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June 28

Maker Faire KC 2015

Photos from Maker Faire Kansas City 2015

Have you been to a Maker Faire? A celebration of things people make themselves, Maker Faires are organized by MAKE Magazine, and started in San Mateo, California in 2006. Now these events take place across the country. My hometown, Kansas City, happens to be one of the “featured” Faires, where more than 200 makers participate. I have shared Faires in the past, in 2011 and 2012, so I figured it was time for an update.

Above is a montage of photos I took – here are the highlights, starting in the upper left corner, and working around clockwise:

  1. 3D printers were big again, as they have been at each Faire I’ve attended. These were some 3D-printed TARDISes and Star Trek Lego figures.
  2. Some more examples of 3D printed items – these were very ornate vases by Sage Kaneko.
  3. A chainmail demonstration by Michael of Amanda Lynn Chainmaille Creations.
  4. The Artifex 2 desktop 3D printer – it printed in the usual hard plastic filament, but also wood and a flexible “NinjaFlex” thermoplastic elastomer.
  5. Eco Elvis performed – he was all shook up about the effects of acid rain.
  6. The Flipbookits were a cool find in the Maker Store – it’s a DIY kit to make your own motorized flipbook, designed by kinetic artists.
  7. Artists from Dare to Dabble were on hand to help attendees create gelli prints with acrylic paints, brayers, stamps and stencils.
  8. I made my own glycerin soap with Feto Soap! It smells like cinnamon and I chose a cute little gnome as the “prize” in the center.
  9. There were speakers scheduled throughout the day, discussing all sorts of interesting make-y type topics. The one I heard was about the use of hydraulics in Hollywood.
  10. Many booths encouraged attendees, particularly kids, to try their hand at a variety of tasks. This booth by Leela Village School for Purposeful Play offered a DIY playground with robots made from found materials. (P.S. Did you know “Leela” means “divine play” in Sanskrit?)
  11. A steampunk dirigible
  12. There was a table for Raspberry Pi Geek magazine – we got my husband one of these little credit card-sized computers for his birthday this year, so I was sure to pick up one of their sample magazines.

There was so much to see, and scrolling through the Instagram feed for #MakerFaireKC, I can see I missed quite a bit! Be sure to allow a few hours at least if a Maker Faire hits your area, if not a whole day!

What have been your favorite things to see at a Maker Faire? Share with us in the comments below!

Links of Interest:

 

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March 21

Magic Mirror on the Wall

I have one of those long, dark hallways in my house that’s terribly difficult to decorate.  There’s just one tiny window on one end, so I’m always looking for ways to lighten it up.  This evening I tried putting up three mirrors of different sizes…and it looks excellent!  Clearly, if three mirrors looks excellent, five mirrors would look even better (and ten would look incredible)!  I can see this quickly becoming a new obsession…

Have you seen this lovely LEGO mirror spotted on OurNerdHome?  It’s singularly simple to make (and will be featured prominently in my new mirror hallway by the end of this weekend):

lego mirror3

I particularly love the gold spray paint – something we go through a lot of at our house.  Have you ever wondered which gold spray paint to use for your projects? Julia at ChrisLovesJulia experimented with several different kinds, and writes about her findings here.

goldpaint3

What are your favorite mirror projects?  I’d love to see!

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December 28

Hobbit Craft: Sting Plush

Sting plush by Choly Knight

A group of 15 of us descended upon a local dine-and-watch movie theater last weekend for the latest (and last) installment of the Hobbit movie trilogy. Definitely epic eye candy – I mean, Legolas dashing up that crumbling tower?  Forget about it!

Bilbo’s trusty blade Sting made an appearance in the film, and served him well. If you would like a decidedly less pointy version with a high cute factor to brandish about, check out Choly Knight’s plushie pattern.

I agree with Choly about what makes this project unique: “the real kicker is the bit of satin stitching I did in glow-in-the-dark thread to simulate Sting’s ability to glow blue when orcs are near.” She says the glow-in-the-dark effect makes it great for pillow fights – which makes me want to make it even more, just to test out!

Have you seen the Battle of the Five Armies yet? What did you think? We did enjoy it, but my husband didn’t think the story merited three full movies.

 

Links of Interest:

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December 1

Geek out for the Holidays with Ornaments

ZombieGingerbreadMan
Zombie Gingerbread Man Ornament by My Zombie Friends on Etsy, credit Adrienne Jones.

To combat holiday stress, I like to decorate with as much geek-tastic awesomeness as I can create and find.  Things like zombie gingerbread men, Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtle ornaments, and 8-bit fireplaces always make me smile.  Why not have a geeky holiday this year and let Geek Crafts give you a head start with some fun, easy tutorials and even a gift idea or two.

Ornaments!

TMNTOrnamentsDIYFor the turtle lover, you’ve got to take a look at The Whoot’s DIY Ninja Turtles. My nephews love the Turtles, and this is the sort of craft you could do with little boys (and plenty of supervision!).

DIYCharacterChristmasOrnaments

My nephews are also in love with the Minions. This awesome DIY features other great fandom character ideas, like Sesame Street and Monsters Inc too.

 

 

MuppetOrnamentsDIYThese Muppet ornaments are super easy to make too, thanks to the great tutorial from Meg on Happy Looks Good on You. These little cuties were inspired by her original tutorial on making superhero ornaments.

LegoOrnamentDIY

Sarah Dees from FrugalFun4Boys.com has some fun Lego ornament ideas (good for girls too!).

Geeky Decor Fun

GeekDIYWreath

Kat and Cam from Our Nerd Home has a some great ideas for decorating the home for the holidays, including this Wreath DIY made from foam core! I bet craft foam would work great too.  Plus, you could totally customize this to all of your own favorite fandom images.

I have to share their 8-bit fireplace DIY too.  This is too awesome for words, and incredibly easy to do.  It’s warm and cozy, don’t you think?

8-bitFireplaceDIY

This last decor DIY is not for the faint of heart, but this Embroidery tutorial from Jessica (from Miniature Rhino) on Design Sponge takes you step-by-step through making this beautiful embroidered constellation table runner.  Perhaps not strictly a holiday theme, I think it lends itself well to any winter themed decor you’ve got going on in your home.

ConstellationTableRunner

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July 26

Happy Birthday, Batman!

The Dark Knight has turned 75, and to celebrate DC Comics had a team of artists and celebrities paint over the classic black mask and cape at the Cape/Cowl/Create exhibition. The likes of Zack Snyder, Will Arnett, and Lego artist Nathan Sawaya used everything from melted neon plastic to black fur to make over the outfit, which was modeled on the one from the upcoming Arkham Knight game.

joker bat

This cowl was created by Warner Brothers creative director Derek Deal. Personally, it’s my favorite out of the bunch of 17, but the aptly named tattoo artist Mr Cartoon and NYC artist ZSO came up with some really creative, original designs that could be used in a comic or a game very easily.

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February 9

Super-size Your D20

Giant Metallic D20

For Valentine’s Day, some people dream of getting a sparkly, shiny something. Here’s a geeky version – a giant metallic d20 (20-sided die, for the role-playing game un-initiated).

Kat and Cam at Our Nerd Home have rolled up a quick tutorial for you on how to make your own d20 using a piece of ~20″x20″ cardboard (I love how they used cardboard from a Lord of the Rings set of Legos they just happened to have laying around!)

My son’s 20th birthday is this week, so this could be just about the perfect present for me to make for him.

In the post, Kat/Cam mention that they left the numbers off the die to make it a more subtle decor item. If you make this, will you add numbers, or no?

Links of Interest:

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