It’s a week past the Holloweens, but there’s never a wrong time to make a cool helmet. Aside from protecting you from your dog licking your face to wake you up, random ear-punches by co-workers and people being intimidated by your smashing good looks, helmets are just loads of fun to make. You may remember how to make a helmet from EVA foam. A fun process, but have you ever tried 3D printing a helmet? Peter Snyder, aka Killonius, has somewhat mastered the art of prop and costume helmets. He learned most of what he does from watching YouTube videos and good, old fashion experience, using Fusion 360 to model…

Mondays might not be your favorite day of the week, but the good news is that we’re all in this together ladies and gentlemen. As purveyors of prime Grade A web content, the SolidSmack crew has done some of the heavy-lifting to make sure you get your Mondays started on the right track. Welcome to The Monday List. Each Monday, we’ll link you up with some of the most insightful, informative, and socially-relevant stories to keep tabbed, bookmarked, reading listed, pocketed, or what have you. Be sure to check in each Monday morning for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight from the source of your favorite homegrown ‘Smack.…

We’ve said it time and time again, but the Raspberry Pi is just so dang cool and we believe all designers and engineers should have one in their toolkit—if not on their desktop. While there is a bit of a slight learning curve, it’s nothing that today’s designers and engineers can’t handle on a leisurely Saturday. So why not start now? The Raspberry Pi Mastery Bundle includes 8 courses to get started creating your very own Amazon Echo or even a ‘vintage’ streaming internet radio over a weekend. Throw in your own 3D printed housings, and the opportunities are limitless! For a limited time, The Raspberry Pi Mastery Bundle is…

When it comes to upcycling, it’s not always easy to create something new out of discarded waste that doesn’t appear as repurposed…discarded waste. Yet, Czech artist Veronika Richterová seems to have pulled it off. For her recent PET Luminaries series, the artist sliced and diced dozens of discarded plastic PET bottles to create a collection of eccentric chandeliers. Due to the existing glass-like nature of the cleaned plastic, the finished products more closely resemble carefully blown glass centerpieces rather than objects that otherwise would have ended up as a $.05 bottle deposit refund. As one might expect, PET doesn’t take too kindly to excess heat—so Richterová incorporated her pieces with…

If a trusty Trusco toolbox just isn’t your thing, you’re not entirely out of options when it comes to reliable portable tool storage. In fact, even if it is, who doesn’t like having options? The Klein Tools 18-inch Canvas Tool Bag ranks up there among our favorites when it comes to box-less tool storage. Made from heavy-duty number 8 natural canvas, this rugged tool tote is also rivet-reinforced for durability and features a steel-frame mouth. Heck, the stitched and riveted leather handles make a nice touch, too. Founded in 1857, Klein Tools has been cranking out hand tools and accessories for over five generations of Klein descendants. Needless to say,…

William Whiteley & Sons, a well-known scissor company in England, sure knows their stuff when it comes to cutting instruments. They’ve been around for 257 years; combining traditional handcrafting with current world technologies to make scissors capable of cutting through Kevlar (just take a look at their manufacturing process in the video below). Different scissors have different uses but are all made from the same hand-forged steel which undergoes 39 treatment and finishing processes. Their newest line of scissors, titled “EXO”, are supposed to combine “a quarter of a millennium’s scissor making knowledge with the latest in advanced tooling and coatings” – meaning, they’ll cut through just about anything while feeling…