You’re inventing something. Because you’re awesome like that. Problem is, you don’t exactly know what material you’re supposed to use to get a particular result you’re going after, so you can’t just troll Amazon or eBay looking for it. What to do? Turn to Inventables, an online hardware store that specializes in materials that designers, artists and inventors will typically find useful.
Geared towards those insane enough to try and create something truly novel, browsing the catalog is literally about discovering a whole slew of tools and components you never even knew you could buy. You know, things like hand-moldable plastics, paper-thin wood veneers, heat-shielding gels and a plethora of other things that anyone designing their own superhero outfit/mad scientist laboratory/nerd fortress might want to experiment with.
Since Inventables is, essentially, selling raw products to people who have no idea if it’s what they need, the site does its best to make up for the knowledge gap. Rather than a generic product page with a short description, they include original images of the products in use, detailed descriptions, scientific specs, current uses for it and other information that those shopping for spare parts to create their dream product might actually find useful.
Basically, the site is a veritable Radio Shack for creative types who don’t have access to either a large R&D company’s resources or a materials expert they can turn to for advice. If you’ve got an idea, some funds for buying materials to play with and a whole load of DIY passion, we can’t imagine a better place to get yourself started.