Hello. Yesterday we were at the Maker Faire in Newcastle showing some of the things made at the Makers and Hackers workshops we organised (with tinker.it) in London and Sheffield. It was a super day, with some excellent ideas and fun things to play with. It’s cemented in our minds that the ‘edges’ of craft, like craftzine are something worth exploring as they provide a vision not only of things to come but are a way into showcasing craft to a wider audience who might not otherwise be interested. We had so many kids and adults (and BBC News and other media organisations) yesterday fascinated by what we’d made and wanting to know more, it was great to experience and a real eye opener. Hopefully we’ll be able to organise similar events soon.

You can see our photos from the Maker Faire yesterday here. And a whole load more here.

If you’re heading up to go the Faire today be sure to say hello to Rob (from Folksy) and Alex (from tinker.it).

Oh, and Becky and Jim and some of those working on the Dancing Spatz idea which went down a storm at their demo yesterday have created a website of their ‘product’. Hilarious. I’ve more videos of this which I’ll put up soon, hopefully before the idea goes into mass production and goes stellar!

image by:bekathwia

We’ve long been fans of the sort of stuff that you see in Make and Craft, the stuff that’s a bit whacky, a bit bonkers and all the more interesting because of it. Well we’re hoping for the same sort of playfulness with our new project, Makers and Hackers.

Makers and Hackers is a competition organised by Folksy and Tinker.it (who do lots of electronics workshops and are generally pretty smart and interesting folk) and sponsored by Maker Faire.

The Competition

Check out the site for more info, but in brief:

• You have to make something using an arduino or electronics and craft stuff (wool, wood, metal, cotton, felt, wax, whatever!).
• Entries need to be around the theme of Household Items of the Future! Look around your house for inspiration :)
• Work something up yourself or at one of the Make days in London or Sheffield on the 28th February which you can reserve a place at here. We’ll be putting on food and drink and help with materials and electronics (but you need to bring with you what you think you need to make your thing)
• On the day we’ll announce winners chosen by a panel of of crafty geeks. Four items will win a prize of
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