DIY Life

In 1852 Victor Hugo coined the phrase"necessity, the mother of invention". I couldn't disagree more. Laziness is the mother of invention. The wheel? Ug was tired of dragging stuff around. The car? Who really wants to clean up after and take care of a horse for its whole life? Paper? Carving letters into stone is way hard. See? Laziness drives us to invent things so we can expend less and less energy to do the tasks required of us in our daily lives.

Ryobi has latched on to this basic principle and as a result they have dreamed up a new way for us to be lazy. Traditionally if you used a string trimmer (colloquially known as a "weedwhacker") that was gas powered you were in for a work out every time you started it. Depending on what brand of gas powered trimmer you had, there were different arcane rituals to use to start it, but they all involved repeated yanking on the pull start. Ryobi has changed all that. I'll explain how after the break.

Back in the days before mass-produced imports, being a DIY'er sometimes meant making your own tools. My dad belongs to that generation, as do some of the men in my husband's family. Relatively few people have the gear or know-how required to do that these days. Sad, huh?

To revisit that self-sufficient era, head to Frank Campbell's A Woodworker's Bench Notes. In addition to all sorts of carpentry instructions, wood-working plans, and generally handy tips, this great little site also has a page dedicated to the site creator's dad, Hugh Campbell. Here you can view photos of some Campbell-creations, along with explanatory notes. Included are photos of a jig saw, a drill press, and a power hack saw -- all of them home-made in the 1940s and 50s. Guess what? They are all still working today.

There's also a newspaper clipping from 1946 attesting to Campbell's status as a local inventor. It tells how Campbell dealt with the problem of transportation around his farm after a particularly heavy snowfall by building a caterpillar snow toboggan. Other impressive inventions included a "garden tractor" that incorporated old car parts, and a swathing machine, the frame of which was constructed from an old truck.

This has got to be one of the neatest compilations of DIY inventions I've ever seen. This site takes 25 ordinary items and finds new and creative ways to transform them into something completely different and totally useful. It's not in English, but you really don't need any explanation, the pictures speak for themselves.

Topping the list is a chopstick hack that I wrote about a while back. All you need is a clothes pin and a pair of chopsticks and you can put together a set of spring-loaded chopsticks. Great for kids! Here are a few more of my favorites on their list:

• Stamp nails - Have you ever seen postage stamp designs and thought they would make funky nail art? Well, if you haven't, you'll start noticing them now, because this is one cool project. All you do is cut out the nail shape from the stamp and stick it on your nail. I imagine you'd apply a top coat of clear polish to finish them off.
• Cactus soother - I have to admit, this one seems awfully cruel, but if you're looking for a quick way to ween your child from the soother it just might work. Replace the nipple with a mini cactus bud. Your little one will never call for his soother or love you in the same way ever again!
• Dish cloth hanger - I have a few hooks around the kitchen where I hang dish cloths. The cloths are typically on the floor, having slid right off the hook. This clever little hack takes the clip out of a binder, pegs it to the wall and gives you a secure place to hang your dishtowel.
  

You'll find all sorts of little treasures there, like inventive uses for tennis balls, beer cans, goggles, tissue, flower pots, rubber gloves, sponges and more. Which one is your favorite?

Vote for your favorite DIY lighting project or just take inspiration from them and make your own. We've brought you the silverwear chandelier, and the wine glass chandelier, and we're back with more. These inventive lighting projects use everything from latex gloves to measuring tape to the infamous Slinky.

My vote goes to the globe lamp (pictured here). I think this would look great in a home office. Picture this one over a child's desk. I'd like to try it out with an antiqued globe for a bit of a different effect. The current leader is the latex glove lamp. It looks great too. You'll have some trouble keeping them inflated, but if you have an event in mind they would make great decorations.

There are 19 projects in total, go vote for the one that you like best.