Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top stories on SolidSmack this past week. Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too. The Scrabble Keyboard is the Ultimate Desktop Peripheral for Word Junkies Even as more players eschew traditional board games in favor of smartphone app alternatives, there is still a significant population of…

If you’ve been on the fence about finally entering into digital tablet sketching (or notetaking) territory, both Google and Apple revealed some great news for you this week. First up is the all-new $329 9.7-inch iPad. While marketed towards educators as a low(er) cost of entry to bring iPads into the classroom (the education-adjusted cost is just $299 per unit), the most significant update is the inclusion of Apple Pencil compatibility. Previously only available on the company’s significantly more pricey iPad Pro tablet, the company is banking on the hardware combo to help springboard an entirely new way of thinking about technology in the classroom. Fortunately, everybody else can benefit…

The cap slapped shut with a thud and the tunnels expanded. You would never think a labyrinth of this complexity lay beneath the grass, yet the expanding corridors of hinged plates, overlapping gears and pistons steaming drew us toward the cavern, the cavern where we would slap muffin bubbles into these links. G liulian – A lot of mind-bending and intricate architectural work, but I just love the trees in his painted scenes. Aporetic Sequence – Instagram follow of the week. Jean Pierre Roy is a Brooklyn-based artist who just had a solo exhibition at Volta Show. Simple Line – Since we’re talking exhibitions, check out the sweet spirograph-like work…

Cherished by writers, designers, illustrators, and other creative professionals for its soft dark lead and unique flat eraser, the Blackwing 602 is worth trying at least once—but be forewarned: you may never go back to plain old #2 pencils again. Originally manufactured by the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company from 1934 – 1988, the Blackwing brand was acquired by California Cedar Products Company in 2008 and reintroduced to a new generation of creatives in 2012. And now, you can score your own 12-pack of the legendary pencil for just 23 bucks. Palomino Blackwing 602 Pencils 12-Pack — $22.95 Features: One pack of 12 Palomino Blackwing pencils Pencils feature a soft and…

Image: Yannick Castaing Need an introductory 3D modeling tool? MagicaVoxel is what you need. MagicaVoxel is a free, open source software package that provides simple, yet surprisingly powerful 3D modeling capability. Creator ephtracy explains: A free lightweight 8-bit voxel art editor and interactive path tracing renderer. And that is precisely what this is. At first glance, the software appears to be a rather simple Minecraft-like block editor, and in many ways, it is just that. But as you get deeper into the system its more powerful features begin to emerge. The tool installs freely on Windows or MacOS. It launches very quickly and is highly responsive, even on lesser machines.…

Although IKEA takes the cake for masterminding the ready-to-assemble (or flat-pack) furniture, the concept was initially captured in an 1878 US patent described as “(A) class of furniture which is so constructed that it may be packed and transported in parts, and put together for use by skilled or unskilled persons.” Either way, decades of design expertise, new methods of manufacturing, and a slew of customer experience updates have radicalized the ready-to-assemble experience. But the one thing that hasn’t changed much? Those pesky minimalist assembly instructions. Inspired by IKEA’s Place app, which uses augmented reality features on a smartphone to enable preview furniture within an interior space, UI designer Adam…