The transistor is hosting an Etsy Craft Party! Member Rachel Faul is organizing this event.
When: Thursday, June 20, 2013 6pm-10pm
Where: Orem Transistor
RSVP: http://oremcraftparty.eventbrite.com/ We need at least 25 RSVPs by May 30 if we want Etsy to send a free box of supplies for us to use at the party! Space is limited to 50 attendees, so respond early!
What will we make?
*wool dryer balls
*flower finger puppets
*fairy egg in a glass vial pendant
*recycled construction toys
Project details from Rachel:
The dryer balls will be more than just that; I’d like to show how to select wool thrift store sweaters for various making purposes, how to unravel them into yarn, how to turn some of the yarn into roving with cheap wire slicker brushes ($4.50 at the grocery store, rather than $25-50 for a wool carder), and how to use felted wool, wool yarn, and wool roving to make a sturdy dryer ball that won’t unravel. Hopefully people will come away with a thorough knowledge of how to recycle a wool sweater for lots of different uses.
I’ll have to pre-cut and pre-drill the wood for the construction toys, but I’ll explain how people can make their own wood parts, and how to cut the plastic hangers and notch them with a simple, inexpensive coping saw to make the beams for the toys. Plastic hangers are notoriously difficult to recycle because of the different kind of plastic in them; they can release harmful chemicals when they’re melted down to be reused, and they take a lot of energy to be melted. It’s much more efficient to recycle a broken plastic hanger with a small saw and some sandpaper to smooth the edges.
If not enough are interested in the homemade tinker toys or if drilling that many wooden parts is problematic, we’ll probably switch to painting sets of wooden blocks. In that case, I’ll show a few color palettes for wooden blocks that evoke different moods in kids. I’ll have acrylic paint at the craft party for simplicity, but we’ll still talk about other non acrylic options for coloring/sealing wood using natural materials – plant based dyes, waxes, and oils, and nontoxic bug secretions (shellac).
If enough people are interested in other project options, there are lots we could do. Some I’m considering offering (depending on interest) are:
bent wood rings
homemade ipad stylus
LED jewelry, possibly with a lemon juice flower battery (depending on interest and time)
sensory toys for autistic kids (and other kids with sensory challenges), especially those made from recycled wool, cashmere, linen, and silk – if anyone wants, we can discuss weighted toys for proprioceptive reinforcement, pocket calming items, communication books/cards, etc.
Who else here is ready for HotS? Grab your gear and head down!
Fire up your laptops, grab your Mt.Dews, and prepare your IDEs and Debuggers: we will now be hosting another Free, Public event every 2nd Thursday of the month from 7pm -10pm. This will be our new series in which you will Learn a New Programming Language each month.
Join us Saturday, February 9th, 2013 for a night of LAN gaming. Games start at 3pm and go until 8am Sunday morning.
Free Class: Adult Coloring (Kids Welcome)
Free Class: MAME: Software to Hardware
Due to “slowness” and issues beyond our control, we are temporarily merging our Darlington Chapter with our SLC Chapter. The current Darlington location will no longer be accessible to members.
Come learn things at the first ever Darlington public class. On saturday, the 15th at our midvale location. We will be starting at 7:00 pm. This will be be an intro class for basic soldering and arduino.
It’s time for another DC801 CTF! We’re doing something special this time: Thanks to Sobit and DC801, we’re bringing the CTF to Utah County.
Come down and learn the age-old DEFCON tradition of lockpicking. Presented by DC801. You are welcome to bring your pick sets and locks if you have them.
Was there a talk at Defcon that you may have missed because you were passed out in the HHV? It happens to the best of us. Well, this is the night you can make up for that. There has been a poll up on