Tag Archives: spirograph

This book is literally a planetarium, a guitar, and a phone amplifier!

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Kelli Anderson’s books are proof that there’s a tonne of things you can do with paper and imagination. After the wild success of This Book Is A Camera, a book that literally turned into a functional pinhole camera, Brooklyn-based artist/designer and tinkerer Kelli Anderson’s next book explores the mysteries of the physical world with more paper-based experiments. This Book Is A Planetarium features a pop-up planetarium that you can activate with your phone’s flashlight, a spiralgraph that teaches children the infinite wonders of geometric art, a stringed instrument that lets you understand how acoustic chambers work and how strings make sound, a passive amplifier that uses a cone to magnify the sound from your phone, and a perpetual calendar that allows you to view the Gregorian calendar of any given year!

A wonderful gift for children (even the ones at heart) with an inclination towards curiosity, This Book Is A Planetarium allows kids to unlock small mysteries of the universe, and prompts them to question phenomena around them, helping them expand their knowledge base and eventually their wings!

Designer: Kelli Anderson

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Create Your Own LEGO Spirograph Machine

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Like cool machines? How about drawing? Jason Allemann built a neat LEGO Spirograph robot that can draw several geometric patterns, just like the old toy.

spirograph_1

By adjusting the arms, it can doodle different sorts of hypotrochoids. This is a fun LEGO project that both kids and adults will enjoy playing with. Everyone knows that drawing circles in this way is way too much fun.

If you want to try to make one just like it, the good news is that you can, because Allemann posted full instructions on his site JK Brickworks. This looks like a fairly easy build and it is easy to use too.

[via The Awesomer via Laughing Squid]

Magic Art Spiral Sidewalk Chalk Design Kit

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spiral art chalk Magic Art Spiral Sidewalk Chalk Design Kit
Create incredible geometric chalk drawings easily with the Magic Art Spiral Sidewalk Design Kit. It’s like a giant sized spirograph toy set! Use the 4 included color chalks and chalk holder to draw intricate spiral shapes from 5″ to 25″ in diameter with the 4 curved rails and 3 spiral art wheels. Endless creative fun for kids (of all ages). The weather’s nice, kids should be outside playing with fun things like this. This is half the reason you have a driveway anyway, right?

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Magic Art Spiral Sidewalk Chalk Design Kit

Graffiti Artist Makes Spray Paint Spirograph

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I always loved playing with my Spirograph when I was a little kid. Of course, now with tablet and computer painting apps, it’s hard to imagine going back to such a simple creative plaything. But sometimes, simplicity is fun too. One graffiti artist still loves his Spirograph, and it inspired him to make a giant one.

graffiti spirograph

Using the basic principles behind the original Spirograph, street artist Narcélio Grud bent a large metal rod into a circle, and then attached a rig which allows a set of smaller wheels (made from bicycles) to spin around on the inside and holds the spray can button down. As he turns the wheel, a rotating geometric pattern appears, just like with the original Spirograph toy. Adjusting a couple of bolts that hold the spray can let him create a virtually infinite number of patterns. Here, check it out in action:

While the effect isn’t as precise as using a pen and paper, it’s still a cool idea, and I’d love to see someone make a motorized version of this thing sometime.

[via Rebelart via Nerdcore (DE)]