Maker Faire

Maker Shed Exhibits, Demos, and More  

Come to the Maker Shed to meet the authors who write the books and the makers who make the kits. They will be in the Maker Shed all weekend, and we'll have plenty of cool stuff to buy!

Man-made Lightning  
Tesla performance in Dark Room
Vicki Johnson
This 5-foot-tall Tesla Coil generates dazzling, long, electrical arcs while also revealing basic physics principles with the Jacob's Ladder, Faraday's Cage, and grounding.

BlinkyBugs and More LED Projects   Ken Murphy
Ken Murphy
Learn how to make these interesting insects with LEDs, batteries, and pipecleaners.

Herbie the MouseBot Workshop  

Come to the Maker Shed and learn how to build Herbie the Mousebot. Kits will be available for sale, and the Maker Shed team will be on hand to help.

Soft Circuit Embroidery   Becky Stern
Becky Stern
Becky will show an introductory tutorial for working with conductive thread to make a circuit on fabric. Using traditional embroidery techniques with modern electronic components, she will demo the creation of a simple soft switch circuit that will light up a sewn LED with a watch battery. Photos of an advanced example using a Lilypad Arduino are linked below.

Things I Learned from Knitting   Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
The Yarn Harlot strikes again! Bestselling knitting author and humorist Stephanie Pearl-McPhee examines age-old aphorisms in light of knitting.

Cooking with the Sun   Gladwyn d'Souza
Gladwyn d'Souza
Cook using a Solar Sport Oven from solarovens.org. Half hour discussion and demonstration of the oven and recipes from sunskysoil.blogspot.com.

TripKnight   TripKnight
TripKnight
A live music experience. Part folk, part blues, part hip hop and all experimental. TripKnight is more than just a band. It is a community with members in multiple states with a history of good times from Black Rock City, to New York City and from North Carolina to Northern California.

Brain Machine Workshop  

Buy a Brain Machine in the Maker Shed and build it right there. The Maker Shed team will be on hand to help.

Life Size Mousetrap   Mark Perez
Mark Perez
The LIFE SIZE MOUSETRAP is a fantastically hand crafted, 16 piece, 50,000-lb. interactive KINETIC SCULPTURE set atop a 6,500-square-foot game board. This giant Rube Goldberg style contraption comes complete with a VAUDEVILLIAN style show, original MUSICAL SCORE by The one woman band Esmerelda Strange, Sexy Mice CAN-CAN DANCERS, Clown workers, acrobatic HI JINKS, and other SPECTACULAR SCENES dedicated to the pursuit of spectacle-laden FUN!

Mystery Phones   Greg MacLaurin
Greg MacLaurin
Disassemble old telephones and create a Ghost Phone, to listen in on a pre-recorded conversation; and a Party Line, for your very own private standalone phone system.

Sew Subversive and Subversive Seamster   Hope Meng , Melissa Alvarado , Melissa Rannels
Hope Meng , Melissa Alvarado , Melissa Rannels
Come to the Maker Shed and meet the authors of these two subversive books.

LED Camera Light Kit   ProdMod
ProdMod
Learn how to build this kit that brightens up video you shoot indoors with your digital camera.

BlinkyBugs Hands-On Workshop (with the Maker)   Ken Murphy
(following his presentation on the Make Demo stage)
Ken Murphy
Come to the Maker Shed and make BlinkyBugs with their creator, Ken Murphy. Kits will be available for sale,

Lion Brand Yarn Unique Activities   Lion Brand Yarn Company
Learn to Knit
Lion Brand Yarn Company
Always wanted to learn how to knit? Now's your chance to get started, learn some tips from the experts, and experience the wonderful Lion Brand yarns.

Eccentric Maker   Kaden Harris
Kaden Harris
Scrap Fu 101, Beginning Binning, Happenstance Reutilization and Industrial Design, and the role of The Great Cosmic Random in Improvisational Fabrication.

LUNAR Society: Rocket Launch Pad  
Craig Saunders
Be a rocket scientist! Build and fly a rocket with LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry, the nation's largest model rocket club.

Man-made Lightning  
Tesla performance in Dark Room
Vicki Johnson
This 5-foot-tall Tesla Coil generates dazzling, long, electrical arcs while also revealing basic physics principles with the Jacob's Ladder, Faraday's Cage, and grounding.

Make Your Own Free Range Mini-Monsters   Moxie

Learn how to whip up a goofy hand-sewn plush monster to love. It doesn't matter if this is your first ever sewing project or even if you consider yourself creativity-impaired, you can learn how to conjure a special friend, and have fun every step of the way.

Five Dangerous Things Your Kids Should Do   Gever Tulley
Gever Tulley
Gever Tulley will talk about the Tinkering School and the five dangerous things you should let your kids do.

Re-inventing Building Blocks   Peter Semmelhack
Peter Semmelhack
Bug Labs is indicative of a trend affording new opportunities in manufacturing, and a new way to think with building blocks and prototype products that can lead to filling a variety of unserved niches.

Maker Magic   Dan Weiss
Dan Weiss
To make magic, you have to MAKE magic. Come see MAKE author Dan Weiss perform magic tricks, talk about how they were made, and the tradition of making magic tricks in his family.

Jon Sarriugarte’s Boiler Bar Theater Presents   Jon Sarriugarte + Kyrsten Mate
Jon Sarriugarte + Kyrsten Mate
While enjoying the warmth of our Boiler Bar fire and the comfort of a drink you can take in the sights of exotic belly dancers, fire performers, and readings from the biggest little stage at the “Boiler Bar Theater.”

