Making With Friends

Make! Make! Hooray!
Leo and his needle felted beard man!
When we are really lucky, we manage to get ourselves up to the best Maker Faire event of all, Maker Faire, Bay Area, otherwise we love hosting Bird House mini faires, here at home, any month of the year! We throw open the doors, bring out our works in progress and invite friends to bring and share their own projects. Between the potluck, and all of the creative energy, it never fails to be a productive and inspiring day.

We love requests for activities, questions, ideas. This time, Izzy wanted to bring out her wool felting... a craft she recently discovered and already excels at. We love wool... wet felting, needle felting! It was our very first exhibit and activity we ever shared at a Maker Faire, and we still love sharing our supplies and enthusiasm. We learned, in Wisconsin, how much fun friends and wool can be.

Simon getting in the needle felting zone... it's quite meditative.

Maria made a fat cat. We thought it was a cat's head, with a tail coming off the back, but she explained that the cat's body was so round and full, it looked as though it was only ball. I need to get a picture of the funny little guy!

With some old train rails, magnets, and metal balls, Alex set up a demonstration that all of us tested, experimented and played with, and thoroughly enjoyed. It's a Gauss rifle... and with the transference of energy from one marble, on the left, making contact with the magnets, the last marble on the right is projected forward, quickly. Simple. Smart.

Ido and Leslie, Simon, Bex, and Spencer arrived, with lots of great potluck food, and the makings for a brand new Junkcade project. Junk + Arcade: Ido's brilliant convergence of assorted household articles assembled and combined with video games, written in Scratch, to make an arcade game! It's ingenious, and loads of fun, to build and to play!

(Look for Junkcade, and many more awesome exhibits at the North County Mini Maker Faire, June 17-18.)

Geoff and William were recruited into the Junkcade build, and happily took to it... some wood working, wiring, assembling, William got a soldering lesson, and Geoff wrote code.



Love those spatula controllers! I think everyone is winning.

Since Scratch is open source, and everyone is encouraged to share, there are a lot of fun games to choose from, but possibly the coolest thing is that anyone using Scratch could develop their own games. Maybe BOoM Nerds will write a game specifically related to the Junkcade theme and aesthetic.

Speaking of everyone winning... Leslie discovered the Zen of needle felting. Trust me, the satisfaction and creativity that flows in needle felting wool is wonderful, compelling, good.

Bex agrees! Making, with friends, is the best excuse for opening your doors, and inviting everyone in.


It's fun to look back at some other Making with Friends events...

April 2012: Making the Most of Our Lemons!

December 2014: Think, Tinker, Play, Make, Program!

June 2015: Backyard Mini-Make

June 2016: Make Light: Start Fires

Make.com and Eclipse Season

Make.com is helping us prepare for an eclipse season! Today, our post is a visit back to one of the most amazing eclipse experiences we've ever had the pleasure to enjoy, and since it occurred during Maker Faire, it was even more fun... it was a fitting and beautiful finish to a weekend dedicated to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math and sharing! At the end of our second day at Maker Faire, the hot day began to cool suddenly, and shadows shimmered, doubled and turned every edge into crescent shapes. The sun slowly disappeared behind the moon, and everywhere people were pausing to marvel at the occurrence. We got our hands on some safety viewers, and looked up. We shared the viewers with anyone passing by, anyone missing out on the eclipse, and it was like sharing magic. It was like the whole of the rest of the Maker Faire experience, where everyone is sharing and learning, and there is a constant exchange between people who are teaching and learning, giving, and receiving... but in this instance everyone was enjoying the same event, the same science of nature. Somehow, there is a kind of tangible sensation when hundreds of people all direct their attention to a common purpose and all are reveling in the experience, describing, admiring, engaging with each other and with the almost surreal happening. It feels really good, it feels affirming of the positive, thoughtful, inquisitive nature of people. It was inspiring because of the power of nature to unify us in our curiosity and interest, our knowledge, and our eagerness to learn more. The entire weekend holds some of my fondest memories, for the people, the place, the things we saw and learned, and shared, and I hold these moments dear.

