Geek Crafts: Geeks Show Their Artistic Side

Over the last several years, deuce equipment-laboured stereotypes have formed out of the ether and the Cyberspace: the DIYer and the geek. The stereotypical geek comes armed with soldering chains, sci-fi shows along Videodisk, and comprehensive knowledge of quaternate branches of scientific discipline, patc DIY enthusiasts transmit gum guns, a circle of yarn, and books about reinventing t-shirts. They may seem diametrically opposed, but closer examination of the ii reveals an lap that contains both crafty geekery and profoundly nerdy art.

Divine past Oddbal Canon

Amigurumi is a popular subset of the fiber arts, wherein cute things (usually animals, merely sometimes inanimate objects) are rendered in knitwork Beaver State crocheting and stuffed. The amigurumi Earth didn't know what IT was lost until this 3.5-inch Boba Fett came along, created by Flickr user Sore Angel/Etsy shop owner Lucy Ravenscar. She sells crochet patterns for a wide variety of Star Wars denizens, including Darth Vader, C-3PO, and ewoks (it seems she specializes in Wicket).

My Little Pony, in addition to entertaining millions of five-year-former girls (and, with the Lauren Faustus cartoon reboot, a growing contingent of 18-to-35-year-old guys), also provides many artists with adorable pony-formed canvases ripe for customization. Inspired aside Battlestar Galactica, DeviantArt user Spippo created My Little Starbuck.

Colorwork in knitting stereotypically takes the fles of snowflakes, Nordic stars, and simple geometric shapes. A growing contingent of geeky knitters, withal, would rather their blankets and sweaters be emblazoned with more current–OR sentence-traveling–fare. This TARDIS wide, ready-made by Carrie Fritsche, is some available as a free pattern and is heater on the wrong.

The Internet Comes to Life

Allie Brosh of hyperboleandahalf enthralled the grammar sticklers of the Internet with her April 2020 post on the habits and characteristics of the alot, a creature that resembles a mix between a bear, a yak, and a pug. When pale-faced with a set phrase containing the grammatical error "alot", Allie re-imagines the sentence atomic number 3 could exist practical to a big furry squash-faced insectlike.

The artists and crafters of the Internet went uncontrolled, adequate the making of a (lamentably, infrequently-updated) website ilikethatalot.com, which collects versatile versions of the grammar mongoose-like. This awesome water-color, created by redditor MoonMonstar, received overenthusiastic patronise from Allie, who happens to be a redditor herself.

In the leash-dimensional kingdom of the crafting world, Alix Banegas of arixystix creations rendered the alot in lucullan. Then, reliable to the conventions of the Internet, she posed him with her cat.

Geeky Formulation

Many craft forms are surprisingly appendage in execution, which means much of their planning is expedited away judicious applications of chart wallpaper. Knit and quilting patterns oft resemble a precise geometric form of color-by-Book of Numbers. The pattern for this Fiery Phoenix quilt, created by instructables user, was created using Microsoft Excel, with stomach from MATLAB to make destined the flame impression was properly randomised.

Knitting machines are catching on in installation art: the clock that knits a scarf makes a point or so creative potential, while a curve-powered model allows Mother Nature to express her tricksy side. The Interactional Knitting Machine (above) displayed at Dev Tasteless 2020, notwithstandin, takes the golem-knitter to the adjacent level. Supercharged away viewers' breaths, the automobile dyes yarn in a pattern determined by the forcefulness of the go down on and the specific straw blown into, then knits the yarn into a collaboratively-knitted piece with a colorful signature from each of many, many co-creators.

The stage curtain at the Oslo Opera House may look like it's been Photoshopped, but it's in reality a piece of material art successful by Pae White called "Metafoil", is as real as its component cotton, fleece, and polyester fabric fibers. Created by a computer-controlled tower from a scanned image of crumpled aluminium foil, the enormous curtain knocks TV audience bump off balance, reminding them not to pack bound images for granted and e'er take a nigher look.

Nerds the creation over have succumbed to the soothing radiance of UV-reactive substances of every last varieties. But while fluorescent paints and dyes make wearable glow possible, they too economic consumption a good deal of water, chemicals, and labor to obtain results. A new development away the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore could turn in the conventional dye process obsolete: dyes, colorants and other materials, when fed to silkworms in the last four days of the beast stage, become integrated into the worms' silk cocoons.

The technique could potentially constitute used to bring in some other compounds and properties into silk, creating a wide variety of useable fabrics. Sol it's not just well-nig the surprising stuffed toys or using tech to generate textiles – that intersection betwixt craft and geek leads to gripping applications of some artistic creation and science.

How have you applied non-criterial wonk noesis to your geeky endeavors? Answer in the comments!