Scharffen Berger Chocolate: Meet the Chocolate Maker  

We are an artisan chocolate maker, sourcing the best cacao in the world to create the richest, most flavorful chocolate. Our attention to detail at every step of making chocolate -- from bean selection to blending, roasting and refining -- sets us apart from other chocolate brands. At Maker Faire, we plan to show people how they can make their own chocolate using our cacao nibs.

Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo   Cyclecide
Cyclecide
Cyclecide has embraced the bicycle as a medium to express our interest in mechanical innovation, kinetic art, and performance. By salvaging bicycles for creative re-use we have produced a fleet of double-decker tall bikes, choppers, tandems, swing bikes, reverse bikes, and others too bizarre to name. The Heavy Pedal Bike Rodeo is a circus style show that highlights these monstrous alter-cycles with stupefying stunts. Our pedal-powered carnival midway of rides and attractions demonstrate the possibilities of human powered fun and engineering.

BlinkyBugs Hands-On Workshop  
(following the maker's presentation on the Make Demo stage)

Come to the Maker Shed and make one of Ken Murphy's BlinkyBugs. Kits will be available for sale, and the Maker Shed team will be on hand to help.

Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone   Krystina Castella
Krystina Castella
A truly amazing feature of pops is they can be cast into any shape you can imagine. In this workshop you will learn how to make simple pop molds from everyday household items, such as glasses, cookie cutters, ice cube trays and even food packaging, from wax paper to plastic juice boxes. Or if you really want to get crafty, experiment with liquid silicone and make molds out of found objects, small toys or characters you sculpt from your imagination.

Things I Learned from Knitting   Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
(following her presentation on the Maker Main Stage)
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
The Yarn Harlot strikes again! Bestselling knitting author and humorist Stephanie Pearl-McPhee examines age-old aphorisms in light of knitting.

The Village Blacksmith   Michel Olson and Christy Horne
Michel Olson and Christy Horne
Master Blacksmith Michel Olson, and Masterful Storyteller Christy Horne, are the husband and wife team who have history ringing in the ears of audiences all over the Western U.S. Their Stage Fort Smith is a Monster Truck to behold and when you add the fabulous storytelling with live anvil accompaniment they become edutainment for the entire family. Everything Michel bashes out is given away to audience members following every show.

Build the LED Camera Light Kit (with the Maker)   ProdMod
(following his presentation on the Make Demo stage)
ProdMod
Join Michael Nuzzi, the Maker of the LED Camera Light Kit, in the Maker Shed workshop, and build your own. Kits will be available for purchase in the Maker Shed.

MacGyver: The Making of a Cultural Icon   Lee Zlotoff
Lee Zlotoff
The writer of MAKE's Makeshift feature was father to McGyver, who was based on his own father. Learn about the origins of the MacGyver series and why MacGyver has become such a cultural icon.

TripKnight   TripKnight
TripKnight
A live music experience. Part folk, part blues, part hip hop and all experimental. TripKnight is more than just a band. It is a community with members in multiple states with a history of good times from Black Rock City, to New York City and from North Carolina to Northern California.

My Brain Machine   Mitch Altman
Mitch Altman
Glasses to synchronize your brainwaves with a pre-programmed sequence, from wakefulness into deep meditation and back out into fabulousness, all along hallucinating wild patterns.

Make Your Own Free-Range Mini-Monsters (with the Maker)   Moxie
(following her talk on the Craft Demo stage)
Moxie
Come and join Moxie, maker of the Hand-Sewn Free-Range Monsters. Free-Range Mini-Monster kits will be available for sale and you can build them right there.

Build the LED Camera Light Kit  
(following the maker's presentation on the Make Demo stage)

Come and build one of Michael Nuzzi's LED Camera Light Kit. Kits will be available for purchase in the Maker Shed and the Maker Shed team will be on hand to help you make them.

Making Jewelry   Sonya Nimri
Sonya Nimri
Learn how to make jewelry from the author of "Beadalicious."

Howtoons   Nick Dragotta , Saul Griffith
Saul Griffith + Nick Dragotta
Authors Saul Griffith and Nick Dragotta talk about their popular Howtoons--art comic strip and part science experiment--that shows kids how to find fun new uses for household items.

String Theory   Autumn Wiggins
Autumn Wiggins
Can we save the planet by making things? Autumn shows how indie crafting can promote Cradle to Cradle practices.

Home Chemistry Experiments   Robert Thompson
Robert Thompson
The author of "Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments" performs a series of experiments right out of the pages of the book.

Extra Action Marching Band  

Powerful and empowering, the Extra Action Marching Band (unamplified) seduces the pre-civilized will. They are immediate and visceral -- more of a sweaty invitation than a show. They are a parody of idioms with shattering volume -- guerrilla theater with the rug rolled up.

Life Size Mousetrap   Mark Perez
Mark Perez
The LIFE SIZE MOUSETRAP is a fantastically hand crafted, 16 piece, 50,000-lb. interactive KINETIC SCULPTURE set atop a 6,500-square-foot game board. This giant Rube Goldberg style contraption comes complete with a VAUDEVILLIAN style show, original MUSICAL SCORE by The one woman band Esmerelda Strange, Sexy Mice CAN-CAN DANCERS, Clown workers, acrobatic HI JINKS, and other SPECTACULAR SCENES dedicated to the pursuit of spectacle-laden FUN!

