Chicago Brings the Noise!
You don’t have to be from Milwaukee to take part in Maker Faire Milwaukee. We’re excited to welcome back our friends from Pumping Station: One in Chicago who will be offering to help you build your own “PS: One Noisemaker”, which is an optical theremin. What’s a theremin you might ask? It’s a musical instrument controlled without physical contact. Typically you wave your hands in the air to create sounds. The “optical” theremin uses a light sensor to detect how much light is hitting it and creates a buzzing sound proportionally related to that. If you don’t understand electronics much, that’s ok, Jenny from PS:1 will explain it all and help your build your very own noisemaking theremin. (Already understand all the technical stuff? There’s a github page for the noisemaker.)
Return of the Power Racing Series
We’re hosting another Power Racing Series exhibition event at Maker Faire Milwaukee this year! What is Power Racing, you ask? Simply, teams build and race an electric car, with a $500 spending limit. You can start with any kids’ electric ride-on vehicle. Then, read up on creating your own vehicle, grab friends to form a team, find some tools and a helmet, and get to work. The races are a blast, and how you decorate your car counts for some serious points, too. Glitter, feathers, lights, anything goes. Visit powerracingseries.org for more information and guidelines.
Control a Spaceship with Artemis
“Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator is ridiculously good fun.” — Wired Magazine
‘Nuf said. There will be an Artemis Bridge at Maker Faire Milwaukee. Artemis, a multiplayer, multicomputer networked game, invites gamers to assume roles as spaceship officers in charge of the helm, communications, engineering, and weapons (of course), and their Captain, who tells everyone what to do, like “Set phasers to stun.”
Stay tuned for details.
Swap-O-Rama-Rama
New this year, Swap-O-Rama-Rama — that’s right, two Ramas in the name! This clothing swap and DIY workshop series explores creative reuse through recycling used clothing. Bring at least one bag of clean, used clothing to add to the collection and then dive in to find items to work with at all kinds of stations – sewing machines, hand sewing, bedazzling, beading, bleach pen and sharpie decorating, silk screening, knitting, repair, appliqués and more. We’ll have skilled volunteers on hand to help get you started and talk about how to take measurements, working with patterns and other upcycling tricks and tips. This is gonna be fun.
The Call for Makers is open!
The Call for Makers is now open!
Thanks to the success of our inaugural event that attracted more than 35,000 attendees, Maker Faire Milwaukee is listed as the nation’s largest Featured Maker Faire. We need your help to make this year’s event even bigger and better!
The “Dark Arts” at Maker Faire
With the Call for Makers now open (through August 1, 2015), we are kicking planning for Maker Faire Milwaukee into high gear. This year, we will be creating a “Dark Arts” exhibit area for makers with LED, electronics, and other projects that are best experienced in low light. Makers, if you have a project or one in mind that needs darkness to shine, bring it to Maker Faire! This space will also feature a laser maze, and provide makers and visitors with spaces to gather for casual discussions, back of the napkin idea sharing and refreshments.
