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