Maker Faire Detroit 2010

(Oh Blackberry phone. How you love to hide my pics in random places, thereby preventing timely posting of pics on blog.)

There's no other way to say it - Maker Faire Detroit was EPIC. It's the GARDEN OF EDEN for Makers and creative folks. I wanted to camp out and spend all my time exploring, questioning, touching, tasting, and laughing with my fellow Makers. I settled for a day pass.

There were over 260 Makers. I know I didn't get to see them all because I was competing with thousands of folks to see everything, but I thought I would share my favorites.

PURL STREET SCARF PROJECT - At one of the knitting booths, I got to chatting with a woman in charge of this project. Visitors to the booth were asked to work on knitting or crocheting part of a massive scarf. When complete, the scarf would be placed on the Thomas Edison statue in Greenfield Village. So I sat for a spell while The Man got another beer and participated in my first yarn bombing project. (FYI - A bombing date had not been set as of MF. I'll keep checking Flickr to see if I can get pics of the bombing).

ZERO GRAVITY BOXES - This booth had nothing but a bunch of curious shoe boxes scattered all over it. Turns out these boxes were magical little spaces of zero gravity diorama awesomeness. When you looked inside the little opening of each shoe box, it appeared the object inside (usually an airplane or astronaut) was floating. Turns out it's a trick with mirrors, but that table was one of my favorites even with no Maker to claim the project.

SASHIMI TABERNACLE CHOIR (http://www.sashimitabernaclechoir.org/) - I always wondered where those mounted singing fish would end up. I found out at MF. The Maker's info card states, "What can be more annoying than an animated singing fish? Try 250 of them bolted to a Volvo and singing Opera." Check out the website for more pics and video clips.

H2O SWING - It's hard to see in the pic below, but this swing has rainfall until the swing seat is perfectly parallel with the ground. So as a person swings back and forth, the rainfall from above stops for you when you're directly under it. A great idea on such a warm day - a little wet, but not too much.

THE LOOM - This loom was made by local weavers and uses recycled felted wool sweaters for weaving. The loom and supplies were out for everyone to give weaving a try (which of course I could not resist). I have to admit I am obsessed with this loom. The Man and I are discussing making one of our (my) own.

I loved my first Maker Faire experience. I feel sorry for those that didn't know or didn't go - they missed out. If you've never been to one, I would seriously consider finding one in your area or traveling to go. By far the best part of my summer vacation.