Re:Make Festival: A celebration of making

So what is the deal with this Re:Make thing I keep mentioning?

Re:Make is Brit + Co’s two-day maker event held a couple times a year. Day 1 is an invitation-only conference with awesome speakers and demos by startups. Day 2 is a festival open to the public with tons of handmade products and DIY project stations.

I was able to attend September’s Re:Make in San Francisco, largely due to a Brit + Co contributor travel stipend from Lowe’s (also a conference sponsor).

Even though the festival day happened after the conference day, I’m going to start on Day 2 at the festival.

The Living Room of the Future

With all the fabulous festival happenings, you know what I did first? Hunt for an outlet to charge my almost-dead phone. I figured my best bet would be the The Living Room of the Future. (Feel free to read that in a deep, echoing voice like “The Living Room-oom-oom! of the Future-uture-uture!”)

The Living Room of the Future was a whole room constructed just for the weekend to demonstrate Lowe’s IRIS line of smart home products. It had sturdy walls (holding artwork and a pretty massive monitor), a full set of furniture, a door, and (thankfully!) working outlets.

One of the Lowe’s reps moved a plug down to make room for my charger. Turns out it wasn’t just any plug, it was a smart plug. (Did you know plugs could be smart?!) It’s basically the updated version of those timers you plug your lights into when you go out of town. Except it you can control it from your phone. The only “installation” required is plugging it in to an outlet. That piqued my interest, because we rent our place, so we can’t get too crazy in the home improvement department.

Since I was hanging out waiting for my phone anyway, I asked what else they had that would work in a rental. Turns out most of their stuff would. There are sensors that can text you if there’s motion in your house or just if someone opens the door. (Of course, I had travel on the brain, but it’d be nice if you’re at work all day too.)

I didn’t notice it when I walked in, but the door to The Living Room of the Future (Door to the Future?!) had one of those cool keypad doorknobs. The house where I Airbnb’ed in July had one too. So. handy. Think about not having to coordinate a key handoff for houseguests/pet sitters/a friend stopping by while you’re stuck in traffic/etc.

In case you’re wondering, yes, Lowe’s bought my plane ticket. But I did not expect to get this excited about a smart home system. I’m really not into tech for the sake of tech, but if it makes my life better, I’m in. And their stuff turned out to be pretty neat.

Walking through Pinterest boards

Once I got my phone charged up, I needed a recharge too. I headed over to get some handpoured goodness from the Philz Coffee crew, who had become my BFFs during the conference.

From there, the hall opened up. There was a booth with Luna Bar samples in apothecary jars (Because this was Re:Make. And even the granola bars needed to be cute.), a mini version Brit + Co’s community maker space MakeShop with Brit Kits and 3D printers, a Michael’s “Raw Bar” with projects inspired by the same raw-look trend as our cork vase Make Break the day before, and handmade cornhole games in progress (Can someone explain to me why cornhole is suddenly everywhere?)

There were also lots of photo booth backdrops (also very Brit + Co) for selfies. I snapped a quick one in front of a Lowe’s backdrop, and then someone asked me a question, and I got totally sidetracked and forgot to take a better one.

Sprinkled throughout the hall were DIY stations where you could do things like paint your own tote, make a Lego house, or decorate a Lowe’s paint cans to hold your purchases.

100 vendors were there with handmade and artisan products – messenger bags, ceramics, jewelry, cards, soaps. I basically wanted to buy everything. Combined with all the DIYing going on, it really kind of felt like my Pinterest boards had come to life. Seriously. You can check out the merch in the B+C Shop.

An impressive 4,000 people made their way to the festival by the end of the day. It was overwhelming but so amazing!

I’ll fill you in on the first day of Re:Make (the conference day) next week! In the meantime, check out my Make Break post or Instagrams from the trip.

October 6, 2014November 24, 2018

DIY Mask Inspiration and Microblogging

Microblog Mondays

Melissa of Stirrup Queens had a fabulous idea to help people get back to blogging called Microblog Mondays. Basically, you post something to your own site/blog that you’d normally just post to social media. It can be short and sweet – the key is to get something posted and not overthink it. (Read more and join up on her site.)

Even though I do blog regularly, this made me think about all the content that ends up scattered across my social sites and never ends up here. I’m going to experiment with using Mondays for this type of quick reads, starting today with a roundup of masks that otherwise would’ve just lived on my Pinterest.

Mask decoration inspiration

At CraftHack next Monday (10/13), we’ll be decorating Halloween masks courtesy of Brit + Co and Velcro Companies. That sent me looking for mask decorating ideas. Here are some I found.

Example masks made with the Brit Kit.

Matching swirl masks from Masque Boutique.

Nature masks from a BHG contest.

