Brain Food: New Talks on the History and Future of Making

Most of what you’ll find at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire will inspire you to do something with your hands, but we also have fantastic talks about the history, future, and culture of making, talks that will feed your brain and spark your intellectual curiosity.

Nicholas de Monchaux is an architect, urbanist, writer, and Assistant Professor of Architecture & Urban Design at UC Berkeley.  Nicholas is coming to EBMMF to talk about an unlikely but fascinating subject: the Apollo AL7 Pressure Garment, what Armstrong and Aldrin wore when they walked on the surface of the moon in 1969.  As he puts it:

The Spacesuit they were wearing was made not by a military-industrial conglomerate, but by Playtex makers of women’s underwear. Not only was the suit hand-sewn by seamstresses whose usual work was sewing bras and girdles, but the head of suit development for Playtex, Lenny Sheperd, had only previously worked as a television repairman. An artifact of maker culture long-before-the-fact, the Apollo spacesuit holds crucial lessons for how we approach technology, and our own human nature.

Nicholas will be speaking at 1pm; check the final program for location.

After a mind-opening exploration of this artifact of maker culture, be sure to wrap up your visit to EBMMF with a look into the future.  Tim O’Reilly, whose company O’Reilly Media produces the Maker Faire and MAKE magazine, and whom Inc and others have called the Oracle of Silicon Valley, is going to share his thoughts on what this all means in our closing speaking slot at 4pm.  We asked him what he wanted to say in his talk, and here is how he replied:

Right now it’s easy to see the maker movement simply as a DIY movement. But of course the PC and Internet revolutions also began as DIY phenomena. Inside each of was set of enormous cultural and technological changes with implications far greater than were anticipated at the time. This talk will explore where the maker movement is taking us. We’ll cover everything from what the maker movement tells us about the future of manufacturing, health care, education and the economy.

Join us on October 16 for these and many more fascinating, informational, and inspirational talks.

And a Huge Thanks to Our Sponsors!!

The crew behind the East Bay Mini Maker Faire wants to shout out a huge thank you to all of our sponsors. Their support helps make this exciting, interactive, crazy-fun day possible.

Yelp about them, buy their products, join their mailing lists, like them on Facebook, and of course, frequent their businesses.  Here’s a few call-outs:

Brushstrokes–the Berkeley-based pottery painting and mosaics studio will have a booth at the Faire where you can create your own jewelry.  They will  fire it in the kilns at Brushstrokes after the Faire, and then host a Mini Maker Faire after-party at Brushstrokes in late October where the clay jewelry can be picked up.  Super cool!

ClifKids–A periennel supporter of family events, Clif  jumped right on board for the East Bay Mini Maker Faire. Check out their craft project using recycled packaging materials.  While you’re there, grab a snack to keep you making.

MAKE Magazine–Where Maker Faire started:  the nation’s best DIY projects magazine, MAKE celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will.  MAKE is published quarterly, and is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home.  Keep the making going through the whole year—subscribe today!

Vessel Gallery–Owned and run by the amazing Lonnie Lee, Vessel Gallery is a must-stop on the growing Oakland art gallery scene.  Vessel’s new exhibition presents the latest work of Cyrus Tilton, a sculptor and inspirational artist for makers of all sorts. “The Cycle” is a site specific installation where natural science meets creepy kinetic deliverance. Do not miss this spectacle of a show running October 4th-29th!

Orange Door Properties–Orange Door Properties is an independent real estate brokerage with experience serving homeowners and prospective homeowners in Oakland, Berkeley, Piedmont, San Francisco, Alameda, Emeryville, Albany and Kensington. Orange Door is a certified ecobroker® and   a green business using sustainable business practices. They are also extremely enjoyable people, and experts in their field.  Look for the Orange Door Properties/Park Day School seed bomb booth at the Faire!

East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse–Can you say Swap-O-Rama-Rama?  The East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse is the source for any creative endeavor and a mainstay of products for our onsite repurposing textiles mash-up.  They’re a big supporter and supplier for makers throughout the East Bay.

East Bay Bicycle Coalition–  Be healthy, avoid parking, and reduce your carbon footprint.  Bike to the event and the friendly people from the East Bay Bicycle Coalition will park and store your wheels for you.  Become a member while you’re there and help make the East Bay a better place to ride.