Lion Brand Yarn Unique Activities   Lion Brand Yarn Company
Learn to Crochet
Lion Brand Yarn Company
Always wanted to learn how to crochet? Now's your chance to get started, learn some tips from the experts, and experience the wonderful Lion Brand yarns.

Axis vs. Allies: Model Warship Battle   Western Warship Combat Club
Rob Wood
Watch 6-foot-long robotic warships duel to the death in a specially built 30’ x 60’ “pond” at this year’s Faire. Sophisticated DIY robotics and guns fire CO2-powered steel balls. Safe for the whole family. Hands-on exhibits and technology demonstrations provided by the Western Warship Combat Club (WWCC) of San Jose, California.

RoboGames Presents: The ComBot Cup  
Heavyweight
David Calkins , Simone Davalos
Robots range from 60 pounds all the way up to 340 pounds, and the action will blow you away. Regular people make these robots, they're not from companies. You could make one too! Both the ComBots Cup and Android fights are in prerp for RoboGames -- the world's largest robot competition -- June 13-15th in San Francisco.

Chronicle Books: Food & Drink Booth   Amy Portello
Demonstrations by authors Julia Myall, Tara Duggan and Jennifer Carden
Amy Portello
Chronicle Books, a local San Francisco book publisher, will be featuring and selling food & drink products at our booth. In addition, we will have authors doing book signings immediately following their demos and ways for guests of the booth to win Chronicle prizes.

Make Your Own Free-Range Mini-Monsters  
(following the maker's talk on the Craft Demo stage)

Come to the Maker Shed where Moxie's Free-Range Mini-Monster kits will be available for sale and the Maker Shed team will be on hand to help you build them.

MacGyver: The Making of a Cultural Icon   Lee Zlotoff
(after his talk on the Maker Main stage)
Lee Zlotoff
The writer of MAKE's Makeshift feature was father to McGyver, who was based on his own father. Learn about the origins of the MacGyver series and why MacGyver has become such a cultural icon.

Lemon Lime Lights   lemon lime lights
lemon lime lights
Eastbanian junkyard cabaret.

Contraptor Lounge   Jake von Slatt , Libby Bulloff , Magpie Killjoy , Meredith Scheff-king , Molly "Porkshanks" Friedrich , Richard Nagy , Abney Park
Jake von Slatt , Libby Bulloff , Magpie Killjoy , Meredith Scheff-king , Molly "Porkshanks" Friedrich , Richard Nagy , Abney Park
Leading Steampunk practitioners will talk about "contrapting" techniques and the creative process, including the metalworking and finishing techniques they use in their widely acclaimed Steampunk tech projects (such as von Slatt's Steampunk keyboard and monitor, and Datamancer's key-wound Victorian laptop). They'll also talk a little bit about their design philosophy and how one can "steampunkify" modern gadgetry.

LUNAR Society: Rocket Launch Pad  
Craig Saunders
Be a rocket scientist! Build and fly a rocket with LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry, the nation's largest model rocket club.

Maker Kits   Limor Fried , Phillip Torrone
Limor Fried , Phillip Torrone
MAKE's Phil Torrone and Limor Fried of Adafruit Industries talk about emerging opportunities for makers to create and sell their work.

RoboGames Presents: The ComBot Cup  
Middleweight & Lightweight
David Calkins , Simone Davalos
Robots range from 60 pounds all the way up to 340 pounds, and the action will blow you away. Regular people make these robots, they're not from companies. You could make one too! Both the ComBots Cup and Android fights are in prerp for RoboGames -- the world's largest robot competition -- June 13-15th in San Francisco.

Howtoons   Nick Dragotta , Saul Griffith
(after their talk on the Maker Main stage)
Saul Griffith + Nick Dragotta
Authors Saul Griffith and Nick Dragotta talk about their popular Howtoons--art comic strip and part science experiment--that shows kids how to find fun new uses for household items.

Making Jewelry   Sonya Nimri
(after her talk on the Craft Demo stage)
Sonya Nimri
Learn how to make jewelry from the author of "Beadalicious."

Babbage's Difference Engine   Computer History Museum , Tim Robinson
Computer History Museum
Learn about the Victorian inventor Charles Babbage and his Difference Engine No. 2, which goes on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Chumby   Bunnie Huang
Bunnie Huang
Hardware hacker Bunny Huang talks about Chumby, his low-cost, wifi-enabled information delivery device.

MAKE Articles by John Edgar Park   John Park
John Park
Come and check out the contraptions that John Edgar Park has built and written about in MAKE: The Hydraulic Espresso Tamper, LEGO Keychain Charger Station, RFID iConveyor, and a Make Controller secreted inside a hollowed-out book. John will also be joined by his friend and co-conspirator Usman Muzaffar to talk about the software he wrote on the RFID conveyor belt project

Felt Faux Fruit   Brookelynn Morris and Moxie
Brookelynn Morris and Moxie
Needle felting is the kind of craft that has to be seen to be believed. With the swift action of the felting needle, wool goes from fluffy roving to dense sculpture. This demo will showcase the techniques used to make the felt fruit from the cover of Craft.

MintyBoost Workshop  

Come to the Maker Shed and learn how to build the MintyBoost, a DIY USB charger that runs off of 2 AA batteries and fits inside an Altoids tin. Kits will be available for sale and the Maker Shed team will be on hand to help you.

MiniPOV Workshop  

Come to the Maker Shed and learn how to build the MiniPOV, a programmable persistence of vision device. Kits will be available for sale and the Maker Shed team will be on hand to help you.

