Makers gonna make: Around the Faire

The Maker Faire was undeniably awesome; at each new booth, in every tent, was a wonder that outshined the last. Do I spend my time in the steampunk area, or hang out in the lockpicking lab? Catch the Coke Zero and Mentos show, or ogle the art cars? A few more delights that we happened upon:

• 3D printers aplenty, and design files on sites like Thingiverse for making, well, things -- cube gears or a mini globe or maybe a bust?
• Sparkfun gadgets and gewgaws; I've never really dabbled in electronics, but 7- and 8-year-olds seemed to take to soldering just fine -- perhaps there's hope for me yet
• Nina Paley, who made the excellent Sita Sings the Blues, was demonstrating "free motion quilting." Her pieces were intricate, colorful, breathtaking. I asked her how long she had been honing her craft, expecting lifelong devotion to her sewing machine. "Oh, I've been at it about six months." Seriously: unbelievable.
• Instructables stuff: guides for making a skitter bot, a dinosaur cake, or a helmet mohawk
• Jenine Bressner's handmade glass beads; Bressner was working with glass rods and an open flame at her table
• Maria Eife's fabulous felt: diecut necklaces and bracelets
• Scrabble coasters from Yard Sale Press
• Rebecca Coagan's Morse Code jewelry
• Weird and wacky found-object creations from Haute Vulture
• The Bamboo Bike Studio -- build yourself a bike and go for a sustainable spin
• Insane corsetry and a dress like a rose garden from Kristin Costa
• Extraordinarily embellished everyday objects by fiber artist Sonya Philip 
• Big Mouth Billy Bass, remixed: THE SASHIMI TABERNACLE CHOIR

Stitch in time

Another highlight of the Maker Faire was P.Nosa's embroidered tableaux. He "draws" scenes on fabric using his sewing machine, which is powered by a solar panel or a bike electrical generator. At his booth, you can whisper five words to him, and he'll stitch up the scene; you can buy it, or it can just become part of his book.

Stop the presses

We stopped by World Maker Faire 2011 today; one of my favorite booths was by The Museum of Interesting Things. This is one of their "things" -- an old printer's plate. Now that's hawt type.