Mind Of This Maker

(co-published with She's Hep With Tech)

We used to be called "creative", but now we're called "makers".* 

Do you have Maker Faire's where you live? Maker Faire is kind of like a Renaissance Faire, and kind of like Silicon Valley translated into a modern day county fair. I went because I'd been under the weather physically and emotionally, and I wanted to recharge my mental batteries.

Good idea.

There's a lot of technology at the faire. A lot of it is fantasy technology reinterpreted as semi-reality - like the big metal octopus that shot fire, the traveling cold drinks dragon-headed vendor that shot fire - in fact shooting fire seemed to be an important aspect of the faire. There was also a big chambered Nautilus that brought to mind Jules Verne's Captain Nemo. The kids were lined up to zip into there and head up on top for a visit with the Steam Punk'y looking guide.

Steam Punk comes to life at Maker Faire. You know how Steam Punk works right? These folks are a natural for this zone.  Steam Punk people combine dressing up in Victorian 'esque clothing with  elements of imaginary technology. They don't live in a reenactor world like Renaissence, Civil War Reenactors, and Dickens Faire participants. They're part of the mainstream plane, but also apart from it. The costumes and the tech are all mixed up together. Gears, cogs and wheels are big with Steam Punk folks. Anything mechanical is big.  And corsets are very important. There were a bunch of Steam Punk costume vendors there, selling Steam Punk garb off the rack. They charge $250 for custom corsets. As a sewist who spent three months creating a custom boned bustier, I can tell you that is not overpriced.

There's a sense of computer games come to life at the faire. Lots of robots and robotics. Lots of little booths that help you make toys that look like they come off your iPhone screen to life. There are Radio Controlled goodies for you RC lovers.

The Bay Area Lego Users Group has a booth. It's part model railroad, part completely huge old style city streets, flotilla of military looking ships in a life like bay. If you like to play that way, you could play for a long time.

I went looking for Crafts, Needlework and Sewing stuff, because that's one type of of maker I am. There were tables of people stitching and chatting and having fun interacting, either adding to a big existing project or doing some kind of make-and-take sample. I was hoping to see a lot more of this type of making, but I had a limited amount of time and may not have found it all.  B. Coole was there with her Steam Punk oriented embroideries, parasols, tassels and other nifty Victorian 'esque and Steam Punk accouterments.  She gave me some good audio input for my monthly Enchanted by Sewing podcast, all about buying and using a home embroidery machine.

I've written about 3D printers in this blog before, and you can bet I checked them out at Maker Faire. I saw several genres.  There were kids designing and printing their own toys. This reminded me of the Fun Flowers and Creepy Crawlers I used to make with Plastic Goop. (I also saw kids running around in cardboard box assemblages playing at being robots - no 3D printing required.) There are the home printer and the send-it-off service types. The home printers often create/print/make the items in plastic (PL or a TGlass) type. People might design things like a speciality screwdriver or tool with these. Some folks use Google Sketchup software to design with. There are also resin type home printers that allow people to design highly detailed things like jewelry.

There were design it and send it off to be printed services too. You can create 3-D designs, and send something off to be printed in precious metals, ceramic, stainless steel, etc. I saw a large old fashioned stylemetal key - it might cost $35 to print that. A gold (plated?) bracelet that might code $200. There were design your own shoes (all produced in a variant on plastic) that were designed to fit your own feet. Prices were in the $200 range. I don't think they're competing with Payless Shoe Source. Yes, I'm waiting for them to print in leather and fabric too!

~ ~ ~

Web Resources

A Sense of What Maker Faire is All About http://makezine.com/2014/05/18/from-learn-to-solder-to-weekend-projects-everyones-a-maker/

Lots of different cities have their own Maker Faires http://makerfaire.com

B. Coole Designs - Machine Embroidery, Steam Punk and More http://www.bcoole.com

Bay Area Lego Users Group http://www.baylug.org

* Golden age mystery author Dorothy Sayers considered herself a maker. I highly recommend her book, The Mind of the Maker. Look for it in your public library

You might design your 3D printable with http://www.sketchup.com

Sewing Chronicles of Lady Lizbeth Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid - Meet That Rascal William Sainsbury

 Oh William Sainsbury, you rascal you!


