Wow! Just wow! Craft Lake City was a hit. At first I was not sure if the community would appreciate what we brought to Craft Lake City. Would they be interested in 3D printing, robots and hobbyist electronics? Would they even bother coming into the building to see us? Well, the answer to those questions was a very amazing “yes”.
We answered so many questions on the day it made the time fly! People were amazed by the 3D printers. Luckily we had a lot of volunteers from MakeSLC helping us at the event. I think Tim Anderson and Daniel Mitchell got stuck talking about 3D printers all day, and they loved it. The 3D printers really got people thinking of the future possibilities. I had the pleasure of running the Vortex Cannon! Never have I seen so many kids and adults stop in their tracks to watch something. As soon as we fired it up a crowd would form. The kids could not get enough of firing the cannon. It was great to answer all the kids questions about it. I have no idea on exactly how many parents I told how to build it. That is where the real joy comes for me: I became a Maker and helped start MakeSLC to make sure kids had a chance to make and realize how things are made. That is what is great about Craft Lake City: Most everyone there is a maker of some sort or another.
James shows a few kids how the Vortex Cannon works. Photo by John Barkiple
There was so much fun to be had. I got to stop at a few booths and was amazed at the crafts I saw there. I wish I had time to hit them all. I guarantee there was something there for everyone. The entertainment was great, and the food was amazing. I wish the event would have run a few more days so I could have tried all the food.
One of MakeSLC’s 3d printers. Photo by Chad Kirkland
Nick Wilkerson operates Dan Mitchell’s optical sorter for marbles. Mitchell plans to use the sorter in conjunction with a 21×31 marble grid that would use marbles as pixels to display images. Photo: John Barkiple
After Craft Lake City, it did not end. The next week at our meeting at MakeSLC, we had a record turnout. Many people that we had met at Craft Lake City stopped by to say “HI”. By the way, you can find us on Facebook under “MakeSLC”, the people that came had great questions for us on our projects or were just wondering how to get started on a project of their own. But the best questions for me were the ones of how do I get my son or daughter started doing this. To say I am passionate about making is an understatement. We need more makers and crafters. They’re the future!
We need to do a shout out of thanks to Pete Ashdown and XMission who made the technology building happen. Also, thanks to everybody else who made this happen. So to sum it all up: Yes we will be there next year. Craft Lake City was simply AMAZING! What will we bring next year? You will just have to wait and see.
– James Howard
MakeSLC
http://craftlakecity.com/2012/exhibitors/make_slc
http://makeslc.com/
http://facebook.com/groups/Makeslc