Category Archives: Art

Lady Ada Lovelace Day 2016

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MFNY 2016

This year for Lady Ada Lovelace Day, I want to celebrate the many women who shared their projects at Maker Faire New York.

I was thrilled to see the Touch Creature sculpture above by Talya Stein, especially after having seen an earlier version. She and I talked about the approachability of organic materials like wood. It was wonderful to see kids interacting with it.

I had a great conversation with Blythe Serrano, who I had met at a previous Maker Faire, about the material properties she has learned this year from experimenting with silicone casting. She makes light up pet collars, and generously shares her learning processes.

MFNY 2016

I loved this spatial magnetic field visualization by Inhye Lee. The three tubes in the center contain individually controllable electromagnets. The  compasses spin in their spheres in response to the changing magnetic fields.

There are so many more I had the pleasure of connecting with and catching up with, including Becky Stern, Sophi Kravitz, Star Simpson, and Sally Byers. I love Maker Faire for the opportunity to bask in the glow (LED glow in some cases) of so many incredible women.

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Drawing with light and AxiDraw

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The folks at myDesignLab made long exposure RGB LED drawings using AxiDraw, even going so far as to make multi layer three dimensional drawings.

Lindsay Wilson used a laser in a similar manner, first with long exposure photos, then with a UV laser and phosphorescent vinyl and then with a UV laser and cyanotype paper. The cyano print shown above is an example of his experiments drawing Lorentz attractor patterns.

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WaterColorBot & fabric markers

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Quilted bag with geometric patterns drawn by WaterColorBot

Laurel Pollard posted a quilted book bag she made using WaterColorBot with fabric markers to draw designs made using Beetleblocks. Her technique:

iron freezer paper to back of fabric to stablize, tape down. Use Sharpie ‘Stained’ fabric markers.

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AxiDraw in the Wild

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We’re excited to see so many people sharing what they are doing with the AxiDraw. Here are a few examples we’ve found in places like twitter and instagram.

We’re going back to pen and paper with our logo, with a little help from the EvilMadScientist #Axidraw. A video posted by Spies & Assassins (@spiesassassins) on

Spies & Assassins have been trying out different writing implements.

NO/R has been trying materials like leather (above) and canvas.

#envelope #casualcalligraphy #axidraw #wedding #invitation #jimandpamforever A photo posted by Bonnie Kingdon (@penandletter) on

Bonnie Kingdon posted this elegantly addressed envelope.

this #axidraw and #sharpie #tinfoil print was first designed by Aldus Manutius in 1499!

A photo posted by adam sontag (@ajpiano_official) on

Adam Sontag posted several marker drawings on foil.

Moritz Stefaner discovered StippleGen, our stippling program.

Box with creature drawn on it using AxiDraw

Miki is using AxiDraw to create custom packaging.

Keep all these great pictures and videos coming! We always enjoy seeing the creative ways people use our tools.

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Winners of the 2016 Adafruit Dronies

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The winners of the 2016 Adafruit Dronies have been announced! A couple of my favorites, like Droneboy above, made it to the top, and the entries ranged from funny to dizzying to beautiful. Head over and check out the winners– the videos provide an interesting example set of how drones are being used as a creative filmmaking tool. Thank you to all of the entries. It was an honor to help judge!

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Nixin: a font inspired by Nixie Tubes

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Nixin is a font being kickstarted by Nelio Barros inspired by our Nixie tube take-apart post.

Simply put, the original nixie tubes are beautiful and retro. They bring us the spirit of an era where technology often looked like magic.

Nixin is based on the original 9 numbers that are exactly the same as can be found inside the nixie tubes, and all the other characters are my interpretation to what they would look like, if they existed inside a tube.

Here’s one of our photos he used in the video to talk about the inspiration behind the font:

Just numbers

The campaign ends in a few days, so act quickly to support the project!

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National Week of Making: WaterColorBot in the Tinkering Studio

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watercolorbot collage

This week for the National Week of Making, the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium is celebrating with a WaterColorBot and Beetleblocks workshop.

WaterColorBot always brings unexpectedness and whimsicality to your design. Here, getting the outcome does not become the end of your project. You feel you want to try more. Whether it is revising the code, tweaking the WaterColorBot setting, or replacing the brush, you are making a small but important adjustment for you. You find yourself in an eternal loop of iteration!

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The Adafruit Dronies

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I’m pleased to announce that I’m on the judging panel for the new Adafruit Drone Film Fest, the Adafruit Dronies 2016.

The Adafruit Dronies celebrates videos taken from drones. The contest is open to everyone in the United States to show and share their amazing drone videos. You’ll be judged on creative use of technology, storytelling, and cinematography.

Entries are limited to five minutes and winners receive trophies as well as gift certificates to the Adafruit store. The lineup of judges is amazing, and  we’re looking forward to seeing your entries!

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