We've already brought you a primer on the simplistic, brightly colored vinyl toys known as 'Designer Vinyl' in the collectible toy world, and if you aren't much of the make-it-yourself type, you can easily sate your hunger for bursts of color by placing these bits of toy art around your home. However, if you are the crafty type (and if you're hanging around in our craft channel, I suspect that you just might be), you may find it inspiring that these toys also come in fully customizable (or DIY -- do it yourself) forms.

[Via Ian Murchinson]

The basic white Munny form can be purchased from Kidrobot.com for as little as $4.95 for smaller sizes. However, a larger size is available (you can get these guys up to 18"!). Once you get your hands on that simple little form, the only thing holding you back is the limits of your imagination.

The emergence of these DIY toys has basically fired up an entire subculture of artists who have gotten their creative groove on by painting and modifying them into something altogether different, and often incredible.

[Via Bobby Chromik ~ Lawcrow]

You can easily search the web and find all kinds of tutorials on how to make your own Designer Vinyl customs. Toy artists will also often show the creation process on their blogs. Even celeb Rosie O' Donnell has gotten into the custom world. You can start simply with something like markers or use products such as Sculpey to completely alter the shape of the figure itself.

A very early example of a raygun is the Heat-Ray featured in H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds (1898). Science fiction during the 1920s described death rays. Early science fiction often described or depicted raygun beams making bright light and loud noise like lightning or large electric arcs. Nikola Tesla's attempts at developing directed-energy weapons encouraged the imagination of many writers. According to the stories, when activated, a raygun emits a ray, typically visible, usually lethal if it hits a human target, often destructive if it hits mechanical objects, with properties and other effects unspecified or varying.

The first toy space guns were produced in the 1930s and 1940s. Part of the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon craze that swept the United States, they were an important byproduct of the popularization of space that occurred in the early decades of the twentieth century. During the 1920s and 1930s American Scientist Robert H. Goddard, began the first early tests of liquid-fueled rockets. Disproving the theory that rockets could not move forward in space because there was no air to push against, Goddard discovered the basic principles of rocket science. Yet, ironically, it was not Goddard, the father of space travel, who first caught the public's attention and popularized space exploration. It was a far more fanciful and romantic character, Buck Rogers. - Keep reading at Toy Rayguns

Dr. Grordbort'd Rayguns

The Rayguns: Dr. Grordborts Infallible Aether Oscillators, are a line of immensely dangerous yet simple to operate wave oscillation weapons.

Meticulously built to the exacting standards and plans of Dr. Grordbort, these weapons, bespangled in fine detail and with various (most likely quite dangerous) moving parts are the perfect addition to a gentleman's study or a deterring centerpiece for a lady's powder room or chiffonier.

It's been a while since the link in our store for t-shirts died... and after trying a out several different on-demand printers we finally decided that to get the best quality prints we were going to have to make the shirts ourselves. So now you can rep the color love offline too.

Sponsored Members: Check your love notes for a special thank you 20% off coupon.

Holding t-shirt inventory isn't cheap so for now we're only stocking the black shirts. If in the future there is enough demand for white shirts we'll order some of those too...

Color Love Blind Test

COLOURlovers Logo Tee

Show Us Your Love

If you honor us by buying one of our shirts, send us a photo of you wearing it and we'll add it to our online gallery... We may even offer some prizes to the most colorful and creative submissions.

Thank you all for continuing to support our efforts to grow the most supportive and creative community.
+Darius

We're taking a color road trip across America.

Here are some classic colors from 1950's & 1960's American motels. Thanks to RoadsidePictures for sharing their collection of motel postcards.

Inspired Palettes

Rainbows are one of the great visual wonders of our colorful world. They are very familiar to most, but because of the particular conditions in which they form, it is rare to catch a glimpse of their vivid colors, and even harder to capture one on film.

Here is a collection of impressive rainbow photos, and a little information about how they form and the different variations that can be seen.

Rainbows

Rainbows can be observed whenever there are water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind at a low altitude angle. The most spectacular rainbow displays happen when half of the sky is still dark with raining clouds and the observer is at a spot with clear sky in the direction of the Sun. The result is a luminous rainbow that contrasts with the darkened background, it might even be possible to see a  second arc with an inverse order of colors.

ToniVC

A rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours; the discrete bands are an artefact of human colour vision. The most commonly cited and remembered sequence, in English, is Newton's sevenfold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (popularly memorized by mnemonics like Roy G. Biv). Rainbows can be caused by other forms of water than rain, including mist, spray, and dew.

Color lovers know you're never too old to color; more likely, you're too young to stop. So, to help you keep the creativity flowing, here is a list of coloring books for adults.

Link | Link

Link | Link

Here's to another colorful year ahead...

Photography

Caribbean Colors

Link

A great blog that captures the unique and inspiring colors of the Caribbean taken from the lens of an "anonymous mom living in the Caribbean (who) takes beautiful photos."

Fun

Color Quizes

Squido

Via @COLOURlovers

Industrial Design

Shelving by Imeüble

Imeüble

Imeüble is Bjørn Jørund Blikstad who has been working with the concept of storage by "looking at it, not as a practical issue involving the storage of known objects, but in sync with our memory; comparing the mental storage capacity with the actual."

Music Video

WTF? by OK Go

OK Go

like a live action kaleidoscope....

Art

Web Service Book Prints By Stéphane Massa-Bidal

RetroFuturs | Flickr

This is a guest post by Speakin_Colors.

The Robin Redbreast

Among the many animals associated with Christmas, there is one which features extensively on cards, wrapping paper, cake decorations and crackers: the Robin Redbreast. The robin appears in many Christmas motifs even though it is extremely rare to see a robin at Christmastime since it is not precisely a winter animal. So why is it so popular? The answer lies in its red breast:

foxypar4

”The robin has become strongly associated with Christmas, taking a starring role on many a Christmas card since the mid-19th century. The Robin has also appeared on many Christmas postage stamps. An old British folk tale seeks to explain the Robin's distinctive breast. Legend has it that when Jesus was dying on the cross, the Robin, then simply brown in colour, flew to his side and sang into his ear in order to comfort him in his pain. The blood from his wounds stained the Robin's breast, and thereafter all Robins got the mark of Christ's blood upon them. An alternate legend has it that its breast was scorched fetching water for souls in Purgatory. The association with Christmas, however, more probably arises from the fact that postmen in Victorian Britain wore red uniforms and were nicknamed "Robin"; the Robin featured on the Christmas card is an emblem of the postman delivering the card”. - wikipedia

What's the most colorful part of your holiday?

Over indulging (mostly on wine) relatives?...Getting the same gift you got last year, and still having found no use for the last one?...The mound of wrapping paper headed for the landfill?...Forgetting to get a gift for one of your nieces, cousins, siblings?...Holiday sweaters!?

There certainly are many to consider. For me, it's the extravagant  christmas light displays and ~adorning~ lawn ornaments.

20 Extravagant Lighting Displays

The Brain Toad