Robert Cockerham is our kinda guy. When he’s not busy running cockeyed.com, he can be found working on various DIY projects; some useful, some useless, and some just plain neat. He is an extraordinary costume designer and a self-admitted web sellout. We don’t hold it against him, though, because he was one of the original netizens - a real old timer (anyone who was online before 1999 is an old timer).
Anyhow, head on over to his projects page for plenty to keep you busy, especially come Halloween. My favorite project is his spring shoes, reminiscent of moon shoes but probably way more dangeresque. He’s even got some practical DIY projects like replacing a starter cord on a lawnmower.

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If your car is the “pits”, as the cool kids say, and it didn’t come straight from the used car lot with a holder for sunglasses, today’s your lucky day. This project is pretty awesome, involves cars and screwdrivers (oh and $20, perhaps), but no knowledge of how the car actually works. Perfect for those of use who don’t know a Jeep Cherokee from a Geo Tracker. This isn’t so much a how-to for building your own sunglass holder, as it is an instructional for installing one you bought into the spot your ashtray usually is. A mod, if you will. If you figure out how to make one out of something sitting around your house, we’ll email you a high five.   

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If you’ve ever had a really late night, full of insomnia and crappy television, you’ve seen informercials about natural remedies, common cures, and things THEY don’t want you to know (it’s always THEY, isn’t it?). Kevin Trudeau, Calcium salts, homeopathic remedies, ayurvedic remedies, YOGA, all kinds of buzzwords and glossary-needing situations. If you don’t have medical insurance and you have a big splinter - cut some banana peel and stick it on the affected area, tape it and call us in the morning. No, don’t, but you get the idea. There are a whole pack of wild remedy websites, and we’re always here for ya, babe. It’s all about figuring out what works for you, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? Or sicker. Whichever.

Home Remedies:

Herbal and kitchen home remedy site, A-Z index, and causes of ailments under each category. Seems like “oil of clove” is the all-purpose panacea. Maybe we should invest.

Granny remedies, this is an extremely hilarious site. I can have frighteningly smelly armpits (hey, I’m a mother of an infant, I don’t have time to slather myself with lavish deodorants, only DIY projects and raising child!), and I read from this site that rubbing potatoes on the stench will make them smell good. Wow. That seems like adding fuel to the fire. Potatoes and B.O. = Axe? I think not.

Homemade medicine, does not list pot as a treatment for glaucoma. Makes you automatically suspicious, doesn’t it?    

Common Terms, defined:

Homeopathy - Treatments developed by the process of “like treating like” to ‘cure’ or lessen the wrath of an illness/malady. If you eat raw belladonna, you’ll get a migraine and probably a rash, but administered in tiny doses, it can treat those symptoms. I don’t know what universe uses that logic system, but Homeopathy reigns there.

Avurveda - Ancient Indian health care. Involves healthy living, various therapies, and panchakarma (which is basically five treatments for broad ailments), which are then separated by the type of person you are, and broken into various methods of treatment. Since regulation of Ayurvedic medicine is common here in the US, generally it’s limited to herbal supplements, massages with oils, incense and all that jazz. Nothing fatal, damn! Use this site to figure out whether you’re a pitta or a vata. Or maybe you fancy yourself a kapha.

Holistic Medicine - Combination of treatments based on the idea that everything which is microcosmic, relates to, but doesn’t completely sum up a whole. Very alternative, and groovy man. Usually involves acupuncture, ayurveda, Siddha, chiropractic, naturopathy, yoga, aromatherapy, homeopathy, massage, Tai Chi, Chinese herbology, medicinal herbs, and Prolotherapy. New agey.

These are just a few references that can interest you in DIY alternative medicine, if needles and prescriptions aren’t your thing. Not to mention insurance, copays, specialist fees, premiums, it’s messy business folks!

{NOTE!}  You should consult a professional before getting yourself into something, but there are resources to do that for free on the web, so look into that if you’re intent on going completely DIY on this one. We don’t advocate anything but safety and knowledge in practicing DIY living, so use your brains! According to the FDA, nothing cures anything, so approach any of these sites with caution and a fat bag of “Fair Use” clauses in mind.

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Yes, we realize it’s a long title. But these really are wine charms made of electronic components. Hang these cute “charms” off the stem of a wine, margarita, or martini glass. The only things you need are resistors, inductors, capacitors (don’t get electrolytic capacitors wet, yo) or other electronic-related chunks of metal with leads attached to both sides. Then bust out your soldering iron and go at it. You could even break out the dremel and etch a flow chart representing an algorithm for drinking alcohol into the glass itself. Get creatively geeky with your drink containers and there will be much conversation, debate, and drunkery.

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Not the kind used for welding, either. If you have a lock you can’t open, but for some reason want to be able to open it - or you’re practicing lockpicking and need a safety, here’s how to make a little shim out of a pop can and scissors. It’s so easy to make and use, it’s downright ILLEGAL. Actually, it’s not, but don’t use it to open a stranger/enemy’s lock, K? Thanks.

NOTE - This knowledge may be prison knowledge, but we support diversity here. Also, you can, in fact, do a little shimmy while you’re making this. We won’t tell anyone.

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There’s a post on Wikihow that explains how to celebrate Earth Day, and half of it has to do with the exact same thing we advocate here at DIY:happy. Coincidence? I think NOT, brosephs. 