Park Day School– The East Bay Mini Maker Faire is fortunate to have Park Day School as its sponsor and non-profit beneficiary.  Park Day School is a diverse, independent bridge-K through 8th grade school with a 35 year history of progressive education. Park believes a successful learner is one who is confident, caring, and creative—very much the traits of a Maker.

The thank you list goes on:  East Bay Express, Music for People and Thingamagigs, 510 Families, Edible East Bay, VineCrowd, and Studio One Art Center.  YOU ARE THE BEST!

The 21st Century Shop Class: Bringing Making Back to School

We are thrilled to announce a fantastic panel discussion at East Bay Mini Maker Faire:  The 21^st Century Shop Class:  Developing the Creative and Critical Doers in Today’s Schools.  David Clifford of the East Bay School for Boys will lead the discussion along with a variety of “shop teachers” from around the Bay Area to discuss why learning with one’s hands is critical in today’s complex world.

Shop class?!  Surely you remember shop class:  Bookcase projects? Cutting boards?  You might not know this, but those classes and projects have gone the way of home phone service and the decline in manufacturing jobs in the U.S.  Shop class is pretty much gone.  Lathes, band saws and routers liquidated.

Maybe those bookcase projects were one-dimensional.  But in the vacuum of any hands-on learning opportunities in school, there is rising recognition that shop class might have purpose after all.  There are studies to prove it:  many people show improved comprehension of science and math principles when they get to MAKE something instead of read it in a book.

Spanish class desks 8th graders designed and built at East Bay School for Boys

Clifford knows it from experience. He spent 13 years as a “shop teacher” at Lick Willmerding High School in San Francisco—part of that as the Director of the Technical Arts program (he is now Innovation and Outreach Director for the new East Bay School for Boys—check out the nice set of resources he has on design and building.)

Clifford and Lick’s approach to Technical Arts is interdisciplinary in the best way:  ” Application objectives include cross-disciplinary and collaborative learning, skills for engineering, effective problem solving, creative expression, competency in the language of craft and design, and personal empowerment through self-confidence and self-esteem.”

Clifford will be making a presentation on his findings and curriculum objectives for this kind of class, and then will moderate a panel discussion amongst “shop” teachers from across the Bay Area, including:

• Eric Temple, Head of School, Lick-Wilmerding High School (San Francisco)
• Alex Vitturn, woodshop teacher, Aurora School (Oakland)
• Liisa Pine, welding instructor at Laney College High School Machining and Welding Program (Oakland)
• Casey Shea, math teacher and Project Make instructor at Analy High School (Sebastopol)

If you are a parent interested in bringing shop back to school, or if you are an educator working towards this, we encourage you to come participate in the discussion.  Bring shop class back to school!

Foot carts, taco trucks and red tape: Guerrilla Grub fights for mobile food

Elizabeth August and her husband don’t call themselves “food truck-ineers,” a term I was very proud to have come up with myself when interviewing August this week. “Actually,” she said, “we have a non-motorized push cart, so even though we’re lumped in with food truckers, we’re really just mobile food vendors.”

August has a reason to be specific: while food trucks and independent food vendors are gaining popularity across the US (there’s even a reality show on television now about food truckers who race around the country, selling their delicious wares), and in California in particular, Oakland has put up barriers of red tape that make it nearly impossible for the food truck culture to proliferate and attract customers.

“The ordinance that exists right now in Oakland has made it so that mobile food vendors can only operate in one district in Oakland — in the Fruitvale district,” August explained. “It only provides a small number of permits for vendors in that small geographical area. So the rest of us, trucks and carts, are not legally permitted to vend on public streets in Oakland except with permission by property owners and in parking lots, or at special events like Eat Real and street fairs.”

August said that this has created a “cultural separation of food” inside Oakland, as other food vendors who serve different types of dishes can’t go outside of their neighborhood. “They can’t bring their food to us, in other parts of Oakland, and we can’t bring our food to them.”

That’s why August has set up her refurbished one-time hot dog cart she found on Craigslist, calling her business Guerrilla Grub. The cart is more compact, mobile and easier to maintain than a food truck while Oakland sorts out its mobile food bureaucracy.

Selling “California comfort food,” she and her husband sell classic but modified dishes like pulled pork, beef brisket and pulled-tofu sandwiches, sloppy joes (meaty and vegan), veggies, quinoa, and gluten-free mac and cheese.

As the East Bay Express reported recently, August, who is with the Oakland Mobile Food Group, has been battling Oakland city hall along with other food vendors to relax the red tape around mobile food vendors and expand the realm of DIY entrepreneurship that adds to the dynamic cross-culturalism of the city.

