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.

Behind the Design: Bram Ramon’s Watch Engravings

Engraving isn’t just for little league trophies or IT departments; for Bram Ramon, it’s an evolving art medium. Ever since he started working on fine jewelry and eventually making his way to expensive watches, Bram has been on the search for what he calls “the beautiful line” – traditional engraving techniques which he makes with his own hands.

Behind the Design: Bram Ramon’s Watch Engravings

Kickstarter Hardware Studio Launches New Badge System for Product Fulfillment

While the mission behind Kickstarter is great for “small guy” entrepreneurs with a good idea and enough chutzpah to launch it into the world via the internet, the ending result isn’t always so great for some project backers.

Kickstarter Hardware Studio Launches New Badge System for Product Fulfillment

Industrial Design Process: How to Finish Your Models with CMF Studies

Continuing work on his cellphone charger prototype, industrial designer Eric Strebel takes this opportunity to show how he completes his designs with a bit of high gloss finish.

Industrial Design Process: How to Finish Your Models with CMF Studies

Precision-Engineered Reel-to-Reel Tape Decks Make a Stunning Comeback

With over 14 million vinyl LPs sold in the United States alone in 2017, it’s no wonder that some artists and hardware manufacturers are putting their lossy MP3 files on the backburner to take a closer look at physical media—including cassette tapes— all over again. But for some extreme audiophiles, nothing beats going straight to the source. And when it comes to analog music, that’s a reel-to-reel tape deck.

Precision-Engineered Reel-to-Reel Tape Decks Make a Stunning Comeback

Building Robots is Fun with the Six-Legged STEMI Hexapod

We may have never gotten the chance to build the robots of our dreams as kids (tears), but that doesn’t necessarily mean our children of this generation should also miss out.

Building Robots is Fun with the Six-Legged STEMI Hexapod

Is Your Awesome Design Patented? (And Tips to Patent It Faster)

America is a litigious country. Without any subjective opinion, many of our founding fathers were lawyers and many of the rights and benefits that we enjoy today are the result of court cases. In terms of intellectual property, it can be a double-edged sword.

Is Your Awesome Design Patented? (And Tips to Patent It Faster)

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