It's all Sweet Will's fault that Liz ended up temporarily trapped in Tudor times.


He seemed so cute when she'd first met him back at the local Elizabethan Springe Flinge. And then, when he suggested a meet-up on her trip to London, well.... after all they'd been Facebook friends for over a year. It wasn't like she didn't know anything about him.


Wrong!


Will had plans for Liz, and they didn't just involve a quick kiss at the pub door. You see, Will's got needs - no not THOSE kinds of needs. His involved getting back home, and the pathway home just isn't as easy to follow as you might think. He needed a little help. And Liz was just the kind of help he needed.


So now Liz has got her needle buried in more blackwork embroidery than she ever dreamed about. 


And she's blogging the old-fashioned way.


(Co-Published with A Stitche In Time)

Have Needle Will Time Travel (Co-Published)

     Looks like my friend Lizbeth, over at A Stitche in Time,  will be lost in Tudor Tymes for some tyme to come.

     You can listen in on her time travel adventures "The Sewing Chronicles of Lady Lizbeth: The Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maide" via my podcasts: Unpolished Performances from The Simple Romantic. The Simple Romantic has, currently, recorded three episodes about Liz. Look for them in the June, July and August edition of "Unpolished Performances"

Download these free audio shows directly from the iTunes store with this link (or search the iTunes store using the search term 'unpolished performances') 

     You can also listen to this show from your computer by following this link http://web.me.com/simpleromantic/Simple_Romantic/Podcast/Podcast.html

* * *

Show Scoop: Our American blogger, Liz, is looking forward to a summer in London, sewing, sightseeing, practicing Bartok on the piano, and developing some great new historical and modern fashion content for her sewing blog.

It’s always a challenge keeping your online journal going when you’re on a trip, but Liz hadn’t counted on that trip extending back to the England of Queen Elzabeth the First.

Does anybody know if there’s a widget for blogging access that remote?

Part 4: Sewing Chronicles of Lady Lizbeth, Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid

This is a continuation of a serial story from this art journal. 

Have you missed the other parts?  

CLICK THE following links TO CATCHUP ON THE STORY

Part 1: The Bloggers Apologia

Part2: The Linen Purse

Part 3: By Chance, A Meeting

Part4: Comyn Interestes

Speake not to men outside of your ken,

Lest they forgete theyre place,

And lead ye to thoughts

Unbecoming in a maid.

But take up thy work.

A needle well-placed in a piece of fruite

Has ofte distracted me from thoughts ill-suited to a ladye.

Pithy Sayings of Lady Margaret Hoby

The man plucked a semblance of a bass run on the lute. I wondered if the guy worked this gallery regularly. A sneaky look from under my lashes told me that his name was ‘William Sainsbury’. Talk about a classic British name! It sounded like one the re-enactors made up for their character names at the Elizabethan Springtyme Feste back home. Come to think of it, his name-

“Are you a musician then?”

The guy certainly knew how to get me going. It wasn’t long before he’d heard a fair amount of the story of my career, hobbies, education, family life and what I was doing in London for the summer. Any opportunity to do all the talking makes me TOTALLY happy. I suppose I’m not the first person who gets a kick out of having a member of the opposite sex hang on their every word.

I got so caught up in discussing my interest in music, sewing, antique instruments and fabrics with William, that the voice booming over the announcement system to inform us that the museum was closing in fifteen minutes almost made my drop my iPad.

Quickly he drew a business card out of his pocket. “I’d love to hear more about your plans for the summer. Maybe even-”

I was studying the red thread work on the small case, from which he’d taken the museum card. “Hey I know the woman who made that!”

The embroidery on the little receptacle was a characteristic pattern, and one that I’d seen many times. My sister’s best friend, Jacquie Fitzcannon, had originally designed the pattern of pansies that meandered around a background of diamonds. They sold quite well at her booth. I reached out and stopped the hand that was putting the card-holder back in his pocket.

“Have you been to the springtime feste? Well you must have been! When were you in California?”