August and members of the Oakland Mobile Food Group are putting pressure on the city — they gathered more than 500 signatures on a petition at the Eat Real festival that will be submitted to the city council. She’s hopeful that mobile food vendors will be able to grow their businesses and introduce Oakland’s children and adults to excellent, delicious, mobile food.

Check out Elizabeth August, her Guerrilla Grub push-cart, these Oakland Mobile Food Group members in the new Food Truck Stop at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire:

• Fist of Flour Pizza and their hand-hewn pizza oven
• Tacos Zamoranos – the first taco truck in Oakland!
• Boffo Cart
• Tamalgos
• Indie Cakes – delicious, local, organic pastries
• Tara’s Organic Ice Cream
• Remedy Coffee – check out their new modded Airstream!
• and of course, Guerrilla Grub

You can follow Guerrilla Grub on Twitter, to see where the cart shows up next.  But don’t miss the chance to come support their efforts in person, at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire!

Maker Supply Chain: East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse

Probably you’re already hip to the re-claim, re-use, re-cycle thing….  and you may even be one of the many people who likes to take things and repair, hack, mod, alter or otherwise transform them into other things…  This is the resourceful spirit of maker culture.  The East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse is a non-profit at the center of this movement toward more creative sustainability.

Since 1979, when it was founded by two Oakland public school teachers, the Depot has been a treasure trove of arts & craft materials, educational supplies, vintage furniture, home décor, paper goods, fabric, and much more.

According to their website: The mission of the East Bay Depot is to divert waste materials from landfills by collecting and redistributing discarded goods as low-cost supplies for art, education, and social services in our Depot Store. The educational mission is to increase the awareness of school children and the general public regarding the green benefits of reusing materials.

It should come as no surprise then, that the Depot is one of our biggest supporters over here at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire! In addition to giving us carloads of fabric, yarn, cardboard, paper, inks and whatnot….they also loan us Iggy, one of their Artists-In-Residence who will be coming to the Faire and leading a very cool hands-on project converting old floppy disks (remember those?) into toy cars, pinwheels and other fun take-aways.

Besides all these artsy endeavors, the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse has a HUGE impact as both an environmental and humanitarian aid organization. The Depot diverts approximately 200 tons of reusable material from the landfills each year!

And, in partnership with the Central Contra Costa County Solid Waste Authority, the Depot distributes discarded winter clothing and other humanitarian aid supplies to crisis areas in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mississippi and Japan, as well as in our local communities.

Go Depot Go!

**Pictures from Oaklandart.com

Digital Fabrication with Because We Can

Jillian Northrup and Jeffrey McGrew are Because We Can, a full service design studio in Oakland that specializes in architecture, interiors and “fantastical things”.  Even though they are a very small team, they are able to do digital design all the way through fabrication because they are leveraging a new class of affordable yet advanced tools like the ShopBot, a computer-controlled router for fabricating with wood, plastic, aluminum & more.

If you’re someone who loves visual design, but has never ventured into physical making because power tools are a tad bit intimidating, come to Jillian and Jeffrey’s workshop presentation at East Bay Mini Maker Faire, “Using Digital Fabrication to Change the World: Empowerment Through Automated Tools.”   Jillian herself comes from a graphic design background, but found her way to making physical structures through output of digital files to these computer-controlled tools.  Jillian and Jeffrey (the other half of Because We Can, an architect) will explain  how this new class of mills, routers, lasercutters, and even 3D printers can empower you to change the world for the better, turn a hobby into a business, and make the world a more interesting place.

A good example of Because We Can’s process is this tail for The Serpent Twins, a 2011 Burning Man electric art car/sculpture.  Jillian is holding a prototype she fabbed using their ShopBot in the first picture below; scroll down to see how it translated to full-scale in sheet metal.

Because We Can actually has a great post documenting in detail the process they went through for the Serpent Twins—check it out.

Keep watching ebmakerfaire.com for the full schedule of workshops and talks.  Come to their presentation, and look for Because We Can’s “Big Trike” at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire on October 16th.

Put It Up for the Urban Food Swap!

Did you put up some jam or veggies this summer?  Roasting your own coffee?  Making syrups or soda?  Baking bread?  Drying fruit?  Got the still going?  Bring your makings to East Bay Mini Maker Faire on October 16th for a special edition of Kendra Pomo’s East Bay Homemade Food Swaps.

