The Round I Call for Makers is now open and the application deadline is June 1*.

What We’re Looking For:

• Handmade or homemade projects made by individuals, clubs or start-up companies
• Made projects or making processes that use new technologies or old technologies  in new ways
• Interactivity for adults as well as kids – teach, share and demonstrate!
• Innovation, Creativity and Inventiveness
• WOW factor

*New Makers who submit an application by June 1 can receive feedback on ideas from Seasoned Makers and have the opportunity to resubmit if desired.

• Survey for Attendees
• Survey for Makers

We would like to thank:

• Co-Presenters  Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and HackPittsburgh (whose year-round maker programs will keep you  making until next year’s Faire!)
• Faire Planners Angela Seals, Doug Philips and Robert Blackwell
• Our 2012 Sponsors:  Spark, a program of the Sprout Fund, Catalyst Connection, PA Cyber School, pair Networks,  ioBridge and Wayne and Layne.
• Emcee Gab Bonesso (see her next performing around the region in her newest project, The Josh and Gab Show)
• And all the makers who were the heart of Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire 2012!

For ongoing maker-related programs, as well as news of next year’s Faire, please stay connected with us on Twitter and Facebook. Watch for the Call for Makers early next summer to showcase your own talent in the next Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire.  See you in 2013, Pittsburgh!

What’s Happening Now?
Click here for event descriptions.
Keep in mind that spontaneous events, contests and a water duel or two will occur unannounced throughout the day.

10:00 am:
Park: The Great American Horn Machine “Star-Spangled Banner”
Park: The Saturday Light Brigade LIVE on the Air 10-Noon

10:30 am
Park: Geeksdanz: The Machine
Wearables Area: Light Up Clothes with Shine So Bright (limit 6 per workshop)

11:00 pm
Park: Race #1, hosted by comedian Gab Bonesso
Wearables Area: Light Up Clothes with Shine So Bright (limit 6 per workshop)

11:15 am
Park: Geeksdanz: Freeze Tag

12:00 NOON
Park: Geeksdanz: No TV Until Chores Are Done!
Wearables Area: Light Up Clothes with Shine So Bright (limit 6 per workshop)

12:30
Park: The Great American Horn Machine
Wearables Area: Light Up Clothes with Shine So Bright (limit 6 per workshop)

12:45 pm
Park: Race #2, hosted by comedian Gab Bonesso

1:00 pm
Park: Geeksdanz: The Sculptor
Wearables Area: Light Up Clothes with Shine So Bright (limit 6 per workshop)

1:30 pm
Wearables Area: Light Up Clothes with Shine So Bright (limit 6 per workshop)

1:45 pm
Park: Geeksdanz: Freeze Tag

2:00 pm
Wearables Area Theater: Wearables Fashion Show, hosted by comedian Gab Bonesso

2:30 pm
Park: Geeksdanz: The Name Game

3:00 pm
Park: Race #3, hosted by comedian Gab Bonesso

3:15 pm
Park: Geeksdanz: The Machine

4:00 pm: The Faire Ends. See you next year!
Park – The Great American Horn Machine “Pittsburgh Polka”

Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire 2011

Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire is tomorrow, so here’s some basic information to help orient you to the event. Get ready for an exciting day!

General

Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire is a fun, casual day of exploration, learning and spectacle.  Dress comfortably – makers will be located both inside the Museum and in Buhl Community Park; to see them all will require a bit of walking. Also, you may encounter and make things using robots, balloons, soldering irons, LED lights, knitting, horns and more!

Your admission to the Maker Faire includes admission to Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.  Save a little time to check out the interactive exhibits and artwork throughout this award-winning museum if you’ve never been here.

Parking & Transportation

Parking is available in the Children’s Museum’s parking lots next to the Museum for $3 for members and $5 for nonmembers.  Metered parking is available around Allegheny Square.  Bike parking is available at several locations around the Faire.

PAT bus route 54C stops right on Children’s Way, beside the Faire.

The Faire is a short walk from the North Side Station of the new North Shore Connector via Port Authority’s light rail system, the T.   See the map for directions.  Call  Port Authority of Allegheny County at (412) 442-2000 or visit www.portauthority.org for more information.

