I am SO EXCITED that the Maker Faire is back in Austin this year, this time in Mini form. It will be held at the Pine Street Station (home of the Hope Farmers Market). I will be there with my Make Your Own Soap Booth along with 65 other makers. R2-D2 will be there! How exciting is that?
Here’s a repost of a blog I wrote recently  about how Maker Faire changed my life.
Maker Faire is an event that is near & dear to my heart. I have been a Maker since it came to Austin in 2007. I think my writer friend Carly mentioned it would be something I could be interested in doing. Not knowing much about the event other than it was run in part with Make: and Craft: magazine, I submitted my proposal for an idea that I had never tried to do before: bring all the things you need to make a bar of soap to an event and let people create right at the booth! I was accepted, so I packed up my Honda Civic full of soap molds, fragrances, colorants, toys, honey & glitter, drove from Houston to Austin and invited people to make soap with me, and they did! I haven’t stopped teaching people how to make soap since! Thank you Maker Faire for giving me this opportunity to spread the joy of creating with a wider audience. I have since quit my “day job” of fixing computers and now make and teach soapmaking to people of all ages full-time. Maker Faire Austin also showed me that Austin has a vibrant and creative community, and inspired me to move to Austin from Houston, which I did in 2009. This is the short story, of course. For the long version come visit me at the Austin Mini Maker Faire on Saturday and I’ll tell it to you myself.
Austin Mini Maker Faire is brought to you by Kami Wilt and Austin Tinkering School. Kami attended the Austin Maker Faire in 2008 and had a life-altering experience there, where she realized that makers and making were central to her existence. Shortly thereafter, she founded Austin Tinkering School, inspired and encouraged by the flagship Tinkering School in San Francisco, which is a place where kids (and adults!) use real tools and real materials to build the things that they think of. After waiting and waiting (and waiting!) for Maker Faire to come back to Austin, she woke up one day last fall realizing that someone had to step up to the plate to bring Maker Faire back to Austin. And it might as well be herself, Austin Tinkering School, and the wily band of tinkerers that call Austin their homeland. Because there’s just far too many makers in Austin not to have a maker faire…!
Many attendees and Makers have similar stories about how Maker Faire has affected their lives. What’s yours? If you haven’t had a life-altering event because of Maker Faire, it’s not too late! Join us on Saturday! I hope you come and leave inspired to make things!