DIY Life

Iron Man gear is all the rage these days, thanks to the popularity of the new hit movie. We recently went to my nephew's fourth birthday party, and as a gift, he received an Iron Man mask and an arm attachment that shoots discs. Ah, the weaponry a four-year-old apparently needs....

If you've got an Iron Man buff in your household, why spend the money on a store-bought mask and arc reactor when you can build one yourself? Details after the break.

We have all seen LEDs become more and more prevalent in our daily lives. They are as common as traffic signals in major cities (after the whole energy rate fiasco a few years ago) and power indicators on most items. They are also as frivolous as LED hats to support your favorite team.

Manufacturers and retailers are starting to see the future in LED items as well, as they realize that a lot of people are looking to save energy. People want to support being "greener," sure, but they also want to keep a few more dollars and cents in their bank accounts.

Here are a few items I have come across that demonstrate how LED products will continue to make inroads in new categories of retail.

Instructables user huirub has a great new tutorial on how to transform any clear bottle of booze (or non-alcoholic clear liquid, if you want to be boring) into a cool accent lamp. Using readily available LED stickies, this simple project doesn't require any wiring or soldering, making it ideal for those of us who can't tell the difference between a volt and a vole (whatever that is).

The original tutorial calls for Dot-It LED lights (~$6 USD per unit), but I imagine you could get away with using any low-profile LED light source. If you're not afraid of building your own LED light array, however, this little tutorial might come in handy. I could envision this making a really cool bar backdrop if you had enough multi-colored alcohols and LED lights. Or, better yet, program the LEDs so they pulsate to the beat of some groovy music. It would be just like Waltzing Waters, only not as lame!

[via Instructables]