Recent Blog Posts

Making Maker Scholarships

At Maker Faire Bay Area 2013, Luke and Adam Iseman spoke about how to make your own micro-scholarship for the students at your alma mater high school, which encourages new makers and honors your favorite teachers. You don't need a lot of money to make a big difference.

Read the full story →

ArcAttack’s Steve Ward Demos the Handheld Tesla Coil

Today at Maker Faire, ArcAttack's Steve Ward showed me why he comes to Maker Faire: to make lightning!

Read the full story →

Crochet Jam – Weaving Community Through Crochet at Maker Faire Bay Area

Yesterday at Maker Faire Bay Area in the Textile Talk Lounge, artist Ramekon O’Arwisters gave a compelling talk on his social and artistic project, called Crochet Jam. Ramekon goes out into the community and teaches people how to crochet, and then lets them loose to work on a collaborative tapestry. […]

Read the full story →

Space Palette – Music and Visuals in One Fluid Motion

Space Palette is a fun instrument that combines visual and musical outputs. It works by waving your hands inside the holes of a wooden frame that looks a bit like an Atomic Age television screen of some sort. Depending on the location and depth of your hand, different sounds and projected swirling and multicolored visuals are generated.

Read the full story →

How to Prepare for Maker Faire

For those of you heading to Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend (May 18 & 19), here are some suggestions to enhance your experience. Suggestions include pre-Faire planning, transportation, the Maker Faire app, and more.

Read the full story →

The Moving Toys Workshop

Have fun building moving toys out of simple and recycled materials with these easy-to-follow instructions. The Moving Toys Workshop will also be at Maker Faire Bay Area this year, so come by and craft your own moving toy!

Read the full story →

Cardboard Tube Smokestack, Paper Towel Smoke

I've been enjoying some of the clever stop-motions videos I've seen created using Twitter's newish app, Vine. One of my favorite Vine users is Brock Davis. Though he's only posted a few videos, I like how simple and creative they are. Simple + creative is a winning combination.

Read the full story →

Knock Knock Calculator

Knock Knock is a clever Arduino-controlled calculator toy, designed for small children. The user knocks out a calculation on the surface — addition, multiplication, subtraction, or division — and Knock Knock will spit back the solution, in the form of knocks, of course. It's a fun idea for a toy, but good luck trying to use this in secret during a "no calculators" test at school!

Read the full story →

How-To: Needle-Felted Totoro + Interview with Artist Jackie Huang

Learn how to make your very own needle-felted Totoro from needle felting artist Jackie Huang. Jackie got started needle felting after his daughter was born, and turned it into a business. He also tells us about his favorite tools, inspirations, and mistakes he's learned from in the past.

Read the full story →

Tardigrade (Little Water Bear) Amigurumi

Tardigrades are tough little creatures. The tardigrade was originally named "kleiner wasserbär," which means "little water bear" in German. They are tiny (~ 1 millimeter long), eight-legged animals that live in the water and can survive extreme heat, cold, and — get this — they can go without food or water for nearly 120 years! Pay tribute to the mighty tardigrade by crocheting an amigurumi tardigrade.

Read the full story →

Read the full archive →