Build a Marble Run with Tiny Bricks and Mortar

Marble runs can be a whole lot of fun to build and watch in action. But most of the ones I’ve seen are made from wood or maybe plastic. If you’re looking for something a little more substantial, check out this marble run kit that includes towers made from bricks.

There’s no way the Big Bad Wolf is blowing down the Teifoc Run n’ Roll Marble Run. This unique play set includes about 200 tiny terracotta clay bricks, along with mortar and a trowel. Yes, you build it yourself. The cool thing is that the mortar is made from a soluble corn-based glue, so you can actually disassemble and rebuild new structures if you soak them in water for a couple of hours.

If you buy a few kits, you could probably build some pretty epic constructions, but with a price tag just under $100, that could get expensive very quickly. The brick and mortar marble run is available from Amazon. They sell mortar refills as well. I’d like to see someone scale up this idea using real bricks, PVC, and maybe some bowling balls.

i-Blason’s Marble-inspired cases give your AirPods some serious bling

Designed to resemble a fancy lighter or a case for your cigar-cutter, i-Blason’s Cosmo Airpods cover looks pretty goddamn fantastic. With its interplay of marble-inlay and gold, each case has the appearance of a literal jewel. The cases (available in black, green, and pink) are relatively easy to install, as they slip on with a pretty snug fit. They even come with a patterned PU leather strap, the ability to charge wirelessly if you’re using the 2nd generation AirPods, and a cutout for plugging in a lightning cable, making it compatible with both generations of AirPods.

It’s worth noting though that the cases don’t literally come made with marble (or gold), which would unnecessarily increase the weight and affect its ability to be wirelessly charged. The graphics on the cases do look absolutely convincing though, and with a shock-absorbing TPU bumper running around the edges, your AirPods remain protected from accidental drops too!

Designer: i-Blason

Click Here to Buy Now

Click Here to Buy Now

The Roxxlyn Brings Marble from Architecture to Eyewear

Marble, the stone of luxury, the choice of the famous sculptor Michelangelo, and the pivotal material for the Rennaissance movement. Marble’s always been a symbol of opulence. It’s used in homes for flooring, mantelpiece sculptures, luxury bathroom fittings, and even found its way into Renault’s EZ Ultimo luxury concept car for the future. Wherever you see marble, it’s always an indication of purity and prosperity.

The Roxxlyn wants to bring that feeling to fashion too. Hitherto unused in fashion, Roxxlyn’s sunglasses take one of Architecture’s favorite materials and bring them to eyewear. To do this, Roxxlyn had to conquer one of marble’s biggest physical drawbacks. Making marble veneers is an incredibly complex process. The stone is brittle, and can’t be cut too thin as it breaks. New manufacturing techniques allow Roxxlyn to craft veneers of marble that are as thin as 0.02inches (half a millimeter) in thickness. These veneers are carefully and precisely shaped before being integrated into the filigree stainless steel frames that give them an extra bit of strength, making your sunglasses durable. Roxxlyn’s sunglasses come across various retro-modern styles and even allow for custom-building, letting you choose marble veneers and frame colors to match and suit your personality or fashion sense. Additionally, each Roxxlyn frame comes with a choice between tinted and gradient lenses, both armed with an anti-reflective coating that filter out UVA, UVB, and UVC rays while offering full glare protection.

Roxxlyn’s stones are sourced from some of the finest places in the world, from Spain to Italy. Each stone captures an earthy beauty, be it the yellow-grey of the Arabescato Orobico Grigio from Camerato Cornell in Italy, or the rich, red of the Rosso Levanto in Liguria, Italy, or even the dark, granite feel of Spain’s Nero Marquina, one of the world’s most sought-after natural stones. Each spectacle uses a unique veneer that sets it apart visually. Designed with an appeal that acetate frames can only hope to achieve, Roxxlyn’s frames showcase marble in a manner that truly brings their values of style, and of premium-appeal outside architecture, and into the world of eyewear!