Venetian masks from Carta Alta.

Downloadable mask template on A Subtle Revelry.

August 22, 2014September 3, 2014

DIY Embroidered Watches and Ribbon Backdrop

First: orange or lime green?

They’re both bright, citrusy colors, so I don’t know what – if anything – each person’s color pick said about their personality. But, by the end of the night, everyone at our Craft Hack gathering had a chance to put their own creative stamp on their project.

You may have seen our craft for this month on our Facebook page. This time, it came in Brit Kits, provided by Timex and Brit + Co (who I am a contributor for). After choosing their color, each person received a kit that included a Timex Weekender Slip-Thru watch with a band that was either orange or lime, coordinating embroidery floss, needles, and instructions with sample patterns.

Everyone could work at their own pace. We shared tips and drew ideas from each other. The kit patterns got the creative juices going, and then I think all 9 of us ended up coming up with our own designs.

Shannon and her fiancé (the lone guy of the group) teamed up, mixing and matching thread colors. He was also the one-man research team. Anne wanted to base her pattern on the traditional Russian Orthodox cross symbol, and he found one to reference. Inspired by nature, Jo Ann created a beautiful leaf pattern, and Vesna embroidered flowers. Crystal has been hand lettering a public art project, so she has ampersands on the brain lately. One found its way onto her watch.

Ribbon backdrop

Since I knew we’d be meeting in the dark-walled conference room, I wanted to add a little color. I threw together a last-minute ribbon backdrop (inspired by these) by looping random colors of gift wrap ribbon over baker’s twine and securing with tape.

What I learned about making backdrops:

You can use Washi tape to secure your twine to the wall without making holes, but you’ll need tape every few inches to keep it up. Pushpins may be a better bet.
Make sure to put your backdrop in an area with enough space for the subjects and photographer to stand in front of it!
Don’t be afraid to tell people to move over to be better centered, etc.

A few people had to leave before the group photo, but most of us managed to cram in, showing off orange watches, green watches, and products of our imagination.

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Group photo by a passerby at Gangplank. Last watch photo by Vesna Taneva-Miller.

August 14, 2014

Handcrafted postcards

My favorite souvenirs aren’t mass produced. They’re things like a scarf from a street fair or wildflowers from the Rockies.

I didn’t do much shopping on my SeaSFBlog trip, but I did get a chance to stop by the Fremont Sunday Market. The market is held rain or shine, which is good, because, you know, Seattle does have 58 days a year of sunshine.

One vendor was called Fun Junk: Piles of Old Stuff. True to their word, the tables held mounds of skeleton keys, patches, watch faces, and stacks of what looked like miniature paintings. It turned out they basically were. The owner finds vintage paintings in thrift stores, cuts them into sections, and stamps “POST CARD” across the back. The result is these beautiful, one-of-a-kind, mailable works of art.

It made me think about what else I could pick up along the way (when I’m not in Seattle) to make impromptu postcards. Travel brochures? Booklet covers? Maps? Gift boxes or packaging? It might be a good idea to pack some labels to stick over items without a blank space to write on.

You could mail pages of an on-the-go travel journal back to yourself and bind them together when you get back. Or mail a note to a friend.

As long as you meet the post office mailing guidelines for the country you’re in and make sure your postcard/letter/package is sturdy enough to handle shipping, you can really get creative with what you mail!

Resources

Fun Junk: locations | online shop (awesome typewriter key jewelry but no postcards at the moment)

USPS mailing guidelines: domestic | international

Creative mail inspriation: “Happy mail” by Giver’s Log

March 17, 2014

Luck and light

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

My sister- and brother-in-law got us this shamrock plant two years ago. I was worried an Irish plant wouldn’t do so well in the Arizona sun. (Maybe I thought it would sunburn like me-?) But it continues to thrive and bloom. The leaves close up every evening and follow the sun during the day. I guess you have to just keep seeking the light, no matter where you are.

I’m in another one of those spots where I have so much to tell you but, for various reasons, am having trouble getting it all written and posted. (I see all these articles about how to come up with blog post ideas. I have too many ideas. I think what I need is to learn to write faster.) I did write more about Arcosanti – a lot more – and I’m working on cutting that down a bit before I post it.

With any luck, I’ll be posting some bloggy and crafty news later this week, but I didn’t want to leave you hanging until then.

Speaking of plants (and hanging), I wrote a post for Brit + Co on DIY Living Walls, ideas for making a wall-mountable planter for a bunch of plants.

In case gardening isn’t your jam (or in case it is and you want to play music to your plants), my post about a crazy (and awesome) concrete, gesture-controlled speaker just went up on Brit + Co, as well.

So you have some reading material to tide you over, while I keep writing and seeking the light.