Food & Drink

The Children’s Museum Big Red Room Cafe is open  from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm. Food trucks from Franktuary, Oh My Grill and the Pierogie Truck will be parked on Children’s Way next to the Faire.  Water fountains are available in the Children’s Museum and in Buhl Community Park.

Connecting

• Wifi in the Museum building and Buhl Community Park area
• Tweet to us @PghMakerFaire and use hashtag #pghmmf
• Like us on Facebook and share your experience with us

Comfort

Bathrooms are available on all levels of the Museum.

Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire will take place rain or shine!  Makers will be located outdoors as well as inside, so dress for outdoor temperatures.

Type of Food: Hot Dogs and Fresh Cut Fries (With Poutine)
“In search of the ultimate frankfurter, be it veggie, traditional, or grass-fed organic? Franktuary is your place for lunch!”

Photo courtesy of Quelcy Kogel, WithTheGrains.com

Oh My Grill
Website | Twitter | Facebook

Type of Food: Grilled Sandwiches with Dipping Soup
“We are a new Food Truck serving Grilled Cheese Sandwiches in Pittsburgh and other North Pittsburgh communities. Our fluid menu features natural cheeses, top quality meats and the freshest produce. Each sandwich is made on fresh baked bread and comes with a homemade dipping soup. ”

Grilled Cheese 255: Smoked Mozzarella, Sharp Cheddar, Applewood Bacon & Caramelized Onions on Homemade White.
Photo Credit: Owners-Larry and Doreen Gunas

Pierogie Truck
Website | Twitter | Facebook

Type of Food: Polish Cuisine (Pierogies, Haluski, Stuffed Cabbage, etc.)
Read about Pierogie Truck here!

Photo Credit: Owner – Lynne Szarnicki

Get a sneak preview of Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire by category each day until the big day, Sept. 22nd! Today’s featured category is Hackers. In maker culture, “hackers” are people who seize the reigns of an existing technology and repurpose it to their own ends. They are tech-savvy, inventive, resourceful and often have great senses of humor! Here in Pittsburgh, hackers are a the unsung geniuses of maker culture – until Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire.

Come to the Faire to experience over 1,000 sq. ft. of hacker projects by HackPittsburgh, co-presenter of the Faire. (All of their projects are noted by an asterisk below). Meet their hacker friends from Columbus, Ohio, the Central Ohio RepRap and MakerBot Operators User Group, who will demonstrate 3D printing all day. Learn more about HackPittsburgh and how to get involved in their club throughout the year at www.hackpittsburgh.org.

Don’t miss the Faire races, where HackPittsburgh’s fastest projects will burn rubber to the finish line! Races will be held at 11:00, 12:45 and 3:00 pm, weather permitting.

Bottle Nose & Thinking Cap*
Bottle Nose converrts range finder data to electromagnetic pulses; Thinking Cap electrostimulates the prefrontal cortex to induce a flow state

Button Making with HackPittsburgh*
Make 1″ buttons using artwork samples or create your own button to wear!

Central Ohio RepRap and MakerBot Operators User Group
See demonstrations of 3D Printing by visiting makers from Ohio.

E-bike Dashboard*
System to display battery condition and other data.

Electric Ï€ 3.14159…*
An electric bicycle setup with a high power electric hub. See event listing for race times.

Find the Buzz*
A mesh network that takes decibel readings throughout the Faire, to see who’s projects are generating the most buzz!

Get 3D Scanned*
Have you ever wanted a 3D model of yourself? Stop by our booth to get scanned by the world’s first consumer 3D depth camera – the Xbox Kinect.

Jane “Cyber” Doe*
Explore the Uncanny Valley through multimedia art of the HackPittsburgh centaur Jane “Cyber” Doe.

LED Pong board*
A 7×10 grid of RGB LEDs for prototyping programs for controlling the LEDs in our shop window.

M3Bot*
A somewhat large semi-autonomous robot for utility. See event listing for race times.

Matt’s Maniacal Menagerie of Marvelous Machines*
Matt makes things, communities, machines, events, and gadgets!

