Dude Crafts

Over 50 eccentric but useful projects that will get guys off the couch and into the shed!

Dude Crafts is loaded with more than 50 slightly twisted, but somehow useful, projects that will keep crafty men out of trouble (or, sometimes, in it). Whether making life easier with ingenious hacks or providing self-amusement, the 50 projects presented in Dude Crafts are sure to get any guys creative wheels turning.

These DIY projects will get you on the path to developing your own creations, and impressing your friends. You'll learn how to:

• Craft an iPad cover from an old book
• Build a metal forge out of a busted microwave
• Cook a meal in the dishwasher
• Re-purpose an electric saw into a cocktail blender
• Fashion a Swiss army knife for your keys
• Outfit an unsuspecting co-worker's office chair with an air horn

Each project is accompanied by a parts list and step-by-step photo instructions to get you building; often by hacking subpar stock goods or upcycling discarded objects into functional works of art and conversation pieces. No matter how off-kilter the project may appear on the surface, its sure to payoff as a useful tool, an art piece, the punch line to a practical joke or, best of all, a combination of all three.

Whatever the motive - to solve a problem, to play a joke, or for self-entertainment - Dude Crafts will get dudes off the sofa and into the workshop!

About the Author

Mike Warren is a designer and inventor based in San Francisco. His work combines electronics, woodworking, and reuse. His open-source work is carefully documented to inspire and encourage others to remix his projects and share the results. Warren won The New York Times Innovation Whiteboard in 2012 for his umbrella light (an illumination device retrofitted into the shaft of an umbrella to indicate location to others in the dark) and was the favorite selected by James Dyson. Warren is also the author of a maker book for young adults, 23 Things to Do Before You are 11 1/2, among other titles, and served as the technical editor for the young adult fiction Dewey Mac, Kid Detective. His work has been featured in Popular Science, The New York Times, Wired, BoingBoing, Vsauce, and elsewhere. He is currently a designer for Instructables and Autodesk, where he shares DIY tutorials.