When I started planning a series titled DreamWorld, one of the first characters that came to me was a dryad: a nature spirit representing our connection with nature. I saw her as a strong, benevolent queen, keeping watch over the woodland creatures and protecting them. The first concept I came up with that made my heart pitter-patter with excitement was the idea of building a huge crown for her from sticks and branches. I had no idea how I was going to accomplish this, but I had a vision. And I have learned over the years that having a vision will pave the way to making it a reality, regardless of if I know how that will come about.
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Enjoy playing around with Arduino and want to try your hand at making your own digital camera? Photographer Coralie Gourguechon has come up with a DIY digital camera called Craft Camera that consists of a simple cardboard body and Arduino guts.
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For Valentine’s Day today (you didn’t forget, did you?), San Francisco-based self-proclaimed super nerd Doctor Popular decided to give his significant other a card packaged inside a 35mm film canister.
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Want a cheap and simple way to project photographs from your smartphone onto your wall? Photojojo writes that you can actually make a makeshift projector with a few things you might already have lying around. Total cost: $1.
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Turning a retro satchel bag into a real photographer’s bag is quite easy. All you need is an old camera bag (e.g. a LowePro one) with velcro inserts, scissors, super glue, sticky velcro stripes and, of course, time.
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For their Chicago-based rent-a-photobooth business Fotio, event planners Nick Harvey and Theresa McMullen created a custom camera rig that looks like a vintage view camera. The ingredients — besides the wooden shell and bellows — included a DSLR and an iMac.
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Remote shutter release cables are extremely simple devices, but they can cost quite a bit if you buy the official accessories sold by major camera manufacturers. Instructables user nk dtk has an awesome makeshift alternative that’s dirt cheap: all you’ll need is a cable and a can of soda!
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With Christmas just around the corner, here’s a clever DIY craft idea for adding some photographic cheer to your gift giving this year: adorn your presents with gift bows made out of 35mm film strips.
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If you’d like a cheap and simple way to protect your camera lenses from rain and from drops, you can make a makeshift lens case using ordinary plastic bottles (e.g. water bottles, soda bottles). Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do so.
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About a year ago, we shared a neat DIY method of transferring black-and-white photos onto blocks of wood. A very similar technique can be used for displaying your photos on glass. Inspired Ideas writes that all you need are a toner-based print of your photo (e.g. using a copier or laser printer) and some clear contact paper.

Sticking the contact paper to your print will transfer the toner from your ordinary paper to the sticky transparent film. The next step is to soak the two connected sheets in water, which softens up the white paper and allows it to be rubbed off. What you’re left with is a piece of wet transparent contact paper that features your photo. Let it dry to restore its stickiness, and then attach the resulting “sticker” to whatever you’d like to show off your photo on (e.g. glass jars, candle holders, windows etc.)

Making Memory Candles [Inspired Ideas via Photojojo]