Kevin Kohler, aka The Backyard Scientist, is widely known for his unique experiments and projects that often result in something exploding, melting or being burned, which applies for one of his more recent projects–the Flame Sword. As the title suggests, the sword is literally ENGULFED IN FLAMES as Kevin uses it to mutilate a perfectly delicious looking watermelon. Kevin begins the build by using a toy foam sword as a mold to cast into aluminum, which he does by first inserting a steel pipe into the sword (for rigidity) and then encasing it in plaster. Once dry, he then puts it into a bucket of sand to keep it level…

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…

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 ten stories on SolidSmack this past week. Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too. The World’s First Desktop Waterjet Cutting Machine Has Already Raised Nearly $1 Million on Kickstarter If we had a quarter for every 3D printing-related Kickstarter project that’s swept in over the…

His face was bone, chiseled and knobby as a bald cypress root. The rain ran between the creases, with the eerie appearance it was pouring forth from his face itself, down onto the trench coat and pistols, all caught and painted in the flashes of light from these links. The Dualyst – The artwork for the new digital tactical battlefield card game from Counterplay Games is simply magnificent. Game here. Macro melt – Marco Room does what it does best, this time providing a satisfying look at objects melting. Kosmosphaera – Giant glass marbles. Beautiful giant glass marbles. Works by Jodoc Elmiger and Valérie Jacquemet with glasswork done by Matteo…

Surrey Nanosystems, producers of the amazing Vantablack dark material informed Fabbaloo they have successfully coated a 3D printed object with the world’s darkest material. But first a catchup: Vantablack is a very unusual material composed of extremely long nanofibres, all aligned in a single direction. These fibers tend to trap photons when projected toward a Vantablack surface. Well, the photons are absorbed at a rate of 99.965%, making Vantablack the darkest substance produced by humans. It’s a very eerie experience to see a Vantablack object, as there is literally no reflected light. The object is effectively invisible as you can see here. No, this image is NOT altered. The object…

Where to even begin with this one? Well, we can start by saying this is one of the most killer bundles we’ve ever seen. From building your own 3D printer to designing, coding and building your own wearables using Arduino, this DIY Hardware & Internet of Things eBook Bundle belongs in the digital library of every designer and engineer –– if only because you can freakin’ pay whatever you want for it even though it’s worth a total of $340. So while you may not necessarily jump into building your first interactive touchscreen mirror immediately after buying the bundle, these books are certainly what you’d want to have around when…