“I worked there this year,” he laughed. “demonstrating sheep sheering and cheese making. Jacquie traded me that case in turn for ten pounds of unripened cheddar.”

“I’m surprised I didn’t meet you there. I was playing in the strolling musicians group. Are you going back next year?”

An odd tremor seemed to cross his face. I realized later that he had ignored my question.

“I tell you what, there’s a pub just around the corner called “Her Grace’s Garters”. A lot of the staff goes after work. That researcher who specializes in blackwork embroidery goes quite often. Do you want to join us?”

The guy was obviously safe, not only did he work for the V&A, he knew Jacquie well enough to trade cheddar for embroidery.

Was there really ever any question of my NOT showing up at The Garters?

* * *

Part 3:Sewing Chronicles of Lady Lizbeth, Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid

This is a continuation of a serial story from this art journal. 

Have you missed the other parts?  

CLICK THE following links TO CATCHUP ON THE STORY

Part 1: The Bloggers Apologia

Part2: The Linen Purse

Part 3: By Chance, A Meeting

If a lady aspires to virtuous standing ,

She should attend well to her work,

And leave idle contemplation,

And distractions, such as the desire for precious objects

         or the attractions of comely men 

To the vulgar.

Keep your eyes on your needles, ladies

And your hands on your work.

Pithy Sayings of Lady Margaret Hoby

* * *

When I had told my older sister where I was headed for the summer, the first words out of her mouth were to warn me about the men I’d meet there. According to Prissy, they’d be after me in droves the minute they cast their eyes my way. If only the world thought as much of us as do our ever-loving families! Then again, if it did then restaurant staff would be reminding us to eat our broccoli,and supervisors would check to see that we flossed when we got to work. So maybe it’s just as well that we’re not quite so important as our siblings and parents find us.

“I know how you react to men with accents! Just remember that British men can be terribly controlling,” Prissy reminded me. “And I should know.”

My sister had been married to a one-time citizen of Britain for ten years before she washed her hands of him. I don’t recall that my erstwhile brother-in-law had been particularly controlling, if anything, Prissy was the more controlling of the two. I ascribed their lack of marital stamina to severe political differences, but kept my opinion to myself.

“I don’t have the time, or energy to get married,” I assured her. I’m going to spend the summer sewing, practicing Bartok on the piano, and getting in some sightseeing. I’ve got a new contract starting in four months, that’s not even enough time to jump into the dating pool, never mind locating some man I find appealing enough to want to propose to.

* * *

I had been caught up in my admiration of a series of life-sized mosaics on the landing, when I first passed the gallery guide-attendant. I’d been vaguely conscious of the leggy copper-haired lad’s bountiful smile and cheerful salutation, but museum folk are paid to be gracious after all. Caught up in the tapestries, blackwork embroidery and gilt stitchery as I was, I knew that the young man passed through the hall a few times. But, frankly, I thought he was interested in a couple of boisterous American college girls over near the Renaissance instrument collection.

I became more aware of that giggling pair as they began to struggle into some farthingales they’d discovered in the interactive Daily-Renaissance-LIfe costume-area. The young women began to dissolve into helpless laughter as they commenced photographing each other and composing humorous subtitles to go along with the visuals of their now-expanded figures, that they then texted back home to the U.S.  Seeing that no one else was around, I put aside photographing and sketching sewing design ideas on my ipad, and offered my services as a photographer for a sisterly portrait of the two.

“I think we should call this one ‘our new school uniforms’, the taller of the pair gurgled.

“Are you ladies doing study-abroad then?”

“We’re just here for a summer program at UCL.”

The tall form of the guide moved back out of the tapestry niche about the time the students moved on to stare dutifully at the Raphael tapestry cartoons, and I decided I had probably studied every square centimeter of the embroidered purse and headed over to check out the instruments.

The gallery-guide-guy moved over to hover beneath a collection of reproduction lutes hanging in an artful arrangement from the ceiling, as I transferred my lust for beautiful ancient items to a virginal that, the information plaque indicated, was believed to have really, actually, maybe, been played by the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth the First herself.

