There always seems to be “how-to” pages popping up, especially now with Make: magazine galvanizing the do-it/make-it/invent-it-yourself crowd. One recent website that I caught over on Boing Boing has probably gotten lots of exposure, but it’s worth pointing to here: a page on how to make analog watches (Link). I’ll look at that more closely when I have the time not to need a watch. It’s the second one, however, that really piqued my interest.

Last year some time I suggested to the guys at Core77 that there should be a “Toy Design” section of the design forum. They obliged and as I was involved in both its creation, forum moderation and convincing(?) fellow CIA alum Todd Herlitz (who runs a small ID studio near Chicago) to moderate that forum area, I posted a few initial threads to get it started. One thread was simply titled “Vinyl Toys” (link) and it recently received a nice necropost pointing to an indie toy maker’s DIY page (Link).

The above image is one of Figurepunk’s offerings and is the subject of that how-to. So if you want to read up on some really low-end mass production work, be sure to stop over and maybe even buy one of them – they’re pretty cheap compared to the stuff I usually see for sale. The only thing I wonder is whether there are options to use other, eco-friendly materials. Something to research… right before I no longer need a watch.

{Image Copyright © FiGUREPUNK 2004-06}