With the holiday season upon us, I thought it might be fun to highlight two posts that were simply made for each other that can add some spark to your geeky holiday plans.
I am a big fan of the Instructables website. While not everything you’ll find there is as outstanding as these two tutorials, they regularly have very clever and easy to create projects that just about anyone can handle.
Disclaimer: I did not create these tutorials, and can claim no credit other than for that of being a devout reader of the Instructables RSS feed.
LED Wine Charms
Posted by billr, these LED light-up wine glass charms are adorable and unique, and will make for an excellent conversation piece at your next nerdy shindig.
The materials may not be something you can find at your local 7-11, but most aren’t too hard to come by:
- Basic 1.7V to 3V red, orange, green, white/clear LED.
- 100 & 200 ohm resistors (Radio Shack)
- 25mm Beading Hoops (any local craft/bead store, around $4 for 10)
- Batteries, which need to have leads pre-soldered to them at the factory – Mouser Electronics part #658- BR2032-1GU,mfr part #BR2032-1GU @ $2.32 ea)
Once you’ve got the materials, all you need is a pair of needle-nose pliers and some basic soldering skills. Check out the full tutorial here.
Of course, if you’re not a wine drinker, these charms can be used on any stemmed glassware, such as martini glasses – which brings us to the second bit of awesome:
Cotton Bawls Cocktail
Most geeks know of the delicious energy drink known as Bawls. Sold at Thinkgeek by the case, Bawls is packed with sweet-tasting Guarana caffeine (80mgs in each 10 ounce bottle), and goes down so smoooooth.
Now imagine if you could have your delicious Bawls (yeah yeah yeah – get it all out now), but you could also add candy and alcohol. Enter the Cotton Bawls Cocktail, designed by thybell.
All you need is:
- A bottle of Bawls
- A shot of vodka
- A fistful of cotton candy
The end result is pure, liquid FREAKING awesome. Check out the full Cotton Bawls Cocktail instructions here.
Voila – the perfect geek cocktail. I mean, really – the only way it could be more awesome would be if you could add bacon to it. Hey…. wait a minute…