What Happened to the Chemistry Set?   Robert Thompson
(following his presentation on the Make Demo stage)
Robert Thompson
The author of the "Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments" examines the decline of the chemistry set and explains how to set up and use a home chemistry lab and conduct experiments in basic chemistry. You can find Robert in the Maker Shed, and he'll also be appearing on the Maker Main Stage as well as the Make Demo stage.

The Village Blacksmith   Michel Olson and Christy Horne
Michel Olson and Christy Horne
Master Blacksmith Michel Olson, and Masterful Storyteller Christy Horne, are the husband and wife team who have history ringing in the ears of audiences all over the Western U.S. Their Stage Fort Smith is a Monster Truck to behold and when you add the fabulous storytelling with live anvil accompaniment they become edutainment for the entire family. Everything Michel bashes out is given away to audience members following every show.

Man-made Lightning  
Tesla performance in Dark Room
Vicki Johnson
This 5-foot-tall Tesla Coil generates dazzling, long, electrical arcs while also revealing basic physics principles with the Jacob's Ladder, Faraday's Cage, and grounding.

SETI@home   Dan Werthimer
Dan Werthimer
Are We Alone? Is Anybody Out There? Chief SETI@home scientist Dan Werthimer will discuss the possibility of life in the universe, SETI@home, and how you can have the small but captivating possibility that your computer will detect the first signal from a civilization beyond Earth.

Eddy Demon Total Annihilation   Brendan Thorn
Brendan Thorn
A rock and roll alternative that's hip and surreal rock with awesome lyrics, great drummer, experimental guitarist, and a bass player. It is most excellent with a new wave of licks.

Ira Marlowe's BRAINY TUNES   Ira Marlowe
Ira Marlowe
Ira Marlowe, founder of Brainy Tunes and winner of the coveted Parent's Choice Award, performs smart, funny, memorable childrens' songs-- written to delight parents as much as their kids. Titles such as "Crabwalk", "Haunting School" and "Kangaroo" encourage kids' active involvement through vocalization, dance and movement.

Lion Brand Yarn Unique Activities   Lion Brand Yarn Company
Learn to Knit
Lion Brand Yarn Company
Always wanted to learn how to knit? Now's your chance to get started, learn some tips from the experts, and experience the wonderful Lion Brand yarns.

Creating Sustainable Spaces Where Anything Goes   Umberto Crenca
Umberto Crenca
AS220, a non-profit, unjuried, and uncensored arts center in Providence, RI, has been growing since 1985. Despite the complexity of growing such a space, AS220 has thrived and become a model for organizations looking to create sustainable spaces. Bert Crenca, the Founder and Artistic Director of AS220, tells the story.

Life Size Mousetrap   Mark Perez
Mark Perez
The LIFE SIZE MOUSETRAP is a fantastically hand crafted, 16 piece, 50,000-lb. interactive KINETIC SCULPTURE set atop a 6,500-square-foot game board. This giant Rube Goldberg style contraption comes complete with a VAUDEVILLIAN style show, original MUSICAL SCORE by The one woman band Esmerelda Strange, Sexy Mice CAN-CAN DANCERS, Clown workers, acrobatic HI JINKS, and other SPECTACULAR SCENES dedicated to the pursuit of spectacle-laden FUN!

Molecular Gastronomy   Michael Zbyszynski
Michael Zbyszynski
Informal talk and demo of spherification and other aspects of Molecular Gastronomy.

Fashioning Technology: DIY Style   Syuzi Pakhchyan
Syuzi Pakhchyan
Live demonstration on how to use "smart" materials from the author of "Fashioning Technology," releasing July 2008 from O'Reilly Media.

Backyard Astronomy with Binoculars   Robert Thompson
Robert Thompson
With the advent of inexpensive, high-power telescopes priced at under $250, amateur astronomy is now within the reach of anyone, and with the right binoculars, you can make this even cheaper. The author of the "Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders" explains how to get started on the cheap, and where to find hundreds of spectacular objects in the deep sky -- double and multiple stars as well as spectacular star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. You can find Robert in the Maker Shed, and he'll also be appearing on the Maker Main Stage as well as the Make Demo stage.

SparkleLabs Easy Electronics Kit   Sparkle Labs , Ariel Churi
Sparkle Labs , Ariel Churi
Learn about Sparkle Labs new DIY Design Electronics Kit! Create games, toys and contraptions with these fundamental components. Follow the easy instructions to make a light detector, LED flasher, noisemaker and more.

Arduino Workshop  

Come to the Maker Shed and learn how to build interesting projects with Arduino. Kits will be available for sale and the Maker Shed team will be on hand to help you.

Build an LED Hula Hoop (with the Maker)   ProdMod
ProdMod
Come to the Maker Shed and join Michael Nuzzi, maker of the LED Hula Hoop kit. Michael will be on hand to help you build it and kits will be available for sale.

Plush You!   Kristen Rask
Kristen Rask
Come and join the author of Plush You! for a book signing in the Maker Shed.