Designer: Andreas Plassmann of Roxxlyn Studios

Click here to Buy Now: $134 $193 (30% off). Hurry, only 15 left!

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The first Roxxlyn Eyewear collection features modern silhouettes and fine marble constructions. Its combination of high-quality stone and slim stainless steel provides pleasant comfort in polished aesthetics.

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The stones, which are less than one millimeter thin and extremely light, can be shaped using a special technical process and integrate perfectly into the narrow silhouettes of the sunglasses.

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The lenses are framed in filigree stainless steel combined aluminum. The functional nose pads ensure an ideal fit and individual wearing comfort. With the same eye for detail, the tinted and gradient lenses round off the collection with an anti-reflective coating and filter out UVA, UVB and UVC rays while offering full glare protection.

With the world’s first real-time configurator from Roxxlyn, choose your personal unique piece of real stone combined with your favorite lens and frame color. “You don’t just buy a Roxxlyn product, you personalize it,” Andreas Plassmann.

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The Aron model is a true classic. The combination of high-quality real stone or marble and metal-colored details looks particularly stylish and smart.

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Incomparable elegance is the hallmark of the Eloise model. The design captivates with its contrast of the golden metal frame and the striking acetate temples, which are held in cool black.

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The Ryse noble sunglasses of the Real Stone-Eye-Wear collection inspire us with their classic silhouette and the modern rounded frame made of black and finest stainless steel.

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The Yoko sunglasses from the Roxxlyn Stone-Eye-Wear collection look particularly elegant thanks to the suggested Cat-Eye silhouette and are characterized by a refined and feminine design.

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The Cyrus sunglasses with round lenses and metal frame ensures optimum wearing comfort. The modern look, which already made music legends famous in the sixties, captivates with special attention to detail and the craftsmanship of Roxxlyn.

All models/variations of the Roxxlyn Eyewear collection are particularly light and yet robust. The real stones give the sunglasses a certain extra and underline the individuality and personality of their wearers.

Click here to Buy Now: $134 $193 (30% off). Hurry, only 15 left!

Mini Golf Marble Machine: Perpetual Hole-in-one Machine

Marble machines are kind of amazing. I love what people can create with them. Check out this video demonstration of a mini golf themed marble machine being built by Ben Tardif. There’s no actual putting required, also no whiny kids, so pretty awesome.


I really admire the skill and dedication that it takes to create something like this. To get an idea of just how much effort it took, this is the 22nd video documenting the build, and he’s not even 100% done yet.

You go ahead and watch the video, because that’s what I’m doing all day now. Actually the first 14 seconds on a loop is all you need, but if you want to see the build, keep watching. It’s mesmerizing.

[via The Awesomer via Geekologie]

Show – off that Woodie Strip

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You know you have a winner, when you design for a consumer and not a client. What I mean by this, is that you actually go the extra mile for the end user, and not just the person who has paid money for the product. Take a look at the Woodie Milano Power Strip – WoodieHub, when co-founder and lead designer Francesco Paolo Dolce was traveling in Bolivia, a very powerful insight was stumbled upon. He came across a beautifully crafted wooden power strip and got him thinking on using alternate materials to plastic.

It also made him realize, that as an end consumer, nothing is more powerful than an aesthetic product married with superior functionality.

The WoodieHub features universal socket, USB Ports, wireless charging and come in wood, marble or concrete frames. The point of this new avatar is to get you a product that will “give you the freedom to charge any device exactly where you need it.”

Here are some key features:

  • Universal integrated power sockets (works in 150+ countries)
  • USB Charging Ports
  • Wireless Charging
  • Woodie uses micro-suction at the bottom, to ensure grip on any flat surface
  • Crafted with the finest Italian materials like high quality wood, marble and concrete

Designer: Woodie Design [ BUY IT HERE ]

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Incredibly complex machine plays music with marbles

There have been plenty of impressively elaborate musical machines in recent years, but this might top them all. Swedish band Wintergatan has crafted a Musical Marble Machine that, as the name suggests, churns out tunes using 2,000 marbles (technicall...