Author Archives: Kana

The big day is finally, almost here.
The weather is looking great – we are expecting a beautiful fall day!

There will be 70+ makers at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh tomorrow, inside and out. You will see amazing, creative projects ranging in areas of DIY crafting and sewing to building, robotics, engineering/technology and puzzle making. The full list of makers is here.

There are several live performances planned throughout the day too.
Here are the highlights:

12:00- Faire Opening by the Great American Horn Machine – Out front of the museum
2:00 – Heather Kropf Live – Theater
3:00 – Pittsburgh Polka by the Great American Horn Machine – Out Front
4:00 – Premiere of The MakeShop Show – Theater
5:30 – Steam Whistle Talk and Salute to Makers Past and Present by the Great American Horn Machine – Out Front

Follow @PghMakerFaire on Twitter for live tweeting throughout the Faire tomorrow! If you are at the Maker Faire, tweet us your photos too!

See you all tomorrow!

Today’s Featured Maker:
Pittsburgh Knot Tying Club

The Pittsburgh Knot Tying Club will build on site a platform structure held together with knots and lashing. As well as a large visual draw to the fair, the platform will be the base for members of the club to teach basic knot tying to children and adults at the event. Although the public will not be climbing on the structure itself, it should provide an inspiration to think big in the little art of knot tying. Club members will have a variety of cordage and examples on hand to teach some basic knots that everyone should know.

See all of the participating makers.

Today’s Featured Maker:
Heather Kropf

Heather is a singer-songwriter with three self-produced albums. Heather’s most recent CD was virtually all home-made and co-produced with her partner bassist/engineer/arranger Randall Venturini. She also has art background.

You can see Heather’s performance at the Maker Faire- 2:00 pm in the Theater!

Visit Heather’s website.
See all of the participating makers.

Today’s Featured Maker:
Corissa McClay
MakerCraft Jewelry

MakerCraft makes it possible for you to create custom items by using mobile technology.

MakerCraft Jewelry lets you select from a collection of beads and charms and drag and drop them to create a personally designed piece of jewelry. You can then order the piece pre-assembled or as a DIY kit with custom instructions to assemble yourself. Explore this unique designing app on iPads at our Pittsburgh Maker Faire display.

Visit MakerCraft Jewelry website.
See all of the participating makers.

Oops- there was a miscounting of how many days until the big day. It is now 5 days before the event!

Today’s Featured Maker:
Lauren Capehart
Wool Spinning and Dyeing with Chinchillas 1957

Lauren will show you:

• How to spin yarn from wool, grocery sacks, t-shirts, etc with a spindle
• How to make spindles from everyday objects at home
• Finished objects from hand spun yarn on display
• How to knit and crochet
• Demonstrations of how to dye wool with water, Kool-Aid and vinegar in a microwave, simple explanation of “acid dyeing” and how dye becomes colorfast

Hand-blended fibers for spinning, handmade spindles and dye-at-home kits will be available for sale.

See all of the participating makers.

Here is a young maker with a very cool project:

Today’s Featured Maker:
Kerry Snyder
The Homemade Segway
Kerry is going to demonstrate the Homebuilt Segway-like balancing scooter that he built for his High School Senior Project.
Read Kerry’s blog.
See all of the participating makers.

Today’s Featured Maker:
Jet Townsend
open source digifab demo
Jet will bring a hacked/modified MakerBot Cupcake (open source 3d printer) and Lasersaur (open source laser cutter) and demonstrate onsite digital fabrication. He will be printing and cutting/etching items to be given away as part of this demo.
See all of the participating makers.

Today’s Featured Maker:
The Girls of Steel
The Girls of Steel is an all-girl high school robotics team with facilities and mentors based at the Carnegie Mellon Field Robotics Center. Starting its second year in the international FIRST Robotics Competition, the Girls of Steel hope to share their knowledge and opportunities with girls and boys alike and demonstrate their robots Crush, a 100+-pound robot, and Squirt, a minibot.
Visit The Girls of Steel website.
See all of the participating makers.

This project comes with a great impact both in size and sound:

Today’s Featured Maker:
Dana Dolfi
The Great American Horn Machine
The Great American Horn Machine is a mobile operational collection of steam whistles and Ship and Train air horns.