Rabbit's Rum and Chris Warren   Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group
Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group
Rabbit's Rum and Chris Warren collaborate in a live creation of orchestral electronica and ambient soundscapes at Maker Faire. Instrumentation will feature Chris Warren's feedback piano in interactions with live cello and laptop. About the performers: San Francisco orchestral electronica band RABBIT'S RUM ( http://www.rabbitsrum.com ) swings moods from tight electronic song forms to spacious harmonic ambient soundscapes recollecting Goldfrapp (Supernature), Massive Attack (Mezzanine), and Bjork (Vespertine). Rabbit's Rum features the vocals and cello work of conservatory classical musician gone renegade Kristina Forester and the sound design, beat craft, and custom code of SF underground alumn and polymath Noah Thorp (founder of audio think tank record label Listen Labs and the Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group). The duos collaborations include work with the Capacitor dance troupe (Capacitor.org), composer and producer JMage, Arcade Fire & Tom Waits saxophonist Colin Stetson, Stanford Laptop Orchestra founder and composer Ge Wang, and many more. Rabbit's Rum innovates on and off the stage with custom built software and instruments from SuperCollider and Max/MSP to hacked Wii controllers and bent circuits. As the enigmatic duo sharpens the edge of culture, Rabbit's Rum enchants while breaking the rules. CHRIS WARREN (http://www.alloyelectric.com) is a Master's student at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University where his main interests are interaction design in new musical instruments and sound design. When not playing 8-string bass or coding VST plugins he can usually be found napping in public, snoring loudly. He is headed to San Diego this fall to begin his Ph.D. in Computer Music at UCSD.

Kite Aerial Photography   Cris Benton
Cris Benton
The Bay Area hosts a particularly active community of kite aerial photographers. Local KAP artists will demonstrate several approaches to controlling an aerial camera including inexpensive robotic cradles, radio-controlled apparatus, and specialty panoramic rigs.

Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo   Cyclecide
Cyclecide
Cyclecide has embraced the bicycle as a medium to express our interest in mechanical innovation, kinetic art, and performance. By salvaging bicycles for creative re-use we have produced a fleet of double-decker tall bikes, choppers, tandems, swing bikes, reverse bikes, and others too bizarre to name. The Heavy Pedal Bike Rodeo is a circus style show that highlights these monstrous alter-cycles with stupefying stunts. Our pedal-powered carnival midway of rides and attractions demonstrate the possibilities of human powered fun and engineering.

Build an LED Hula Hoop  

Come to the Maker Shed and build the LED Hula Hoop kit. The Maker Shed team will be on hand to help you build it and kits will be available for sale.

LUNAR Society: Rocket Launch Pad  
Craig Saunders
Be a rocket scientist! Build and fly a rocket with LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry, the nation's largest model rocket club.

Maker Sessions   Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group
Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group
A selection from computer music technology projects.

Man-made Lightning  
Tesla performance in Dark Room
Vicki Johnson
This 5-foot-tall Tesla Coil generates dazzling, long, electrical arcs while also revealing basic physics principles with the Jacob's Ladder, Faraday's Cage, and grounding.

RoboGames Presents: The ComBot Cup  
Heavyweight
David Calkins , Simone Davalos
Robots range from 60 pounds all the way up to 340 pounds, and the action will blow you away. Regular people make these robots, they're not from companies. You could make one too! Both the ComBots Cup and Android fights are in prerp for RoboGames -- the world's largest robot competition -- June 13-15th in San Francisco.

Backyard Astronomy with Binoculars   Robert Thompson
(after his presentation on the Maker Main stage)
Robert Thompson
With the advent of inexpensive, high-power telescopes priced at under $250, amateur astronomy is now within the reach of anyone, and with the right binoculars, you can make this even cheaper. The author of the "Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders" explains how to get started on the cheap, and where to find hundreds of spectacular objects in the deep sky -- double and multiple stars as well as spectacular star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. You can find Robert in the Maker Shed, and he'll also be appearing on the Maker Main Stage as well as the Make Demo stage.

Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone   Krystina Castella
Krystina Castella
A truly amazing feature of pops is they can be cast into any shape you can imagine. In this workshop you will learn how to make simple pop molds from everyday household items, such as glasses, cookie cutters, ice cube trays and even food packaging, from wax paper to plastic juice boxes. Or if you really want to get crafty, experiment with liquid silicone and make molds out of found objects, small toys or characters you sculpt from your imagination.

Extreme Craft   Garth Johnson
Garth Johnson
Extreme Craft is a website that gleefully explores the gray area between art and craft.  Does a popsicle stick Viking ship qualify as art?  Will the souls of Polish grannies who knit scandalous lace underwear be doomed to eternal Hellfire?  Can Craft be used to combat Nigerian email scammers?  Find out the answer to these questions and much much more on www.extremecraft.com.

Steampunk   Heather Gold
Heather Gold
How can you be authentic to yourself and part of a (sub)culture? Through the lens of Steampunk, a meta-subculture that is currently at its tipping point of growth, we explore the inevitable question a subculture faces as it grows from disparate DIY roots. Who and what belongs? Can it transform permaculture? Geek comedian Heather Gold converses with computer and car modifier Jake von Slatt (http://steampunkworkshop.com/); Abney Park singer Captain Robert (http://www.abneypark.com/); and Steampunk magazine editor and wearable art creator + artist Libby Bulloff (http://www.exoskeletoncabaret.com).

Build a Whole LED Clock on Just 6 Wires!   Karl Papadantonakis
Karl Papadantonakis
Learn the LED multiplexing technique used in the clocks from LEDkit.biz and find out why LEDkit.biz Clocks Only Need 6 wires.

Microfiche   Tim Lillis
Tim Lillis
Microfiche is an instrumental four-piece from San Francisco who draw diagrams for your ears and mind. If you were to use the pinnacle of nineteenth-century signal processing technology to transpose the sounds of hope, despair, patterns, the lack of patterns, fear of mechanical men, and whale calls, you would almost have the sound of Microfiche. They have been playing together since the beginning of 2007, and are currently unsigned. Microfiche have an old microfiche reader - turned light-sensitive MIDI instrument and an interactive LED Graphic EQ backdrop to accompany and augment their sound.