GO PLANT A TREE,
Recycle your clothes! Make old clothes into new clothes.
Bamboo AGAIN. It’s an epidemic at DIY:happy, here’s how to grow it yourself.
Live without a car. Or at least try to.
Swap or recycle from others, on Freecycle.
Craigslist has a lot of free stuff, recycle everything!
Dumpster dive! We all love dumpster diving, right?
Become a Freegan (NOT for everyone). If you’re hardcore anti-establishment, or anti-capitalism, this is worth a look at. If you don’t dig being cold, hungry, unemployed or vegetarian, Freeganism is something to pass up.
Actually recycle when you’re getting rid of something!
Become a member of a radical environmental organization?

That’s all we can think of right now.
Happy Earth Day!

Any more links? Send them our way!

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There are a host of sites you can go to get ideas for “pimping” your nerf gun (as the kiddies say), because sometimes filling a nerf gun up with pee just isn’t funny anymore.

 Here’s the working list:

NerfHaven - Not a large selection, but a good variety.
Nerf Maverick - Mod into a Russian Roulette-capable weapon.
Homemade Sniper Nerf - For more mathematically inclined folks.
Nerf PSYCHO - Psycho. There’s a disclaimer on every page.

Any sites you’d like to add to the list, you know where to tell us, or emailez-moi directly at Kristi (a.t.) diyhappy (D.O.T.) com.

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This spoofy how-to is borderline silly, but the end result makes you go “how ridiculous of me to question their construction abilities” or something like that. Bamboo stuff is kind of IN here at DIY:happy (paper was the trend last season), just ask the bamboo bike with the bamboo-appreciative links! Besides RULING, this tiki bar apparently holds up rather well, as bamboo can be used in lieu of half a diameter of extra lumber, and it’s cheap! MDF board can be handy when checking out this project. Emo glasses and a corncob piper are not a requirement, as the pictures may lead you to believe. 

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These papercraft starwars figures are modeled after a famous building block toy that some of you may be familiar with (rhymes with Prego). The page is in … another language so you may have to click around a bit to find out what’s going on, but this page should get you started (scroll down). They’ve got Storm Troopers, Boba Fett, Yoda, and many other cool looking figures and robots. Build up your own papercraft army from long, long ago [via via].

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Teenage girls and politically-motivated men alike have participated in making ‘zines. Your lack of a degree in journalism doesn’t matter. All the motivation you need is wanting to have your editorial or artistic voice heard. Creativity and craftiness is a general must, and knowing the ‘zine circuit is always good, but this awesome tutorial for making a beginner ‘zine to showcase to friends works in your favor. This Wikihow entry has two good links to the outside ‘zine world, and it can be your gateway to the world of independent (maga)zines. If your ‘zine is good enough, you could eventually build it into a published work where people can buy subscriptions!  Be the next Thomas Paine!

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This is a more creative, less constructive way to impress your friends than we usually feature on DIY:happy, but it’s almost as cool as the phantom zippo trick. This trick is relatively easy, and origami is a surefire way to pass the time when you’re bored. Impressing friends, alleviating boredom? You’ll like this origami t-shirt made out of a dollar bill. You can’t wear it when you’re too unmotivated to do your laundry for two weeks though.

[Note] When you’re broke, unfold it. Instant bag of Doritoes.

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We’re not sure in which world making a ten second pillow happens (getting all materials together, warming up a soldering iron, and finding a pen in your house), but the best scientists are fairly sure it isn’t Earth. However, this instructable insists that this awesome pillow made out of a GLAD bag takes ten seconds to make. Everyone now wishes they had a soldering iron and a sandwich bag in high school. You’d all gank the baking paper from the cafteria, or schmooze the old lunch ladies, don’t pretend like you wouldn’t have. At any rate, this pillow doesn’t look as soft as a regular pillow, but then again stealing from old ladies in aprons serving slop at a high school doesn’t seem exactly honest. Nothing is perfect, friends.   

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Ah … the memories. Every red blooded american child grew up with an Etch-A-Sketch (or at least your friend had one). We spent hours on Saturdays turning the little knobs trying to create interesting shapes and patterns.
Nowadays, if you haven’t passed on the magic to children of your own, your Etch-A-Sketch has probably been relegated to the Attic or worse. Well it’s time to pull it out for one last art job. Our friends over at Photojojo show how to turn your Etch-A-Sketch into a kitschy picture frame in just minutes. Their tutorial is complete with a photoshop how-to on making your photo look like a sketch.

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A spectrometer was always a cool thing to mess around with in science class in high school. Assuming you know what one is, here’s how to make one out of a poster tube and some tape - and the almighty CD (DVD for better resolution, apparently). As if Count Chocula wasn’t cool enough, now you can use him to see some light bands from the neon sign from the gentleman’s club down the street!

Remember, don’t be a monochromata’-hata’. Disregard that.

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Whatever you call it, this is a cool THING used to make NOISE. It’s made out of a gourd/plastic jug/anything shaped like an elongated pear (anatomy not applicable, sorry), draped with beads. It can even have a tail like you kids from the nineties did when you were in first grade (don’t lie, you had a tail). 

A Shekere can make various loud noises, deep baritone sounds, and thundering percussive music. If music is your thing and painting isn’t you can skip that step. Also - there is a scale of notes for this instrument, so it’s pretty easy to start composing crazy shekere ballads (no Whitesnake please - be original). If anyone can find piano instructions easier than these shekere instructions, that’d be impressive.

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