Maker Faire Kansas City: Day Two

What a fantastic fair! Over 300 maker exhibits expressed the range, creativity, and depth of maker culture. Enthusiastic crowds, intuitive exhibit layout, and fantastic, mild weather made Maker Faire Kansas City 2013 a joy to experience. Congratulations to the Union Station team, event sponsors, and the vibrant KC maker community! We’re already looking forward to 2014.

Built in 1914, Union Station served a peak annual passenger traffic of over 670,000 in 1945—and now in 2013 serves a peak Maker Faire traffic of near 12,000!

This yarn head was irresistible, cruising around the fair and holding boogie court as Nerd Girl Yarns spun, demoed, and knitted.

College student (electrical engineering) Austin Feathers made this jet engine when he was a sophomore in HIGH SCHOOL. He also showed a Tesla coil. http://bit.ly/12zrDBX

The KC Woodturners and the KC Woodworkers Guild are both 20+ years old and share a warehouse full of tools (KC Woodturners alone have 12 lathes) and run open houses, workshops and social events. http://www.kcwoodturners.org

Dave Dalton, proprietor of Hammerspace, pulled off this amazing, Lovecraft-tribute crane game complete with fog, joystick control, and fabulous Cannabalistic Cave Polyps.

Toothpaste and dentures never looked more fun. http://www.chewbaru.com/

Kansas City apparently has one of the most vibrant FIRST Robotics community—one mentor told me there were 59 teams last year!

This FIRST team from Shawnee programmed their robot to complete the climb challenge sequence autonomously.

Amber always hankered after those Victoria’s Secret wings—so she figured out how to make them!

Laguna Mermaid hand-sculpted her costume out of silicone—and she’s available for hire to tell stories, and yes, swim at your pool party. http://on.fb.me/17zNLxe

These electric-powered children’s toys are modded to go up to 40 mph—but the challenge is you can’t spend more than $500 total on the car.

Sector67’s Power Wheels racer won Sunday’s enduro race. It has regenerative braking, a custom motor controller, and a frame made from a junk bedframe. http://www.sector67.org/blog/2012/fauxrarri/

Lasercut medals for the Power Wheels Racing Series winners. http://www.powerracingseries.org/

Oie’s family has been making perfumes and scents for over 100 years. Here he shares chocolate mint with his better half, Lala. ibrewperfume.com

The Jarboe Initiative showed off an array of modded commercial bike Burley bike trailers. http://www.jarboeinitiative.com/

Husband and wife Amanda and Michael co-created Michael’s intricate and stylish scale mail. http://etsy.me/12BXsWi

Gorgeous patterns and colors and designs from this two turntable experiment.

Andy Graham’s electric percussion instrument is made from steel strapping and a pickup. http://www.slaperoo.com/

Co-founder and producer of Maker Faire Kansas City, Luis Rodriguez of Union Station science center, stands tall in what will be the center’s new public makerspace. Their ShopBot arrives next week!

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