Maker Faire Bay Area 2011

Though this post has nothing to do with my jewelry, it is a post about creations and creativity. My family and I were instantly intrigued by the Maker Faire and its tag line of "Build. Craft. Hack. Play. Make." How can you go wrong with that motto?!?

We attended Maker Faire 2010, wide-eyed and clueless, and left thoroughly overwhelmed, but we were determined to go again. This year, slightly more seasoned attendees, we invited our good friends the Novaks to join the fun, skipped the main parking lot, entrance, and loooong lines, and hit the kid-crafting zones before the faire was at its full 8000 bodies for the day. Next year we'll add to our plan 'bringing in our own lunches', and we'll be golden!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Lisa Pongrace and Greg Solberg's ACME Muffineering. Electrical muffin cars. Seriously. I saw them and started scheming about baked goods races. Maybe for my 40th birthday. I imagine a dozen of my closest friends racing those muffins around a track somewhere. Okay, it's farfetched, I know. So I can dream it. Can I build 'em? Or pay someone to build 'em?!? Maybe Riley will do it...

Robots. Last year I really like the tiny robotic bugs. This year, the PR2 caught my fancy. This one did a high five, a low five, and a double knuckle bump. I'm not quite sure what I liked about it, but it was cool.

Crafts and Stories. Not that we have to leave our home to craft. We have bins and bins - no joke - of crafting supplies. But we had a blast with the hot glue guns, found objects, recycled plastic pieces, and all the makers' displays - from knitted DNA to Victorian paper-cut birdcages to go along with Hans Christian Andersen's "The Nightingale."

Giant Bubbles and Hula Hoops. There are bikes to ride, swings to pump, strings to pluck, and things to pound. Maker Faire is a kinetic kids' heaven...and I do mean "kid" in the loosest sense possible. Danya, Stella, and Dylan stayed on the Holistic Hooping lawn for a long time while Craig, Jake, and Riley played in the ToolShed. Then I was reminded, yet again, how two sticks, some string, some soap and water can result in tons of fun.

There were definitely things I wistfully walked past since this was a family day. But if I had my druthers I would spend some time in the Homegrown Village. There was cheesemaking, pickling, and more that I would have liked to have seen. Maybe Maker Faire 2012 will have that in store for me.