Makers from the Maker Fair

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but my favorite part of the Maker Fair is the shopping. Every year there are exciting and unique vendors. Every Maker Fair, I find myself bouncing back and forth like a ping pong ball. "Oh! Look at that!", "Cool! I want one of those!". This year, there were a decent number of vendors I had seen before. There's a great selection of crafts, from felt animals to soap to huge robots. Here are a few of my favorites:

Sweet Meats: started by a San Francisco native, who has butchers on both sides of her family. These felt meats come in individual and family size. I've had my eye on these meats for 3 years now. I finally broken down and bought my very own family sized hambone. Very comfy and calorie free! http://sweet-meats.com/

Xlyocopa: a husband and wife from Tucson, Arizona make amazing wood crafts (jewelry to instruments). They use laser and hand carving to make these pieces. One of my favorites is a ukulele covered in different style moustaches. Doesn't everyone need of of those. http://www.xylocopa.com/node
Bumperboy: A librarian by day, this creative genius has her own comic and line of merchandise. The hero, Bumperboy, is an eager explorer and enjoying gummie worms and movies in his spare time. But what I loved most by this artist was her whimsical felt dolls. The cat in boots and cupcake bears were my favorites. http://bumperboy.net/index.html
Bill Robinson: This 26 year old Aries graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology. He currently works as an animator for online game site: wonderhill.com. I really loved his whimsical art. These characters look straight out of a storybook dream world. http://flimflammery.wordpress.com/
WoolBuddy: There are a ton of felt animals going around these days, but I thought these ones were especially cute. Lord knows I'm a sucker for beady eyes. A 3-D artist and art teacher, she started making these wool creatures as a hobby but soon had a legitimate following. Her crafts range from felt R2D2s to winged dragons and can be found in Crafts and Folk Art Museum. http://woolbuddy.com/blog/
My Imaginary Boyfriend: This was one of my favs from last year. This artist makes a different type of felt crafts. My personal favorite being the brown bag beer/bottle cozies. Her felt log pillows are pretty sweet too. Who said felt was for little kids?? I hope there will be more great items coming from this artist. http://www.myimaginaryboyfriend.com/index.html
Yazmin Perez: also currently residing in Palo Alto, this Bay Area native cites her family as inspiration for her work. After going to school to 3-D modeling she switched over to jewelry making, and found her true calling. Her sterling sliver pieces look part sea creature, part outer space. My favorites were her jelly fish necklaces and earrings. These pieces were quite expensive though. http://yasminperez.com/

I can't wait to see what next year brings....

Maker Fair 2010, Videos

Here's a short video of a fire breathing dragon @ the Maker Fair

Electricity Rock Show

Maker Fair 2010, part 2 (More photos)

Not quite sure how they were able to make this happen....water and fire at the same time (a little hard to tell from the pic).
Robot
My Maker Fair treat....a ham hock.
Next stop, the moon!
Crazy music and electricity
Uhh, I think that cardboard man is touching our butts....
Probably because I touched his. Hehe ;)
Steampunk for the day, Walker.
Crazy watermansuit
Radio Flyer on steroids
How could you have a bad time with all this cool stuff around you?!?!

Maker Fair 2010

Today (and yesterday) was the 5th annual Maker Faire (yes, that's really how they spell it). This fair comes around once a year and tours cities such as: San Mateo, Austin, New York, Detroit and Ann Arbor.
This 2 day festival celebrates DIY crafts, inventions, tinkering. There really is a "if you can dream it, you can do it" spirit to this event. No idea is too crazy or too difficult. There are a ton of inventions and such outdoors, and best of all you can ride/touch/see up close most of these over the top creations.

There's also a cool unique craft fair....this is not your grandmother's...or even mother's crafts fair. From fuzzy neon bear hats to baby clothes, they have it all. After 3 years of waiting, I finally broke down and purchased a meat pillow. Again, if you can dream it......someones probably already made it.

Great for all ages, this truely is an event that should not be missed.
There's also a great selection of food and treats there. The prices are average "fair prices" (ie $5 for a lemonaid, etc). This year, they had the largest batch of paella I've ever seen.


I'm already looking forward to 2011!

Save the Date: The Maker Fair

Save the Date: May 22 & 23, 2010

Guess what's back in town?!? The Maker Fair.
This will be the 5th annual fair. It is a fun event in San Mateo. Maker Fair is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It's for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. There are tons of cool inventions, fun & funky crafts for sale, experiments to try, DIY crafts, food booths, music, lots of weirdos! This fair only comes around once a year and it is a MUST!
I'm will be going on Sunday, May 23rd if anyone local would like to join me.