We found out about Kendra’s cool events through out Homesteader Stage media sponsor, Edible East Bay.  They wrote a great article on all the gleaning and food sharing activities going on in the East Bay.  Kendra’s version is a super fun one.  The idea is this:

The event operates like a silent auction where swappers jot down their offers. This gives other swappers an idea of who wants their goods and what they’d score in exchange. At the end of a designated bidding period people can decide who to trade with. Typically, there’s a tasting station too. For the first hour people mill about, chatting and checking out the chow. Then the bidding begins. Once everyone has had a chance to make their swap choices known the actual trades take place. Informal verbal requests for unclaimed items follow, once written swaps have been honored. The idea, after all, is to go home with different foods than the ones you brought. (From Edible East Bay.)

Intrigued?  Want to participate? Here’s how:

1. Register to participate at  http://ebcaswaps.blogspot.com/. There’s only 30 slots available, so you’ve got to do this ahead of time.
2. Kendra will send you your special discount code for tickets to East Bay Mini Maker Faire.  Buy your tickets!
3. Arrive at the Faire and check in your goods at the Urban Food Swap area by 12:15 p.m.
4. Food swap begins promptly at 12:30 p.m. and will finish up by 1:30 p.m.

And, hey, if you don’t have something right now, no sweat!  You’ve got 3 weeks to get it done… But don’t miss the opportunity – sign up today!

Honey Harvesting with Novella Carpenter and BioFuel Oasis

Novella Carpenter has to be our most famous East Bay urban farmer. No one has written as engaging, entertaining and honest tale of an enterprising young inner-city homesteader as Novella has with her 2009 memoir, Farm City.

But Novella has done more than raise pigs and rabbits in Oakland; she is also an early member of the BioFuel Oasis collective, an Berkeley worker-owned Biodiesel Station and Urban Farm Supply Store located on Sacramento at Ashby.  Watch for her new book, The Essential Urban Farmer, coming out at the end of the year.

We’re super excited that both Novella and BioFuel Oasis will be at East Bay Mini Maker Faire on October 16th.  Novella will be doing honey extraction workshop on our new Homesteader Stage, demoing a manual honey extractor and spinning out a few gallons of honey from her home hive.

BioFuel Oasis will be there to share all their offerings, including the fuel they sell that is made locally (Mendocino County) from recycled cooking oil, and supplies for your urban homestead (e.g. organic chicken feed, beekeeping supplies, cheesemaking kits, books and tools). They also offer tools on loan—a honey extractor (same one Novella is using!) and have a tremendous lineup of great classes and workshops.

Stay tuned for the full schedule for our Homesteader Stage; we’ve got great demos and workshops from home coffee roasting to wildcrafting to bread making to a flat tire fix clinic and race (!).  Check back here soon—but also follow our Facebook and Twitter feeds for regular updates.

Influence Machines by Anja Ulfeldt

Remember Ice Brain in our “dark room” last year?  The glowing and growing brain-like ice form generated by refrigerator coils + condensation?

That piece was by Anja Ulfeldt, an interdisciplinary artist and curator based in Oakland, CA. Anja co-directs Basement Gallery Oakland and manages a cooperative art and photography studio in Downtown Oakland.  She is a graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts, and a recent artist in residence at the Exploratorium.

This year, Anja is going to bring her hand-crank electrostatic generators, The Influence Machines, to the East Bay Mini Maker Faire.  They are beautiful and interactive sculptures that animate the making of static electricity.  Something about the feathers and textiles she uses turns science into poetry.  Watch:

Chris Anderson’s DIY Drones

Reason #235 to come to the East Bay Mini Maker Faire: Where else can you enjoy a taco from Zamoranos while you watch Chris Anderson demo the latest in DIY drones?

What’s that, you don’t know what a DIY drone is?  Well it’s also called an amateur Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV, if that helps. Basically it’s an aircraft that can fly by itself, without a pilot in control.  And the point is, you can make one at home.  Berkeley resident and Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson does, along with his kids.

Chris not only makes these amazing machines, but he’s also convened the community of DIY drone enthusiasts online, and catalogs the collective intelligence of these tinkerers for everyone’s benefit.  If you’re interested in checking it out, his Getting Started page on DIYdrones.com is a great place to, well, get started.

Or just come get the scoop from him in person at 1pm on Sunday, October 16^th, taco in hand.