Maker Faire 2012 Recap! Now with Video!

Hoooowheee.

What a weekend. We taught hundreds (300? 400?) of people how to solder, shape and polish a ring and it was all FREE! Going into this project, I thought "Well, how busy are we gonna be? People will just stroll up to the booth and we will chat, coach them on making a ring and then we will relax, greet another person and make another ring."

What was I thinking? Good thing a had a lot of supplies and a great team to help.

I guess people really, REALLY like playing with fire. Seriously. We were SLAMMED all weekend. We had all ages jumping in and trying out the torches. (Good thing I DID have the foresight to make a safety plan. Not one burn. Well, Not one burn on any of the participants...a couple of us got singed just a little.)

If you have never been to Maker Faire, it is just an awesome experience. Makers from all over the country come and share what they do: Robotics, beekeeping, knitting, driving a tiny motorized cupcake, welding, making things out of wood, metal and fire. You name it. And this year tens of thousands of people came to see it.

JUST IN! My super talented cousin Zoe made a great video to commemorate the weekend. Thanks Zoe for making this. I think it's awesome. (Makes me want to do it all over again this weekend!) Thought you might like to see it.

And here are some snaps from the weekend. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Soldering for all ages!

Jess and Kris teaching the masses.

This couple made matching rings.

Look at that concentration.

Safety first!

Our nice booth sign.

And we got a blue ribbon from the MAKE editors for an outstanding activity.

 So much fun! Will I do it again next year? YOU BET!

Micro Torches 101, Part 2

Hello! Hope you all had a great weekend. I wanted to share a couple of things with you this morning. First a quick reminder that I will be choosing a name from the entries on my Maker Faire Giveaway later today, so there is still time to enter. Click over and enter...there is a prize for you non-locals, so everyone can win.

And for your Monday morning reading pleasure, check out my latest article on Jewelry Making Daily.

It's the second part of my article on using a butane micro torch. Part 1 is here in case you missed it.

I'll be back later today to announce a winner.

Maker Faire Giveaway

Contest is Closed! Thanks for playing!

As you may have heard, I am participating in the Maker Faire in San Mateo CA on May 19 & 20 and am so excited!

Maker Faire is (from the website) "a two-day family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement."

Imagine a bunch of really awesome people getting together to make all kinds of cool stuff. Technology, sewing, swords, knitting, Tesla Coils, robotics, a bunch of R2D2's, a Bazaar Bizarre... if you can make it, Maker has got it. Most of the demos are FREE and you can roam from place to place and make things and watch others make things. (Plus meet new people and have a generally great time!)

Sounds awesome, huh? It is. I went last year and am exited to participate this year. I am Maker #7865 and will be hosting "Ring Roundup - simple soldering techniques for jewelry making and will mentor willing observers to make their own ring right on the spot. No experience is required!" 

I'll have soldering set-ups right in my booth and anyone can come by and make a cool soldered ring. It's gonna be a make-a-ganza!

Do you wanna go? I am giving away two free passes to the Faire to one blog reader so you and a pal can experience the fun of Maker. Here are the details:

• Passes are good for the San Mateo Maker Faire May 19 & 20, 2012 only.
• The passes will be delivered via email and are redeemable at the Faire the day of the event.
• The passes have no cash value and are provided by the fine folks at Makezine. 
• One comment equals one entry. Post a link on your Facebook page, Twitter or blog and get another entry for each. Just make sure to comment separately for each act of social media sharing. 

I will select a random winner on Monday morning, May 14. Make sure that I have a way to contact you- no anonymous comments, please.
Okay, so I know what you are thinking... "But Kate, I WANT to go, but I live in Duluth, (or New Orleans, or Boston) and can't possibly get to San Mateo, CA for the Faire next weekend."

Well, I've got that covered. While I can't offer you an all-expenses-paid trip to come on out, I can still teach you to make rings... so if you win and can't use the tickets I'll send you my Soldered Rings and Bezels DVD instead. We can still make rings together, just not at Maker Faire.

Good luck and have a GREAT weekend!