I looked up from my careful examination of an inlaid bird on the spinet’s case, to find that he was watching me, in a rather obvious manner. I began to wonder if I fit some musical terrorist profile, and considered moving on to study a bass viol in the corner, when he broke the ice by pulling down one of the lutes and plucking out a brief interrogative three note melody.

“So, are you interested in a be-farthingaled photo of yourself for your friends back home?” 

Was the kid flirting with me, I wondered? Then, I decided it was simply a part of the stock patter to chat up solitary travelers.

I gave him the sort of middling-interested smile I reserved for the occasional cocktail party, and shook my head.

“Do you play?”

I looked at him more carefully now. There were lines around his eyes. Though he was built like a young man, he wasn’t as young as I’d first thought.  “What gave me away?”

“Your left hand was shaping chords, when you were examining the keyboard.”

He had a distractingly attractive lock of golden-red hair that wouldn’t stay put. I tried not to stare. “I was trying to remember how to play ‘Smoke on the Water’, but I forgot to bring along one of those kind of picks Queen Elizabeth would have used,” I responded. I hoped my attempt at humor wouldn’t fall flat.

The lock of hair swayed gently when he laughed “I think you mean a plectra. And by the way, I’m pretty sure the Queen’s Grace was a bigger fan of ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’.”

* * *

To Be Continued

Part 2: Sewing Chronicles of Lady Lizbeth, Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid: The Linen Purse

This is a continuation of a serial story from this art journal. 

If a lady aspires to virtuous standing ,

She should attend well to her work,

And leave idle contemplation,

And distractions, such as the desire for precious objects

         or the attractions of comely men 

To the vulgar.

Keep your eyes on your needles, ladies

And your hands on your work.

Pithy Sayings of Lady Margaret Hoby

Nobody who sews or just loves fabric, can put off visiting that holy-of-holies, the V&A. I was dying to revisit the great fabric collection there, and terribly disappointed to find that it’s been broken up and put into storage. It turns out the display frames were wearing out, and the small samples of fabric, embroidery, lace and other bits of antique and retro needlework were at risk.

“Come back in a year and check out the new off-site facility,” I was told at the information desk. Hummm just a hop, skip and a jump from California, and not in my budget again for a few years….

Well there are still a lot of old fabrics in the British  galleries. Like Margaret Layton’s glorious embroidered jacket and a delightfully old linen pillowcase with bobbin lace insertions and whitework embroidery. Wouldn’t you just love to run your fingers over that? A good night’s sleep would be absolutely guaranteed.

But it was the little linen purse, Tudor or Stuart era, embroidered with roses, carnations, and something that might just be a butterfly, in gilt, cream, red and yellow threads, that really drew my attention. I read the plaque, “Embroidered with silver-gilt and silk thread in tent, Gobelin and plaited braid stitches”. I love machine embroidery as much as the next hobbyist, but no sewing task brings me as much pleasure as separating a skein of embroidery floss,and working my own lazy daisies and split stiches on a remnant of linen or a soft pillowcase. And am I the last person in the western world who still carries an embellished square of embroidered batiste in her pocket, for drying her hands or face in a pinch?

Don’t get me wrong, the invention of the sewing machine was a Godsend, but sewing handwork is soothing, and feeling the thread running through my fingers, fulfills the creative urge like nothing else. 

That little purse gave me some great ideas for the bag I’m planning to make while I’m here. Wouldn’t those little stitched bom-bom bead-like things, (I wonder what they called those in Tudor Times) be a great addition to the bottom edge of MY bag?

I guess I should ALSO admit to all of you, (I’m pretty sure this is a girls-only blog readership, right?) that there was more than one reason I dallied in the lower section of the British Galleries  the V&A that day. FIRST, of course, was the inspiration for modern sewing projects found in antique fabrics and clothing. 

Another was my delight in studying historical instruments. It's not all clothes and pillowcases in the galleries and I haven't even gotten around to telling you how gorgeous some of those old babies are. You all know, already, how I feel about making my own music. The idea that women just like me once drew music from these beautifully ornamented keyboards, strings and pipes four or more centuries ago blows me away.  

And finally, Ok I admit it. There was a particularly fine looking fella cruising the same zone.

* * *

 To Be Continued