CRAFT:

Maker Faire Schedule

We've posted time details for most of the scheduled events at Maker Faire! We'll continue adding and refining things over the next few days, but take a look and start planning your strategy. See you next weekend! Link.

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Maker Faire: CRAFT Demos & Events

Hi Crafters! As you are planning your schedule for Maker Faire weekend I thought I'd give you a few highlights to certain things that are happening. There will be Crafters throughout the fair showing you cool things everything from paper crafts to needle arts. We also have a full 2 days of scheduled demos so you can get a taste for a new craft project. More updates will happen on the blog this week!

You can still get your tickets online and pick them up at will call when you are at the Maker Faire. - Link.

Saturday 1pm - Main Stage: Alison Lewis of SWITCH will be talking about electronic crafts and fashion technology with designers Diana Eng, Emily Albinski, and Syzui Pakchyan. Link.

Saturday 2pm - Main Stage: Don't miss Lotta Jansdotter on Saturday where she'll talk about her new book Simple Sewing. Lotta will also be signing books at the Chronicle Books booth after her talk. Also, here's the schedule for other Chronicle Books craft book signings. Link.

Lion Brand Booth: Join Shannon Okey and Cecily Keim for special knitting and crochet workshops that will be happening both days throughout the fair. Check the booth for schedules. Pictured above left is Shannon and me at TNNA earlier this year, and on the right, Cecily teaching us how to crochet at our booth, also at TNNA. Shannon's got a little write up about it and her other Bay Area events on Knitgrrl. Link.

CRAFT Demo Area 1: See full schedule with times here. - Link.

CRAFT Demo Area 2: See full schedule with times here. - Link.

All Crafts: Listing of all the Makers in the craft category who either have a workbench or are doing a scheduled demo - Link.

Full Schedule: The full schedule to the Maker Faire is here. - Link.

CRAFT Corner: Come and hang out, chill, craft in the CRAFT corner. Rachel Hospodar will be there at certain times throughout the weekend to to show you how to wet felt durable textile shapes of your own creation. Make a necklace or patch to sew onto your clothes. See the schedule here. Link.

And come and visit me at the Maker Faire's CRAFT booth. I'll be there on Saturday from 10am-11am, 4pm - 6pm, and on Sunday 10am-11am, 1:30-4pm. During the other times I'll probably be around the CRAFT demo areas. Come by and say hi!

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Maker Faire: Interview with Moxie of Made by Moxie

Moxie of Made by Moxie
Website - Link.
Flickr - Link.

Moxie of Made by Moxie has been featured here on the CRAFT blog a number of times for her cool needle felting action. I'm excited that we finally get a chance to chat online and soon we'll get an opportunity to meet at the Maker Faire. Moxie and Brookelynn (who did our cover project of needle felted fruit for CRAFT: 02) will be hosting the Needle Felting Playground. Find out here what cool needle felting action they've got planned to show you! But first, let's talk to Moxie and get the skinny on why needle felting has changed her life.

Pictured above (top to bottom, left to right): Needle felted billard balls, flower cuff, purple guy with propeller, and Moxie herself holding one of Brooklynn's needle felted finger puppets.

Nat: Why are you so passionate about needle felting?

Moxie: Crafting is something I've always done. I've stumbled through every project and genre I could find, and enjoyed an aspect of all of them. Then, I met needle felting, and my life changed. There is something about the colors and textures of fiber and the transformative power of that one, extremely sharp needle. That I can use this simple industrial tool to make wool turn into so many things is deeply fulfilling to me. It's magic, or science. I get them confused.

Nat: Please tell me about the Needle Felting Playground you'll be doing with Brookelynn Morris at the Maker Faire?

Moxie: Brookelynn and I have a mutual passion, not just for this art form, but for sharing it with the people. The Playground was born out of our desire to create an open-ended, participant-driven felting experience. We're going to create a comfy gathering place for collaboration and experimentation. I'm looking forward to the joyfulness, and to watching Brookelynn do her thing. She is like none other.

Nat: How do you plan out the design of your needle felted goods?

Moxie: It varies a lot. I am terribly impatient so I don't like to sketch things out. The finger puppets and accessories often start with me choosing specific colors I want to play with. Sometimes my design develops as I work...sort of like doodling with my felting needle, and sometimes I have a clear concept in my head. When it comes to the sculptured pieces, I keep a running list of ideas in my notebook. I have a ton of ideas for life-size needle felted replicas of everyday objects that I intend to explore over time.

Nat: What have been some of your favorite projects you've created?

Moxie: That's so hard! My very first real life object was the turquoise deco ashtray, and I still love how it turned out. I'm also completely obsessed with my finger puppet friends. When I'm working on their faces, they come alive for me and I'm often giggling to myself as I finish them.

Nat: What's a special needle felting tip you can share with crafters?

Moxie: One helpful nugget is that I often use two needles as one. I hold them together when working on smallish details, closing seams and shaping sculptures. It's cool because they grab more fiber and speed the process, but you still get a lot of control over small areas of your project.

Nat: What are your upcoming projects for the coming summer?

Moxie: In the small world that exists for me beyond felting, I'll be teaching art to kids all over Seattle. As for needle felting, Brookelynn got me thinking about working with wire armatures, which would allow pieces to be posed and re-posed. I'm gonna try that out while sipping crushed ice beverages on the porch with my pals.

Related:
CRAFT Interview with Crafter Brookelynn Morris - Link.

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Maker Faire: Sponsors & Exhibitors

We just wanted to say a big thank you to our Sponsors, Media Sponsors, and Craft Annex Exhibitors who will be at the Maker Faire!

Sponsors:
Microsoft - microsoft.com
Yahoo! - yahoo.com
Google - google.com
Carlo Rossi - carlorossi.com
Adobe - adobe.com
Chronicle Books - chroniclebooks.com
Lion Brand Yarn Company - lionbrand.com
ShopBot - shopbottools.com
Sun Microsystems, Inc. sunspotworld.com
TechShop - techshop.ws

Media Sponsors:
Toolmonger - toolmonger.com
Cool Hunting - coolhunting.com
IEEE Spectrum - spectrum.ieee.org
ReadyMade - readymademag.com
Boing Boing - boingboing.net
Laughing Squid - laughingsquid.com
O'Reilly Media - oreilly.com
San Jose Tech Museum - techchallenge.thetech.org
TODO - freemediagroup.com/todo
Twitter - twitter.com
EE Times - eetimes.com
Swap Thing - swapthing.com
Robot Magazine - botmag.com

Craft Annex Exhibitors:
Aleene's Crafting Adhesives and Tulip Fashion Art - duncancrafts.com
Ambatalia Fabrics - ambataliafabrics.com
C & T Publishing - ctpub.com
First Giving - firstgiving.com
Great Knit Designs - greatknitdesigns.com
Make It You - makeitu.com
Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory - mrsgrossmans.com
Noe Knit - noeknit.com
The Sarabande Press / Hestia House - sarabande.com
Savoir-Faire - savoirfaire.com
Vertical, Inc. - vertical-inc.com
Wild Ginger Software, Inc. - wildginger.com
Big Yellow Box by Crayola - bigyellowbox.com
Escama - escama.com

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