northland.  See the whole continent in micro scale, or learn to make a Northland keg. 

Illustration: Spec Work

"Spec Work" by Maki Naro

Source: BoxPlotComics at Popular Science

Maki Naro explains in comic form why spec work, contests, and other attempts to get artists to work for free are bad.  He then discusses a particular case that he thinks is pretty egregious, and proceeds to explain the correct way to go about hiring an illustrator.

Crafts: Rocking Speeder Bike

"Rocking Speeder Bike" by Tez_Gelmir

[Previously: Crafts: AT-AT Rocker ]

For as long as there have been dad’s, there have been cool dads, but we live in the age of nerd dad’s, and it is fairly evident that nerd dad’s take things to a whole new level of cool.

Tez_Gelmir has created an incredible custom rocking horse based on the 74-Z speeder bike from Star Wars for his daughter’s first birthday. He made the kid-friendly Rocking Speeder Bike out of plywood, some 3D printing work, PVC tubing, screws, and bolts.

This project was posted to Instructables, one of my favorite site.  It was really well documented, too. Here's a great video that Gelmer posted showing off the various parts of his project.  If you've got kids, you may want to head over and check it out.

"I have built my son lots of projects but with my daughter's first birthday coming up I felt it was her turn to get some project love and what better way than with her own Speeder Bike?!

The 74-Z Speeder Bike is best known for its appearance in the 1983 movie, Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. In which Imperial Scout Troopers, on the forest moon of Endor, engage in a vicious chase with Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa after the Rebels commandeered the speeder bikes to pursue their foes.

I have to say though, when the design first came to mind, I had no idea the time and thought that would be involved...."

Sweets: Jurassic World Fossil Cake

Jurassic World Fossil Cake by CookiesCupcakesandCardio

Learn how to make dinosaur cake that looks like the Jurassic World fossil in the video tutorial below.

Sweets: Jurassic World Cookies

"How To Decorate Dinosaur Cookies" by SweetAmbsCookies

In honor of last weekend's release of the Jurassic World movie, here's a tutorial on making dinosaur-themed cookies!

Sweets: Gingerbread TARDIS

"Gingerbread Tardis" by Things and Stuff.

[ Previously: Jan 7, Nov 27th, Dec 24 ]

There are a lot of gingerbread Tardises (Tardi?) floating around Tumblr, but this is one the better ones.  Click through for step by step instructions.

Link Round-Up: November 24, 2014

DIY Star Wars Terrarium Centerpiece Tutorial by Amy Ratcliffe

This Artist Turned the MoMA Into the Death Star

Mapbox allows you to create interactive maps and data visualizations.

The most depressing Firefly gif ever. It's a teaser from Stephen Byrne's fan "The Animated Adventures Of Firefly" effort. There's a making of video as well.

Neil Gaiman: Why Disney's Sleeping Beauty doesn't work: "I feel like some kind of alchemist," Gaiman suggests. "I have to go to the cupboard and take one ounce of Snow White and two ounces of Sleeping Beauty, and heat the Sleeping Beauty and froth the Snow White and mix them together: it's kind of like fusion cuisine. It tastes like both of them but it's actually a new dish."


These LEGO Instructions from 1974 Are Awesome (And Yes, They're Real)


You, too, can own your very own Sandman Chess Set.

Gaming Round-Up: November 3, 2014

"Crimson Fist - Warhammer 40k Space Marine Costume" by Gary Sterley

"This is my Warhammer 40k Space Marine Costume. It is a Crimson Fist and was completed just in time for Halloween this year. This is my second ever costume build and I have been working on it since March of 2013."

News: Destiny’s first expansion, titled The Dark Below, launches on December 9. The add-on will feature story expansion, new weapons and equipment, and a higher level cap, among other things.

News: The fine folks at the Internet Archive bring you The Internet Arcade: some 900+ emulated arcade games from the 1970's through the 1980's. Most of them are playable, many of them through your browser. This is name brand stuff: Pac-Man, Defender, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, and on and on.

News: Walmart Starts Selling Used Video Games

6 Horror Games That Will Make You Vomit If You Don't Pee Yourself First.

Arthur Chu reflects upon his identity as a geek and how he identifies with the anger demonstrated by supporters of the campaign on Salon. Chu relates his experiences to Felicia Day’s blog post, in which she described the personal consequences of the campaign and how they’ve affected her.

Sweets: Sarlacc Bundt Cake

"Star Wars Sarlacc Bundt Cake" by Kathleen Siegle of Yummy Crumble

Yummy Crumble has posted a great tutorial for baking this Star Wars themed bundt cake.  It's great because it's decorated with more than the usual frosting embellishments, but at the same time, it's a design anyone could swing, regardless of how new they are to baking.

"Buttery caramel flavored moist bundt cake drizzled with homemade salted caramel sauce and dusted with Biscoff Cookie Crumbles. Two Biscoff madeleines with salted caramel buttercream teeth make the monster of this Star Wars Sarlacc Bundt Cake."

Sweets: Hunger Game Pie

"How to Make The Hunger Games Pie" by MyRecipes.com

Youtuber Koalipops created this Mockingjay pie for the MyRecipes Youtube channel, it looks fantastic! The video features a fairly comprehensive tutorial on making your own, too!