Woolpets Needle Felted Friends Workshop (with the Maker)   Laurie Sharp
Laurie Sharp
Come to the Maker Shed and learn how to build Woolpets Needle Felted Friends with Laurie Sharp, the maker of this kit. Kits will be available for sale.

EepyBird   Fritz Grobe , EepyBird.com , Eepybird.com
Diet Coke & Mentos Show
Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz
See the original Internet sensation LIVE! Geysers of soda shoot over twenty feet into the air in this spectacular mint-powered version of the Bellagio Fountains, brought to you by the mad scientists of EepyBird. EepyBird has been featured on Late Night with David Letterman, Ellen, the Today Show, and Mythbusters, and they were named "Best of 2006" by People Magazine. Their online videos have won two Webby Awards and received two Emmy nominations.

The Village Blacksmith   Michel Olson and Christy Horne
Michel Olson and Christy Horne
Master Blacksmith Michel Olson, and Masterful Storyteller Christy Horne, are the husband and wife team who have history ringing in the ears of audiences all over the Western U.S. Their Stage Fort Smith is a Monster Truck to behold and when you add the fabulous storytelling with live anvil accompaniment they become edutainment for the entire family. Everything Michel bashes out is given away to audience members following every show.

Lion Brand Yarn Unique Activities   Lion Brand Yarn Company
Learn to Crochet
Lion Brand Yarn Company
Always wanted to learn how to crochet? Now's your chance to get started, learn some tips from the experts, and experience the wonderful Lion Brand yarns.

RoboGames Presents: The ComBot Cup  
Lightweight
David Calkins , Simone Davalos
Robots range from 60 pounds all the way up to 340 pounds, and the action will blow you away. Regular people make these robots, they're not from companies. You could make one too! Both the ComBots Cup and Android fights are in prerp for RoboGames -- the world's largest robot competition -- June 13-15th in San Francisco.

Creating Disney-themed Parks Designs   Tony Baxter
Tony Baxter
Senior VP of Disney Imagineering's Creative Development Group,Tony Baxter has played a key role in the design and creation of many Disney attractions and theme parks of the last 25 years, including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, the Indiana Jones Adventure, and the overall creative role for Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.

Onyx Ashanti: Live Laptop Beatjazz Performance   Onyx Ashanti
Onyx Ashanti
I am a beatjazz artist, which is a style of music i created that is equal parts live looping,laptop performance, post modern improvisation and sound design. I start with a wind controller and a virtual rack of synths and create complex arrangements that vary in type, tempo and style depending on my aritistic perspective.

Woolpets Needle Felted Friends Workshop  

Come to the Maker Shed and learn how to build Woolpets Needle Felted Friends with the Maker Shed team. Kits will be available for sale.

Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone   Krystina Castella
(after her presentation on the Craft Demo stage)
Krystina Castella
A truly amazing feature of pops is they can be cast into any shape you can imagine. In this workshop you will learn how to make simple pop molds from everyday household items, such as glasses, cookie cutters, ice cube trays and even food packaging, from wax paper to plastic juice boxes. Or if you really want to get crafty, experiment with liquid silicone and make molds out of found objects, small toys or characters you sculpt from your imagination.

Photojojo DIY Photo Blocks   Amit Gupta

Show off your photos using beautiful photo blocks -- using any photos, linoleum blocks, and glue, and some sealer!

Authentic Innovation   Mister Jalopy
Mister Jalopy
As consumers, we are armed with cash -- the most powerful and efficient mechanism to separate good design from bad. As innovators, we need to respect the cash and we can not begrudge people their inherent awesomeness. Authentic innovators design products that people will not only want to buy, but will want to protect these inspired objects from harm.

3 Quick Projects   Kris Magri , Matthew Dalton
Kris Magri , Matthew Dalton
Come and check out three quick projects you can do yourself... right out of Make Labs!

Make an LED Clock (with the Maker)   Karl Papadantonakis
(following his presentation on the Make Demo stage)
Karl Papadantonakis
Join Karl Papadantonakis, maker of the LEDkit.biz LED clock kit. Pick up one of these no-soldering-required kits in the Maker Shed and build it right at Maker Faire.

Pick Up Sticks' Knit-to-Felt Kit workshop  

Come to the Maker Shed and learn how to make these great kits. The Maker Shed team will be on hand to help, and kits will be available for sale.

Life Size Mousetrap   Mark Perez
Mark Perez
The LIFE SIZE MOUSETRAP is a fantastically hand crafted, 16 piece, 50,000-lb. interactive KINETIC SCULPTURE set atop a 6,500-square-foot game board. This giant Rube Goldberg style contraption comes complete with a VAUDEVILLIAN style show, original MUSICAL SCORE by The one woman band Esmerelda Strange, Sexy Mice CAN-CAN DANCERS, Clown workers, acrobatic HI JINKS, and other SPECTACULAR SCENES dedicated to the pursuit of spectacle-laden FUN!

Propane, It's a Gas! Fun and Fire with the Flaming Lotus Girls   Jessica Hobbs

Join the Flaming Lotus Girls for the ins and outs of making large scale Fire Art through their own unique blend of collaboration. They will discus the secrets behind their famous "Poofers," how to have fun and be safe with propane, and give a sneak peak of their latest project, Mutopia.

Make an LED Clock  
(following the maker's presentation on the Make Demo stage)

Pick up one of the no-soldering-required LEDkit.biz LED clock kits in the Maker Shed and build it right at Maker Faire with help from the Maker Shed team.

