I love geometric art. I’d like to make my own designs, but to get started I put together a pattern from Bathsheba. I’m really pleased with this!

I just whipped up this design in inkscape. Inkscape isn’t too hard to use if you’re not measuring things. I just eyeballed everything, which required some tweaking. I outputted a dxf file, uploaded it to my new little archive of public lazzzor files. Then on the lazzzor computor, I imported it into CorelDraw and set the vector settings for cardboard which is 30/50/100, turned on the compressor for the air assist, turned on the filter, screamed “FIRE THE LASER!” and pushed the green button.

My friend Allison Kudla is an artist that creates art at the intersection of robotics and biology. She just came out with a new piece involving lasercut leaves that continue to grow. It’s beautiful and so I asked her some questions to learn more!

>> How did you come up with this idea of laser-cutting leaves and getting them to grow?

I had previously done work with extruding liquid mediums of plant cells in a CNC setup for DesCours 2007. I was also exposed to the laser cutting process by my friend, Ryan Wolfe, who was using it for his piece, Branching Systems At one point we tested laser cutting dried leaves for his piece. At the same time I was doing tissue culture experiments “cutting” and “punching” leaf discs, and through various conversations this idea emerged. At the point I had decided this would be the next thing I try, I had a meeting with Douglas Repetto. He happened to have a laser cutter and a plant in his office! This is where I made the first cut of a living plant.

>> Tell me a bit about the laser cutting process. What was it like to cut live leaves?

It was exciting. I had been imagining intricate symmetrical patterns in plant matter for a while and to immediately see this happen was very satisfying. I was surprised at how little the cut edge was burned, and the tissue cut fairly cleanly. The main burden involved the veins, which I will probably reconsider in more depth in my next take on the project. Its not an entirely flat surface because of them, and they need to be worked into the design more elegantly, or perhaps removed all together.
Then there was the challenging process of cutting the leaves at the School of Art and then walking 20 minutes (sometimes in the rain, (you know Seattle!)) across UW’s campus to get to the Biology Lab. I kept the leaves in petri dishes with a little water. Which segues into your next question.

>> How do you get the leaves to stay alive after laser cutting them?

Its an experiment! I don’t actually know if they will. It took several hours to place all of the tissue on the agar. During that time the leaves may have been deteriorating and contamination may have occurred (I was sterilizing my tools with fervor!). The good news, the edge where the laser was cutting lost its chloroplasts immediately. You could visibly see a perfect line where the green pigment just dropped off. But the rest of the leaf stayed green and appears to be respirating. Edges are also damaged when the leaves are cut with a blade. In the end, however, if the laser cutter does pose a problem to the life of the tissue, I will cut a pattern in the laser cutter to make a punch and just return to a less direct manipulation of the tool. It is not the laser cutting of the leaves that is the idea, but rather the form and pattern the leaves are in and the growth that they take on from that point. So for now, we shall wait and see, and in the future I may end up modifying my process.

>> What happens at the end of installation, are you going to dry the leaves?

When the agar medium “runs out” and dries up, so will the leaves. And yes, I will let them dry naturally. In the future I may try to figure out how to transplant or replenish the leaves somehow. Hopefully more on that in the future!

Super big thanks to Allison for indulging my questions. Check out this video of her work growing! If you’re intruiged, go see more of her work at her site!

NYCResistor, my pal Dina, me, and the NYC geek scene were profiled in the New York Times today. It’s a good article and you can check it out online. Make sure to watch the slideshow narrated by my buddy Nick Bilton.

I was invited to participate for a day in the 5-in-5 Challenge, a competition to complete a creative project every day for five straight days. The 5-in-5 Challenge takes place at the Interactive Telecommunications Program, a Master’s program at New York University. If I could go back in time, I would be seriously tempted to try and get into this hands-on technology program. By the time students graduate, they have learned a lot about physical computing and can make pretty much anything they can imagine.

MP4 | Blip.tv | Youtube | iTunes

I also had the chance to interview Robert Moon about his ecofabulous wallet, Adam Parrish about his pixel linocuts, and Joshua Berry about his summer mittens. This is just a taste of the projects that are coming out of the 5-in-5 Challenge. To learn more and to watch the projects that emerge over the week, check out the 5-in-5 blog.

My guest Michael Zeltner of GRL Vienna and I worked on a Frankenface project to play with videos in the same way you can play with collages.

Etsy Street is a video series about things I see in the world and want to share with the Etsy community. Check out the first post here.  Feel free to give me feedback and let me know what you think!

I’ve had a number of inquiries about the rules of the soldering championship all set to happen at 7:15 at M1-5 this Tuesday.

Here’s the details that have been revealed so far.

With solder irons blazing, and the power of molten metal at their finger tips, New York City’s electricity enthusiasts and hardware hackers will connect components to complete circuits for the glory of being the fastest soldering gun in NYC.

On stage and under hot lights, contestants will complete an electronics kit in the shortest time possible while still maintaining the integrity of the circuit. Who will be New York City’s soldering champion? You’ll need to be there to find out!

Pre-Registration Required.

Doors open at 6:30. Competitor check in until the competition starts promptly at 7:15 PM.

$30 entry fee to cover the cost of the kit. It’s a really cool kit! (Undisclosed so you can’t practice on it!) We will have power strips available.

Here are some bonus details.

1. The kit you will be assembling is a through-hole kit that an experienced solderer can complete in less than 30 minutes. It’s a cool and practical kit that you’ll actually use. (Next year, with more lead time, I want to create a kit that has an surface mount component just to be evil.)

2. There will be a trophy for the fastest and I’ll have a few NYCResistor T-shirts to give out for the first 3 people there to check in.

3. You can use any soldering iron that you bring. (Next year, I may make you use a crappy super cheap iron just to be evil.)

4. No helping hands. (There had to be at least one evil rule!)

I am really looking forward to this competition. See you at M1-5 on Tuesday for check-in and may the best solderer win!

This event is part of Ignite, a geek night that Brady and I founded. There will be awesome presentations after the championship that you should stick around for.

Ok, we make things and we can make video. It’s time for a collaborative project!

What is your most essential or favorite tool? Make a video that shares your most essential or favorite tool. Feel free to do it in whatever style you like!

Woodmosaics has already made one about his pedal powered table saw, check it out!

If you want to just turn on a webcam, press record, and show your favorite tool, that would be dandy. If you want to make a stop motion animation of your favorite scissors eating cookies… um ya, that would be awesome too.

Make your video. Upload it to the internet. Tag it “toolproject”. Feel free to join the handmade video group if you want to discuss the possibilities of video for people who make things.

This is going to be great! I can’t wait to see what your favorite tool is! Feel free to blog about this project and invite your friends to participate!

And they are having a graffiti art show!

Come check it out! My friend Michael Zeltner from Austria is going to be there showing off his insanely cool “drip sessions” project where he documents via video and programming the way that graffiti artists draw. Really totally rad. Be there or be aware that you are missing a vital event. - Link