A kind of goth, old-fashioned style bracelet. I really like the bracelet but it doesn't go with my pasty, pale freckled skin. It looks prettier laid out so you can see the jewelled part of it.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Dark and sparkly
A kind of goth, old-fashioned style bracelet. I really like the bracelet but it doesn't go with my pasty, pale freckled skin. It looks prettier laid out so you can see the jewelled part of it.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Anyone know a stylish octagenarian?
I tried to make one of those old-fashioned purses with the big pleated fronts but the dimensions just did not work and the interfacing I used was too light so it's flimsy. It looks like a big flowery adult diaper. I'm giving up and doing something fun and cute next to get my mojo back. Maybe more fabric painting. This was supposed to be a quick and easy project but I had some kind of block.
Update on 5/22/08: I discovered something today when I was reading about pleating at http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=490. I've added a link to this blog in my list and you can read more. I found out that slippery fabrics are harder to pleat than crisp fabrics like cotton. I think my difficulty in pleating my purse was the choice of fabric. I'm going to try pleating again with a stiffer fabric.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
It's a doggie dog world
Some recent things I've made. A pillowcase for my nephew and a shirt for Ellie. It's all dogs all the time in this house.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Maker Faire
I went to the Maker Faire in San Mateo over the weekend. It's an expo show just for people who like to make things. Anything. Arts. Crafts. Robotics. Computers. Woodworking. Anything. Here is a rundown of my day at the fair just from the top of my head.
I just couldn't believe how big it was. The creativity was just overwhelming. All day long walking through numerous enormous warehouses plus a huge outdoor area, all filled with batshit insane inventor types with wild hair and long beards who spend all day sitting in their basements building prototypes. Awesome.
I so wish I had my camera. I can't believe I forgot it. I asked this hippie girl at the information booth if there was any place on the grounds where I could buy a disposable camera and she said, "Oh, that's a great idea!" But of course there wasn't. I did find toward the end of the day an artist's piece that was a cement mixer that had sand and water and two 35mm cameras that the mixer was slowly grinding into stone. I wanted to dive into the mixer yelling "Noooooooooo!!!!!!!"
They had one warehouse just for woodworking and a table where you could make a rubber band ping pong ball shooter but when I got there they were out of wood. Then there was a whole crafting/sewing room that had tables of clothes you could just take and rework into whatever you wanted. The rest of the craft room was people selling the stuff they made. There was another warehouse for flying machines and another one for robot wars but I didn't go into the robot war one. They had a glass room where I think they held the robot wars. They had an outdoor "pool" where they held combat boat wars but I didn't watch that either. There were a ton of ecological folks who had wind power prototypes that cost like 25,000 dollars or something and information about how to switch your toilet to a flushless waterless toilet that converts poop to compost for your garden. The toilet people had a jar that held composted human poop that they invited you to take a whiff of. I did not.
There were two enormous main warehouse rooms. One was divided into two areas--one area for books and other things to buy and one area for speeches In that warehouse they had a few people milling around in costume (one was an amazing dragon costume). And there was a moving rectangular robot kind of thing that was about as tall as a person and sitting on a platform on the top was a laptop with the screen facing out. And on the screen was a guy's face talking to you as he moved the robot through the crowd. So there was a guy on a computer somewhere else with a webcam pointed to his face and then a webcam on the laptop pointing out at the crowd so he could see people as he moved the robot through the crowd. So simple but the effect was really cool.
The other warehouse was where many of the exhibits were. It was huge and absolutely filled up with people and their inventions. Lots of people who had ideas for recycling products into other products. Lots of science teacher types who had products that would help teach science to kids. Lots of computer applications. Lots of the computer stuff was over my head. They did have a sort of abstract artist woman who had a beaver computer where she took a real, actual taxidermied beaver and put a computer tower into it. So if you pressed the beaver's chest, the DVD drive came out and you turned the computer on and off by pressing a button on the beaver's stomach. It was so cool. And really soft.
And so much else. A guy who built an elliptical bike. Just like the elliptical machines at the gym but you are making a bike go. I would totally buy that if it didn't cost a fortune. That looks like so much fun. Lots of other bikes that people made or reworked from existing bikes. SO much more. Everyone should go to this thing, whether they are into making things or not. Even if you are not into making things you will still be amazed. AMAZED.
I just couldn't believe how big it was. The creativity was just overwhelming. All day long walking through numerous enormous warehouses plus a huge outdoor area, all filled with batshit insane inventor types with wild hair and long beards who spend all day sitting in their basements building prototypes. Awesome.
I so wish I had my camera. I can't believe I forgot it. I asked this hippie girl at the information booth if there was any place on the grounds where I could buy a disposable camera and she said, "Oh, that's a great idea!" But of course there wasn't. I did find toward the end of the day an artist's piece that was a cement mixer that had sand and water and two 35mm cameras that the mixer was slowly grinding into stone. I wanted to dive into the mixer yelling "Noooooooooo!!!!!!!"
They had one warehouse just for woodworking and a table where you could make a rubber band ping pong ball shooter but when I got there they were out of wood. Then there was a whole crafting/sewing room that had tables of clothes you could just take and rework into whatever you wanted. The rest of the craft room was people selling the stuff they made. There was another warehouse for flying machines and another one for robot wars but I didn't go into the robot war one. They had a glass room where I think they held the robot wars. They had an outdoor "pool" where they held combat boat wars but I didn't watch that either. There were a ton of ecological folks who had wind power prototypes that cost like 25,000 dollars or something and information about how to switch your toilet to a flushless waterless toilet that converts poop to compost for your garden. The toilet people had a jar that held composted human poop that they invited you to take a whiff of. I did not.
There were two enormous main warehouse rooms. One was divided into two areas--one area for books and other things to buy and one area for speeches In that warehouse they had a few people milling around in costume (one was an amazing dragon costume). And there was a moving rectangular robot kind of thing that was about as tall as a person and sitting on a platform on the top was a laptop with the screen facing out. And on the screen was a guy's face talking to you as he moved the robot through the crowd. So there was a guy on a computer somewhere else with a webcam pointed to his face and then a webcam on the laptop pointing out at the crowd so he could see people as he moved the robot through the crowd. So simple but the effect was really cool.
The other warehouse was where many of the exhibits were. It was huge and absolutely filled up with people and their inventions. Lots of people who had ideas for recycling products into other products. Lots of science teacher types who had products that would help teach science to kids. Lots of computer applications. Lots of the computer stuff was over my head. They did have a sort of abstract artist woman who had a beaver computer where she took a real, actual taxidermied beaver and put a computer tower into it. So if you pressed the beaver's chest, the DVD drive came out and you turned the computer on and off by pressing a button on the beaver's stomach. It was so cool. And really soft.
And so much else. A guy who built an elliptical bike. Just like the elliptical machines at the gym but you are making a bike go. I would totally buy that if it didn't cost a fortune. That looks like so much fun. Lots of other bikes that people made or reworked from existing bikes. SO much more. Everyone should go to this thing, whether they are into making things or not. Even if you are not into making things you will still be amazed. AMAZED.
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