The Ballistic Cats   Elecia White
Elecia White
The Ballistic Cats are four rock n' rollers who just happen to be geeks (and former geeks) on the side. Come hear them play a tantalizing mix of blues, surf, and good old fashioned rockin' Americana.

EepyBird   Fritz Grobe , EepyBird.com , Eepybird.com
Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz
See the original Internet sensation LIVE! Geysers of soda shoot over twenty feet into the air in this spectacular mint-powered version of the Bellagio Fountains, brought to you by the mad scientists of EepyBird. EepyBird has been featured on Late Night with David Letterman, Ellen, the Today Show, and Mythbusters, and they were named "Best of 2006" by People Magazine. Their online videos have won two Webby Awards and received two Emmy nominations.

Shake Your Peace  

A folk band based out of camping tent on the roof of a pink house in San Francisco's Mission District. The band aims to be more and more sustainable: touring on bicycles (without a support van) and using public transportation, powering its P.A. system with human/audience power via bicycle, planting a tree for each CD it makes, and more.

Gowns   Ezra Buchla
Ezra Buchla
From the ashes of West Coast spazz combo the Mae Shi and legendary woodworking noiseniks Amps for Christ has emerged a Frankenstein assembly of minimal percussion, a cappella harmonizing, and raw folk melodies christened Gowns. Erika Anderson and Ezra Buchla have married personal, intelligent lyrics and homemade bent electronics to create remarkably haunting drone-pop masterpieces. Their whispered vocals mingle with hushed instrumentation, only to collide, explode, and slowly burn a hole in your frontal lobe by the night's end. - flavorpill

Laser Harp   Stephen Hobley
Stephen Hobley
Built using the Arduino controller, the laser harp is a musical instrument and performance piece. See <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLVXmsbVwUs">a video of Stephen's performance.</a>

Jon Sarriugarte’s Boiler Bar Theater Presents   Jon Sarriugarte + Kyrsten Mate
Jon Sarriugarte + Kyrsten Mate
While enjoying the warmth of our Boiler Bar fire and the comfort of a drink you can take in the sights of exotic belly dancers, fire performers, and readings from the biggest little stage at the “Boiler Bar Theater.”

Swap-O-Rama-Rama   Ashley Foster , Charity Romero , Chrystine Druge , Emiko Oye , Gretchen Elsner , Jill Pillot , Raquel Yasenchok , Rhea Rhea , Scatha Allison , Shana Astrachan , Tiffany Chenoweth , Wendy Tremayne , DOMINI , Trinity
Fashion Show
Ashley Foster , Charity Romero , Chrystine Druge , Emiko Oye , Gretchen Elsner , Jill Pillot , Raquel Yasenchok , Rhea Rhea , Scatha Allison , Shana Astrachan , Tiffany Chenoweth , Wendy Tremayne , DOMINI , Trinity
Get rid of your tired clothes. Swap it or refashion old into new! A Maker Faire ticket plus any size bag of unwanted (but clean) clothes admits you to this textile paradise.

RoboGames Presents: The ComBot Cup  
Lightweight, Flyweight, Heavyweight
David Calkins , Simone Davalos
Robots range from 60 pounds all the way up to 340 pounds, and the action will blow you away. Regular people make these robots, they're not from companies. You could make one too! Both the ComBots Cup and Android fights are in prerp for RoboGames -- the world's largest robot competition -- June 13-15th in San Francisco.

Judy: My Dinner with Android   Tom Sgouros
Tom Sgouros
Since the dawn of the computer age, people have argued about whether computers can ever be intelligent. But has anyone tried simply asking one? Intrepid researcher Tom Sgouros built a robot in his basement and after literally weeks of lessons in phonetics, elocution and the elements of logic, he and Judy present their findings here.

The Evolution Control Committee presents The Wheel Of Mashup!   TradeMark Gunderson
TradeMark Gunderson
Spin the wheel and make your own new mashup!

Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo   Cyclecide
Cyclecide
Cyclecide has embraced the bicycle as a medium to express our interest in mechanical innovation, kinetic art, and performance. By salvaging bicycles for creative re-use we have produced a fleet of double-decker tall bikes, choppers, tandems, swing bikes, reverse bikes, and others too bizarre to name. The Heavy Pedal Bike Rodeo is a circus style show that highlights these monstrous alter-cycles with stupefying stunts. Our pedal-powered carnival midway of rides and attractions demonstrate the possibilities of human powered fun and engineering.

Yacouba Diarra and the Spirit Gatherers  

West African traditional and Afro-fusion music.

Power Tool Drag Racing   Charlie Gadeken
Charlie Gadeken
Every year the very best and brightest take to their garages, the plumbing aisle at Home Depot, the tools section of OSH, and the empty lots behind their neighbors' trailers to build THOSE MACHINES WHO REIGN SUPREME! 75 feet of skillfully machined fiberboard Power Tool Drag Racing Track await the competitors on race day! BE AMAZED at the high-tech timing system that tracks Each and Every Vehicle. BE AMUSED at the charming antics of our well-known Power Tool Drag Race Announcers! BE APPALLED at the smell of RAW ADRENALINE and 20-W-50 in the air!

Culann's Hounds   The Hounds
Culann's Hounds
San Francisco-based high-energy, virtuosic musicians playing traditional Irish, hoe-down, zydeco, and original music. Their other influences include punk, rock, country, and reggae. Violin, Accordion, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocal Harmonies; jumping, dancing, rebel yells. Headliners for the San Francisco Irish festival.