We are thrilled to have our photographs featured in Michelle Hlubinka's Make.com article, Packing For Eclipse Season. "The lunar eclipse Wednesday morning kicks off a series of blood moons..." and "then… when the moon swings around to the other side of the Earth in a little less than two weeks, most of the United States (and Mexico) get a peek at a partial solar eclipse on Thursday, October 23rd!" Michelle has suggestions and practical tips for enjoying this month's celestial show, so I hope you will follow the links to her article, and look for her kind remarks about our Young Maker's Club, Love & Rockets! We feel honored to be a part of the good things that happen in the Make community!

Alex, Maria, Bambi, Eli, and Max~
San Mateo, California, May 2012





William's shadow, and the tree's, with the crescent edges created by the partial eclipsing of sun, where a small bit of the sun, like a ring of fire, makes these strange, beautiful forms. Michelle writes,
"... you don’t need to use fancy equipment to play with and witness this beautiful moment. All you need is a tiny hole. Take a piece of opaque board or foil to project the image of the obscured sun, pinhole-style, onto a flat, white surface the right distance away. Forget your hole at home? You can even make a tiny aperture with a curled finger or fist (as William, of Maker Club Love & Rockets showed us.)"

We Are Everyday Makers

Today, in Detroit, thousands of thinkers, tinkerers, hackers, and makers are at Maker Faire. They are immersed in a place, a culture, where invention, creativity, curiosity, and innovation are not only recognized, but celebrated... a place where failure is an option, but not the end of the journey. Thinking back on our trips to Maker Faire, Bay Area, I feel excited for those thousands of people, especially the children, I feel reignited about the Make culture, and our own Young Makers, Love & Rockets, Art & Engineering.

This year we arrived at Maker Faire, as Love & Rockets, Art & Engineering, our own Make Club, and an Academic Club at SDA High School, founded by Alex Van Valkenberg. Three of the club members came ready to share their projects. In total, there were seventeen of us, traveling in caravan, flying in, and meeting up, to share two days of Make awesomeness. The experience was phenomenal, the inspiring effects long lasting. We are already deeply immersed in new projects and full of bright ideas for next year.

There is still a lot to share about our time at Maker Faire. I am eager to post about the projects our Young Makers demonstrated, as well the amazing contributions of other Young Makers. Besides Maker Faire Detroit, something else compelled me to share memories of the greatest show (and tell) on earth... something Maria was tinkering with, yesterday...


Maria built a castle... the tall cylinder perched on the tower is the king. She made a pendulum which she will let swing at the castle, hoping that her structure will leave the king safe and standing. Save the King! Design, curiosity, physics, construction, engineering, fun, initiative, independent play, resourcefulness, and recall.


Recalling something challenging and fun she did at Maker Faire, while visiting Gever Tulley and his extraordinary Brightworks School station. It was interesting to look back and see the original concept for Save the King, and appreciate how much it of she remembered and wanted to recreate at home.


The building pieces are rubber bottle stoppers, and there's the pendulum, the red king is sitting atop his tower. At the Faire, this exercise was fascinating to her. She built the castle at least four times, four different ways. She was engaged not only in the design, but in the question: what will happen? No one answered the question, the answer was in her own experience.

And the cool thing is, not only did she enjoy this moment, the process and experience, but she brought something home, too...


She made it her own. And like Adam Savage says, "Make what you can't not make." In other words, don't resist the urge to make something, just because someone thinks it should be justified, profitable, purposeful. No one suggested this to her, no one asked her "why?" It doesn't matter... which, conveniently, matters very much to us. So we all gathered to witness her experiment.


She decided her first pendulum was too light, and asked for help to find something heavier. Geoff drilled a hole in the handle of his brass mallet, and we looped a ribbon through it: much heavier pendulum!


