Maker Faire! Day one: "Where do I start?" OK, get your thoughts together, you have only been waiting all year for this (Just missed last year). In case you have been living under a non-crafty rock for two years, perhaps a non-felted one at that, Maker Faire is produced by the creators of two relatively new magazines
Make and
Craft. These magazines will document the DIY craft and make movement that has been gaining momentum since the internet became widely accessible. Anthropologists 100 years from now will use this magazine as a text book to chronicle this 'curious movement'. Any-hoo, first on the agenda for Saturday is the bubbly and inspiring
Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo. If you have ever heard an interview with the Crafty Chica, you know how inspiring she can be. If you ever dreamed of making crafty goodness as a living, start with her. She chronicled her start and her path in such a short time. Her crafty wares can be found at
Michaels craft stores. You can also listen to an interview of her with
Vickie Howell on her podcast CRL, Craft Rock Love. Next up, the lovely Jennifer Perkins of
Naughty Secretary Club. Ms. Perkins is a founding member of
Austin Craft Mafia, an author and craft show host for
Craft Lab and
Styleicious. She also gives crafty business classes at
Autin Craft-O-Rama.
There was so much to see and experience that I had to come back on Sunday. I still didn't see everything there was. It was a gluttony of creativeness and inspiring ingenuity. The robot wars were incredible! Basically a fight to the death with radio controlled robots. There were spinning blades, fire breathing robots and levers that flipped the other robots over in an attempt to disable them. This was a large contest of which I don't really know the extent of. I believe it's an elimination contest with possible big money prizes, not sure, anyone?
The fire-breathing robot in this pic is called 'Texas Heat'. He received a lot of applause.
Mouse Trap was the brain child of Mark Perez. 15 Years worth of hard work and this masterpiece is spectacular! I had to watch two shows, it was that good**
Under The Licorice Tree deserves special attention since it held the attention of my DD and her girl scout mate for several hours. I couldn't believe it, needle felting for 12 year olds. they couldn't stop stab-stab-stabbing.... even while they were playing on the oversized teete-totter:P
Needle felting involves wool, a barbed felting needle and a cusion to protect your lovely furniture from becoming swiss cheese. The possibilities are absolutely limited to your imagination. Here there is a human-like rabbit on a bicycle and a zombie with branches for arms. How creative is that? I have tried to tap into my inner creative self and asked a few artists at the maker faire how they found their inner artistic selves. Apparently it's there in all of us, we just need to look for it. I haven't found it yet, I just craft from patterns but to truly create from your imagination, well, that's what it's all about.
Trina Brielle taught how to turn plastic grocery bags into 'Plarn' for crocheting and knitting. This really enthralled my recycling earth friendly girl scout. She was especially interested since she just learned how to knit at the Faire.
R2D2 made an appearance, he made the crowd part like moses did with water.
Steve Wolf with
Science in the movies explained how 5th grade science helps make special effects for movies.
Robo Spin Art include pumps that reminded me of IV pumps I work with in a hospital, ink and centrifugal force. Why can't I come up with this stuff? Hmm..... Need to work on that imagination thing.
David and I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting
Millie and her mom, the
Etsy Texas Crafters Gurus. These ladies spend their valuable time promoting Texas Etsians. They actually recognized me as Davids wife because of the T-Shirt I was wearning with 'Craftiness.Etsy.com' emblazoned with all the color and glitter I could come up with.
These wine stoppers are perfect for those unfinished bottles of wine. No more trying to shave corks to get those thing back in the bottles, you know what I mean. This beautiful batch is made of Siberian Pea Bush and each one is a one-of-a-kind piece of art.
This is a wine stopper/cork screw combo. The cork screw seats inside the stopper part. Great invention made of ebony wood.
This piece is an acrylic Baron-Style rollerball. The swirls are dreamy! David is busy getting ready for the Christmas at the Caswell House Art Venue.
Maker Faire! Day one: "Where do I start?" OK, get your thoughts together, you have only been waiting all year for this (Just missed last year). In case you have been living under a non-crafty rock for two years, perhaps a non-felted one at that, Maker Faire is produced by the creators of two relatively new magazines Make and Craft. These magazines will document the DIY craft and make movement that has been gaining momentum since the internet became widely accessible. Anthropologists 100 years from now will use this magazine as a text book to chronicle this 'curious movement'. Any-hoo, first on the agenda for Saturday is the bubbly and inspiring Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo. If you have ever heard an interview with the Crafty Chica, you know how inspiring she can be. If you ever dreamed of making crafty goodness as a living, start with her. She chronicled her start and her path in such a short time. Her crafty wares can be found at Michaels craft stores. You can also listen to an interview of her with Vickie Howell on her podcast CRL, Craft Rock Love. Next up, the lovely Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club. Ms. Perkins is a founding member of Austin Craft Mafia, an author and craft show host for Craft Lab and Styleicious. She also gives crafty business classes at Autin Craft-O-Rama.
There was so much to see and experience that I had to come back on Sunday. I still didn't see everything there was. It was a gluttony of creativeness and inspiring ingenuity. The robot wars were incredible! Basically a fight to the death with radio controlled robots. There were spinning blades, fire breathing robots and levers that flipped the other robots over in an attempt to disable them. This was a large contest of which I don't really know the extent of. I believe it's an elimination contest with possible big money prizes, not sure, anyone?
The fire-breathing robot in this pic is called 'Texas Heat'. He received a lot of applause. Mouse Trap was the brain child of Mark Perez. 15 Years worth of hard work and this masterpiece is spectacular! I had to watch two shows, it was that good**
Needle felting involves wool, a barbed felting needle and a cusion to protect your lovely furniture from becoming swiss cheese. The possibilities are absolutely limited to your imagination. Here there is a human-like rabbit on a bicycle and a zombie with branches for arms. How creative is that? I have tried to tap into my inner creative self and asked a few artists at the maker faire how they found their inner artistic selves. Apparently it's there in all of us, we just need to look for it. I haven't found it yet, I just craft from patterns but to truly create from your imagination, well, that's what it's all about.
Trina Brielle taught how to turn plastic grocery bags into 'Plarn' for crocheting and knitting. This really enthralled my recycling earth friendly girl scout. She was especially interested since she just learned how to knit at the Faire.
Robo Spin Art include pumps that reminded me of IV pumps I work with in a hospital, ink and centrifugal force. Why can't I come up with this stuff? Hmm..... Need to work on that imagination thing.
DD and I loved the hula hoop demo area.
