Hasta La Ideas

Designers revamp the standard classroom DIY toy

Having founded the online artist’s community Little Paper Planes in 2004, Kelly Lynn Jones decided to share their ideas with readers in her new book of the same name. Little Paper Planes revisits the traditional DIY toy with 20 takes on the classic form, complete with perforated pages for folding, taping and flying. Each paper airplane comes from a different graphic artist, with designs ranging from old standbys to experimental models. Along with each artist’s background and their thoughts on childhood is a clear set of instructions, list of supplies and pattern needed to create their version of the paper airplane.

“Paper planes were something that bridged the gap between this make-believe world and reality,” writes Jones, musing about their role in her childhood imagination. “They were real, tangible objects but represented the possibility that what I imagined could really come to be.” In creating a book around the act of making and creativity—something so ingrained in youth—Jones felt a deep sense of nostalgia, while being confronted with the what she calls “notions around authorship and collaboration between artist and reader.”

The artists included in the book are all veterans of the LPP site, combining their efforts to produce this playtime edition. Besides more straightforward approaches from Alyson Fox‘s bright lined patterns to form into a flying airplane, a floating swan or “whatever you like”, and Brendan Monroe‘s Light Speed Flyer (“designed for speed”), some artists, such as Alexis Anne Mackenzie, venture outside the realm of linear flight. Her instructions read: “Shred the page into as many tiny pieces as you can, using only your fingers, and fling them into the air.” Christine Tillman gives us the schematics for a beautifully illustrated wad of paper—which, when thrown correctly, flies just as well as a paper airplane. Gemma Correll demonstrates a method to outfit a favorite pet with wings, including instructions to extend the length of paper for “plumper” animals.

Little Paper Planes drops in May 2012 and is available now for pre-order from Chronicle Books and Amazon.

Maximize the meat experience with this DIY guide

To true pork connoisseurs, store-bought bacon is an affront to the culinary arts. Ramp up your cured meat game by embracing the tastiest of DIY projects: homemade bacon. “The Better Bacon Book” marks the latest iPad-exclusive how-to publication in Open Air Publishing‘s digital instructional series. This edition takes you through adventures in everyone’s favorite breakfast meat, covering everything from setup and curing to slicing and frying. Hailed by chefs around the world for its seemingly limitless potential, bacon and its counterparts are carefully detailed in this indispensable guide.

Tom Mylan, executive butcher at The Meat Hook in Brooklyn, guides users through 20 instructional videos. The book contains tutorials for making slab, face and Canadian bacon, in addition to guanciale and pancetta. Mylan shows you how to butcher the meat, build your own smoker from a trash can and cook the perfect slice. For those not ready to dive fully into homemade bacon, the app also lists the top suppliers of mail-order bacon, curated by the author of “Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon“, Ari Weinzweigeg.

The Better Bacon Book also includes recipes from top restaurants and bars, so whether you’re spreading on some bacon jam or slurping down a plate of clams with rye whisky and bacon, there are endless options to get your pork belly fix. Open Air has upped its game in this app, including a feature to allow users to zoom into pig parts at various moments in the instruction videos called “image hotspots”. The book’s completely original content is now available for purchase from the iTunes App Store.