Morse Code Wearable Alarm Clock*
A small bandolier with an arduino, switch, buzzer and LED for setting and announcing timers.

Musical Images*
Images are scanned pixel by pixel and the resulting colors are used to generate musical notes.

Paint Chip Pixelization*
Famous paintings are reduced to 10 colors and composed entirely of 1.25″ paint chip squares.

Eli Richter will race HackPittsburgh’s PowerWheels racer during the Faire.

Spray paint can shaker*
A small table top drill-motor powered device for shaking up cans of spray paint.

Utility Top Hat*
A crocheted top hat that holds several dram vials and other electronics

Vertical Wind Machine model*
A vertical axis wind turbine

Wind Turbine*
A 6 foot wind turbine made from found items and simple construction. Suitable for charging 12volt batteries for offgrid power or emergency

006 PowerWheels Car*
006 is our PowerWheels car that took 1st in the drag race and 1st in the Moxie race at this year’s Detroit Maker Faire.  See it race at 11:00 am, 12:45 and 3:00 pm during the Faire, weather permitting.

Get a sneak preview of Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire by category each day until the big day, Sept. 22nd! Today’s featured category is Electronics.

The Electronics Area of the Faire will MAKE you see everyday household electronics with new eyes. Learn the basics of circuitry by hacking electrical toys with the knowledgeable young makers of the Children’s Innovation Project. At Makey Makey’s tent, you’ll discover how to turn everyday objects into touchpads for a banana piano or an alphabet soup keyboard.  Talk to your coffee machine through the internet with iOTOS and years from now, you’ll remember how you first experienced the “Internet of Things” during Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire 2012. Learn more about all 3  below and experience them live on Saturday!

Children’s Innovation Project
Children from Pittsburgh Allegheny K-5 will teach YOU how to set up various circuits, read and write schematics and hack electrical toys for new inventions.

iOTOS – An Internet of Things Operating System
Our platform allows things to easily talk to the internet that don’t normally talk to the internet. Then we talk to those things.

Makey Makey
MaKey MaKey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It’s a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering and everything in between.

Get a sneak preview of Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire by category each day until the big day, Sept. 22nd! Today’s featured category is Mad Science.

Explore this eclectic bunch of inventors, mathematicians, programmers and artists whose projects will fascinate and inspire you – from the genius of a tiny engine powered by the warmth of a palm to the wonder of Ben Sak’s ultralight rubber-band powered planes. Oh, and if you see some kids roaming the Faire dressed like giant planets? Just a stroke of mad science from ASSEMBLE.

Calcubot
“A Toy That Makes You Think” from Cognitive Tool & Die

Digital Dream Lab
Try this interactive museum exhibit to explore basic computer programming principles

F1D Flying
I will demonstrate the art of building and flying ultra-lightweight rubber band powered indoor free flight airplanes.

Hot Air Engines
A display of low temperature hot air Stirling engines.

Planets Parade / Planet Making **
Invent and name your own Extrasolar Planet, inspired by the Planet Parade. The Planet Parade were participants in a large planet making workshop that involved paper mache, sweat, glue and e-textiles at ASSEMBLE.

Spark
Visit Spark to learn how the Kids+Creativity Network is empowering children and youth through the creative use of technology, media, and the arts.

** denotes MAKESHOP Maker Micro Grant Recipients funded generously by The Grable Foundation and The Pittsburgh Foundation with support from The Sprout Fund.

Get a sneak preview of Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire by category each day until the big day, Sept. 22nd! Today’s featured category is 3D Printing.

If you’ve been hearing about 3D printers and itching to see one yourself, don’t miss this year’s Faire! The 3D Printing Area features two makers who demonstrate just how amazing the printers are for a variety of creative and inventive purposes – like mechanized animated 3D printed robotic hands! They’ll be running several printers throughout the day. In addition, outside in the Hackers Area, you’ll find the Central Ohio RepRap and MakerBot Operators User Group and can have your own body 3D scanned by HackPittsburgh. See it in all dimensions LIVE at the Faire.

InMoov
Be amazed by mechanized animated 3D printed robotic hands.

RepRap 3D Printing
See a self replicating rapid prototyper display/build.