Life Size Mousetrap   Mark Perez
Mark Perez
The LIFE SIZE MOUSETRAP is a fantastically hand crafted, 16 piece, 50,000-lb. interactive KINETIC SCULPTURE set atop a 6,500-square-foot game board. This giant Rube Goldberg style contraption comes complete with a VAUDEVILLIAN style show, original MUSICAL SCORE by The one woman band Esmerelda Strange, Sexy Mice CAN-CAN DANCERS, Clown workers, acrobatic HI JINKS, and other SPECTACULAR SCENES dedicated to the pursuit of spectacle-laden FUN!

Art Lessing and the Flower Vato   Art Lessing and the Flower Vato
Art Lessing and the Flower Vato
We are a DIY ear-friendly music ensemble with a variety of home-made, one-of-a-kind TONAL instruments. The "Space Bass" has become legendary to some in Sacramento. We have been playing the Second Saturday Art Walk in Sacramento for several years where we showcase these creations. We are not a noise outfit or a jam band.

The Evolution Control Committee presents The Wheel Of Mashup!   TradeMark Gunderson
TradeMark Gunderson
Spin the wheel and make your own new mashup!

Monkeylectric LED Art Bikes   MonkeyLectric and Synoptic Labs , Xander Hudson
MonkeyLectric and Synoptic Labs , Xander Hudson
In a never-before-seen fusion of kinetic and digital arts, Monkeylectric presents a unique night-time visual experience combining the pavement stylings of bmx flatland artist Pete Brandt with cutting edge digital light art by Dan Goldwater and Xander Hudson. In the hands of Pete Brandt an expertly wielded bicycle becomes a palette of stunning color imagery as thousands of precisely controlled LEDs light up the air.

Fossil Fool  

Fossil Fool, the Bike Rapper, is the only MC who rocks the mike while he rides his bike. With his trusty sidekick, the Choprical Fish, a neon-encrusted pedal-powered party bike he built, he rolls up at sunset and creates spontaneous mobile parties.

Jon Sarriugarte’s Boiler Bar Theater Presents   Jon Sarriugarte + Kyrsten Mate
Jon Sarriugarte + Kyrsten Mate
While enjoying the warmth of our Boiler Bar fire and the comfort of a drink you can take in the sights of exotic belly dancers, fire performers, and readings from the biggest little stage at the “Boiler Bar Theater.”

The Image of Computers in Popular Music   Johannes Grenzfurthner
Johannes Grenzfurthner
A talk (with examples) by monochrom, presented by Johannes Grenzfurthner. Bourgeois culture was paralyzed and finally overrun by modern technologies which broke through the traditional class barriers. It went into a panic and produced these very stupid technophobic manifestos and images e.g. of "the computer". Pop music discovered and explored the computer not only as a musical instrument but also as something to sing and reflect about in a less aversive way. In doing so it influenced the conception people had of computers. The public image of computers was shaped by groups such as Kraftwerk as well as through obscure Schlager songs such as France Gall's "Computer No. 3". Not only was that image influenced by high culture computer panic but also by naïve technomania, and so it delivered the very dialectics of the computer as a means of cultural technology in capitalist society.

Abney Park   Robert Brown
Abney Park
Abney Park comes from an era that never was, but one that we wish had been. An era where airships waged war in the skies, and corsets and cummerbunds were proper adventuring attire. They’ve picked up their bad musical habits, scoundrelous musicians, and anachronistically hybridized instruments from dozens of locations and eras that they have visited in their travels and thrown them into one riotous dervish of a performance. Expect clockwork guitars, belly dancers, flintlock bassists, middleastern percussion, violent violin, and Tesla powered keyboards blazing in a post- apocalyptic, swashbuckling, Steampunk musical mayhem.

Power Tool Drag Racing   Charlie Gadeken
Charlie Gadeken
Every year the very best and brightest take to their garages, the plumbing aisle at Home Depot, the tools section of OSH, and the empty lots behind their neighbors' trailers to build THOSE MACHINES WHO REIGN SUPREME! 75 feet of skillfully machined fiberboard Power Tool Drag Racing Track await the competitors on race day! BE AMAZED at the high-tech timing system that tracks Each and Every Vehicle. BE AMUSED at the charming antics of our well-known Power Tool Drag Race Announcers! BE APPALLED at the smell of RAW ADRENALINE and 20-W-50 in the air!

Life Size Mousetrap   Mark Perez
Mark Perez
The LIFE SIZE MOUSETRAP is a fantastically hand crafted, 16 piece, 50,000-lb. interactive KINETIC SCULPTURE set atop a 6,500-square-foot game board. This giant Rube Goldberg style contraption comes complete with a VAUDEVILLIAN style show, original MUSICAL SCORE by The one woman band Esmerelda Strange, Sexy Mice CAN-CAN DANCERS, Clown workers, acrobatic HI JINKS, and other SPECTACULAR SCENES dedicated to the pursuit of spectacle-laden FUN!

Monkeylectric LED Art Bikes   MonkeyLectric and Synoptic Labs , Xander Hudson
MonkeyLectric and Synoptic Labs , Xander Hudson
In a never-before-seen fusion of kinetic and digital arts, Monkeylectric presents a unique night-time visual experience combining the pavement stylings of bmx flatland artist Pete Brandt with cutting edge digital light art by Dan Goldwater and Xander Hudson. In the hands of Pete Brandt an expertly wielded bicycle becomes a palette of stunning color imagery as thousands of precisely controlled LEDs light up the air.