Maria constructed a new castle. And employed Geoff to hold the ribbon of her pendulum.

Ready, Set...


Swing!


The king stands! But what I see is Maria's absolute delight with the success of her design, with seeing her idea in action... this matters very much, to everyday Makers, like us.

Thank you Make, Maker Faire, Gever Tulley, Tinkering School, Brightworks, and Adam Savage.

The Second Day, at Maker Faire

Welcome back! It's day two of Maker Faire. In telling our tale, I've spread it out a bit, so let's pretend yesterday was the First Day. So, now it's Sunday... even though you and I both know today is actually Wednesday... oh, never mind. Some things are better left unexplained.

MAKE would like to remind us: If you can't open it, you don't own it. And if you would like to learn more about MAKE, the Shed, the Blog, the Faire, the people, and the magazine, please *click* here!

Max, Maria and I were hanging out in the Young Maker's area, when I recognized Dale Dougherty, founder of Make Magazine and Maker Faire. Please note, and appreciate how calmly I write these words. This was a Geek Celebrity Moment, and I cannot emphasize enough how super stoked and awestruck I was, and still am, about meeting Dale Dougherty. I introduced him to Max, gave him our card, told him about Maker Prom, and Love & Rockets~Young Makers Club, then cooly, calmly released him from my Spazness Geek Celebrity Fan Grip. Personally, I feel I have matured and mellowed since my first bout of Maker Faire Geek Celebrity Spazness, when meeting Gever Tulley made highlights #'s 3-10 of our day at the Faire.

I thought it was extremely cool that Mr Dougherty was just being another guy at Maker Faire, hanging out, taking in all the sights... not with an entourage, not schmoozing with the suits. Like most people at Maker Faire, he was getting engaged with the makers, the young kids, the dreamers, the hobbyists, the tinkerers, and a person like me... a mom who makes, and who wants this country to respect S.T.E.A.M.M. and the people who champion makers, of all ages. Thank you Mr Dougherty. I like what you, and Make, are accomplishing.

Max + Skallops = Awesome!

Our Chickenbloggiversary Giveaway is over, but the fun continues.

By the second day, Max was fully on board with Skallops and his creations. With his new shirt, and some free space in the Young Maker's area, Max was able to share his love of designing and making with passersby, like Dale Dougherty. Maker Faire really isThe Biggest Show (and Tell) on Earth!

This!

Let's face it: I am about to run out of adjectives, and this post has barely begun. Either I can say "awesome" forty-two more times, or we can see whether I am able to, with literary-artistic license, make up whole new descriptive words!

Seasawspectacular!

The art cars, and bicycle wonders at Maker Faire restore magic. Yes, magic. Maybe you never lost it, but sometimes I forget the sheer bliss of imagining a new kind of ride, a fantastical mode of transportation. Someday. I will ride in a Neko Bus, and if it isn't at Maker Faire, or in Arcata, at "The Triathlon of the Art World," then please, God, let it be in my own backyard. That would be awesome. Amen.

Metal and Flames, and thousands of people in love with making and sharing. It feels like home.

Think, Make, Tinker, Play. All day.

The drive home is about nine hours, and the whole way, we discuss next year, and the next project. Maker Faire gets us fired up.

People are inside. Inside this metal monster! Maria was over come with emotion and gobsmacked, she said, "It's. just. beautiful!"

I love seeing that kind of uncensored, moment of love at first sight. Children express it so well.

We go to meet the Makers. We go for the thousands of ways we can share our interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Music, and Math, with people like Cody Vrosh. Unlike malls, and typical conventions, where everyone wants to sell you something, or promote their thing, at Maker Faire you meet artists, inventors, engineers, educators, tinkerers, who respect the process of making, embrace the learning, want to share and engage with others, and who are curious about your experience, your tinkering, too! The whole place and event is like a massive, collaborative dialogue about ideas, solutions, creativity, sustainability, and sharing, generously sprinkled with encouragement and hope. It all makes me feel very excited, and supportive of people like Cody, and his art, and all the participants and visitors who want to make something.

