By Cory Doctorow at 7:00 pm Wednesday, May 23
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Etsy seller FaustX2 made this Star Wars fig display table out of printing-press trays and other salvage items, topped with tempered glass.
This mixed media custom coffee table was made from reworked vintage printing press trays and a pair of vintage steel dock pallets. The interior display area is populated with a broad survey of Storm Troopers, Clone Troopers and other Imperial officers and droids from the various eras of Star Wars mythology. The pallets have been left rusted and all woodwork has been kept rough in keeping with the industrial style of the piece and are bound together with black steel wire. For a more modern look the pallets/base could be ground to a shiny steel finish depending on environment. The table top is 3/8" thick tempered glass and can be easily removed to rearrange the display area below. The table is very heavy (close to 100lbs) due to the steel pallets but felt sliders have been mounted on the bottom for easy movement on hard floors. Shipping is at cost in North America via Fedex ($500 due to weight and size).
Star Wars Coffee Table
(via IZ Reloaded)
By Cory Doctorow at 8:00 am Wednesday, May 23
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Jason K has reimagined a series of Studio Ghibli movie posters as covers of vintage Penguin paperbacks. He sells them as posters, postcards, and assorted other etsybits.
Studio Ghibli 4x6" postcard set of nine
(via Wil Wheaton)
By Maggie Koerth-Baker at 11:47 am Wednesday, May 16
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For only 6 British Pounds, you can cure what ails you with Placebo maximum strength sugar pills.
I'm a little sad that Etsy user spellingmistakes got to this idea before I could start marketing Placebex, as I've been threatening to do since approximately 2001. Maybe there's an intellectual property lawsuit in there someplace. ;)
And, before you ask, yes ... there really is some evidence that placebos work even if the people taking them already know that the drug is a placebo. Back in 2010, a study of ethical placebos used with irritable bowel patients got a lot of press. It was a follow up to a 2008 study that found roughly the same results.
If you want to read more on ethical placebos, I'd recommend checking out the following stories:
• Evidence that placebos work even if you tell people they're taking placebos by Ed Yong
• Meet the ethical placebo by Steve Silberman
Or, perhaps, you might like to purchase some Placebo maximum strength.
Via Darren Cullen
By Cory Doctorow at 4:00 pm Tuesday, May 15
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Here's a nice twist on the traditional vinyl-LP-as-a-clock craft: a cut-out AT-AT mod. From Etsy seller NotByLaser (which implies that this was not cut by a laser!).
Star Wars AT-AT: Hand Crafted Vinyl Record Clock - Made To Order
(via Neatorama)
By Cory Doctorow at 12:34 pm Sunday, May 13
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For $110, Etsy seller JamesBit will custom-paint a Zelda-themed faux fire to size for display in your decorative fireplace.
Zelda Fireplace Art
(via Wil Wheaton)
By Cory Doctorow at 4:02 pm Wednesday, May 2
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Etsy seller Steampunk101's GOLIATHON is a truly shitkicking steampunk Nerfgun mod, though that craftspersonship doesn't come cheap: $350!
What happens when you weaponize all the horsepower of a full-size steam locomotive? You get the Goliathon. One shot can level a building, down an airship, or turn a man inside out.
This is a modified Nerf Vulcan. It has many real metal elements added to it, including 4 gauges, copper piping, brass embellishments, and a solid metal valve wheel. It is roughly 2 1/2 feet long. It is a prop only and not intended to fire anything.
Steampunk Gun - THE GOLIATHON
(via CNet)
By Cory Doctorow at 10:14 pm Wednesday, Apr 25
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A lawyer (or person claiming to be a lawyer) sent threatening letters to people who criticized a featured Etsy seller who they said was actually importing cheap furniture from Bali and passing it off as her own homemade goods. The legal threats were the work of a bumbling amateur, and drew a stupendous, blistering response from Kenneth P White, an attorney at Brown White and Newhouse LLP, who wrote on behalf of one of the threat-recipients.