Martin!

Martin Hsu! Thumbs up for this artist, who officially tagged me into his Miyazaki Club! Hey, Martin, I haven't forgotten... you'll be at Comic Con, and we're going to see about hosting a movie night during that week. It would definitely be something from The Club archives!

Glowrious!

Have you heard? Chickenblog was "EXTERMINATED!" By the Dalek Guy. Which, geekalogically speaking was Whotastic.

Maker Faire has this HUGE presence, with big sights and massive stimulus opportunities, and it has opportunities for quiet, introspective, intimate, cerebral moments. I would be hard pressed to not find something that makes me feel engaged, sparkling, inspired, humored. James, and his mom, Robin, came this year, and I think they would agree: The whole place awakens your mind! Firing on all cylinders! Something about being that stimulated and engaged with intelligent, curious masses... it's beautiful, like an exquisite pattern in nature, both rationally sound and emotionally gratifying.

Eli, playing his Smoked Salmon Box guitar. In a separate post, I will be sharing all the projects designed, made, shared, and in progress from Love & Rockets~Art & Engineering, Young Makers Club.

I want to do another entire post just about Young Makers, and all that I love about the children who attend and participate at Maker Faire. And I'll try not to get too emotional, or rant, too hard, about what a colossal tragedy our country and states are making of schools. The children are our future, but budget cuts for public schools are giving them a bum rap today.

Young people love learning! Seriously. And, they have a lot to teach, too. We need these places, where we can all exchange our knowledge and encourage each other.

Being curious, feeling safe to be yourself... it cannot be topped.

It's all just so very, very marvelous... like a double unicorn rainbow of cycling magic! It's indescribably beautiful.

Is there a word for this level of joy?

Yes. Yes, I do have a next project in mind, thank you.

One ticket, people! One ticket, and the whole day is yours to play with and enjoy!

People + Pedals + Steel = Happy-Go-Round

Next year, she may reach the pedals!

The Front Porch is mobile, musical, and homemade.

More Young Makers! Bambi, and Alex, and Maria! I cannot help myself. I love that Make gives all the Makers space and credit in their program, links in the website. They see the future is now! And they respect that.

Alex rode in The Whiskey Drome, last year. It looks wild. It is wild.

He caught the hat. They're moving fast. The Drome is big, for something assembled and transported around, but small for their numbers and speeds. Like I said: Wild!

It makes this great creaking noise, and the boards flex. I cannot decide if I would try this. For sure it would have to be just me in there.

It sure was a crowd-pleaser. Maria could hardly be torn away. Maybe she's got a velodrome future?

I didn't realize how far back these go... The WhiskeyDrome is a homage to the turn of the century velodromes that would travel the country to wow the populace with acts of 2-wheeled daring-do. Specifically Keith's Bicycle Trick of 1901.

Happy: head to toe, inside, and out. All over.

We were all treated to a celestial marvel, and the thousands of us there, finishing our Maker Faire weekend of marveling at the manufactured wonders, were absolutely enthralled and delighted by the show put on by our Sun and Moon. Not everyone knew that this would be happening, or what to expect, but enough generous, informed citizens, came prepared not only to enjoy the spectacle, but also to share, and they passed out these viewers! Sweet!

It was as much fun to share the viewer with people who didn't have one, or who were unaware of what was transpiring, as it was to witness the event. Slowly the day darkened, it got noticeably cooler, and the shadows and reflections... wondrous strange!

The trees and other forms made crescent shadows everywhere. And all over the exclaimed joy and amazement filled the air.

William's shadow and the crescent reflections, as captured on Geoff's phone.

Like a light show, a Maker Prom grand finale, a school field trip beyond imagining... and we were all together to love it all, to enjoy wonder and curiosity.





This moment made it all worthwhile.