UPDATE: Ecologica Malibu
(Thanks, Lookforthewoman!)
By Cory Doctorow at 2:27 pm Monday, Apr 16
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Etsy seller NickelandDimeStore produces "concept art" in the form of junky-looking toys packaged with frank labels ("choking hazard," "boring game," etc). The seller says, "Handmade toy from an alternate 1950's universe. A world where the packaging told you exactly what you were getting. Yes, the toy is handmade by me along with the package design. It's meant to be concept art, but you can gag gift it to a friend."
NickelandDimeStore
(Thanks, joedwards!)
By Rob Beschizza at 6:30 am Monday, Apr 16
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Pineconeman at Etsy, via @dogboner. Please commence analysis.
By Cory Doctorow at 8:02 am Wednesday, Apr 11
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Etsy seller TheBohemianWorkbench combines fine joinery with fine nerdery and comes up with a beautiful, handmade wooden coffee table that resembles a giant NES controller, and which functions as a NES controller as well. It's available for $3,500 from his Venice, CA studio (pickup preferred).
Nintendo NES controller coffee table. Made from maple, mahogany and walnut with dovetail joinery and mid century modern legs.
This table fully functions as a Nintendo NES controller and can be used to play games with the glass removed. The cord is retractable from underneath. The demonstration video is currently being produced and will be posted soon.
Nintendo Controller Coffee Table - FUNCTIONAL (via Neatorama)
By Cory Doctorow at 7:09 am Tuesday, Apr 10
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Etsy's BabyPuppyDesigns makes hand-stamped cutlery with simple, all-caps sans-serif mottoes, such as this "Cereal Killer" spoon (sold out).
Hand Stamped Spoon Cereal Killer (via Geisha Asobi)
By Cory Doctorow at 2:08 pm Sunday, Apr 8
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Knob Creek Metal Arts makes clever sight-gag book-ends and sells them on Etsy in a variety of finishes. The seller adds, "Keep in mind that I can customize anything seen here and am always open to creating custom items just for you."
KnobCreekMetalArts (via Colossal)
By Cory Doctorow at 3:14 pm Sunday, Apr 1
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Etsy seller GoChaseRabbits make this fabulous custom R2D2 skirt. She's sold it, but she's taking pre-orders for more.
For Sale is a UNIQUE R2D2 Star Wars Inspired skirt! This is one of my original designs, it is all hand cut with machine patchwork stitching. This is surely a conversation piece. I tried to make it as accurate as possible to R2D2's Head. This waistband has GREAT stretch and can fit an array of sizes from S-L, it is wide so it acts as a cincher.
The skirt is 100% Cotton and completely machine washable, the length is 19" from top of waistband to hem.
r2d2 star wars inspired full skirt RESERVED FOR CUSTOMER (via Neatorama)
By Maggie Koerth-Baker at 8:33 am Monday, Feb 13
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If that special person in your life has the right sense of humor, this card, designed by dandee and for sale on Etsy, may be just the thing to make them feel all smooshy inside without playing in too heavily to the Valentine's Day prisoner's dilemma game.
Luckily for Christopher Baker, who showed me this card, I do have the right sense of humor. Happy early Valentine's, babe.
By Cory Doctorow at 1:00 pm Friday, Feb 10
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Italian Etsy seller ConceptualDevices made this $450 elephant beanbag chair, "a place where to read (and write) fairy tales."
Its external lining is made of a soft fabric used for outdoor upholstery produced by Sunbrella which is easily washable, waterproof, oil proof and sunlight resistant. The internal lining is 100% cotton and contains the expanded polystyrene padding.
TANTO is manufactured in Italy. Elephant is the first character of a wide collection of pachyderms that we intend to make.
TANTO. A Place Where to Read (and Write) Fairy Tales.
(via Super Punch)
, my book about the future of energy in the United States, will be published April 10th.