I just had my second visit to Revelation Space, a hackerspace in Den Haag, Netherlands, and this time — I took pictures. This place is seriously tidy and organized, and is full of slick automations. There’s so much inspiration I had to write it all down.
Next Saturday (27 Jan) NYC Resistor’s knitting guild, PKPTransistor, will be having our first annual Midwinter Yarn Swap. Cast off some of your old yarns, hook up with some new yarns, and get cozy with your fellow yarn hoarders!
Bring your stash to trade and share while enjoying good company, mulled apple cider, and hot choclety. We’ll put some Back to Back Challenge videos on the big screen and talk shop. Knitters, crocheters, spinners, dyers, if you do it with yarn we’d love to have you. And if you have ideas for stash-busting projects, bring them along.
January 27
2pm – 5pm
NYC Resistor
87 3rd Ave. in Brooklyn
Photos by Trammell Hudson, Sarah Nichols, Ahd Photography, Sherri Lynn Wood, and Eli Carrico
We have a box with two TI-83 Plus calculators, some scientific equipment, and a manual for how it all works together — all free to a good home. If you’re interested just come by on an open night and pick them up. Photos are in the link. Rules are you have to take the whole box and you have to pick it up on an open night (Monday or Thursday).
http://nycrdoomblog.tumblr.com/post/144157082035/heres-this-weeks-tour-de-force-a-whole-box
We also have tons of head-mounted magnifying glasses (HEAD MAGNIFIERS!) Pick up as many as you’d like on our open nights, but do it soon before someone just tosses them in the trash in frustration and then they’re gone.
Code Liberation is bringing 8-bit sound to NYCR with a workshop for women next Wednesday.
Who doesn’t love a vintage Atari soundtrack? In this workshop, we’ll teach you to do more than press buttons to this kind of sound, we’ll show you how to build it. We’ll dive into some of the techniques video game pioneers used to create sound. We will cover the basics of electronics and wave form generation using electronic current without a computer. By the time you leave, you’ll be well on your way to being a 8 bitshifter!
More details and tickets are here: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/8-bit-analog-synth-workshop-tickets-25233730768
We’re excited to announce that Code Liberation will be guest-hosting an intro class for women next Wednesday evening on programming button- and LED-based games. No programming experience? No problem. They’ll walk through setting up the hardware, connecting everything to your laptop, and coding a simple game to get you started.
Tickets here on eventbrite, more info below. Continue reading »
Have you been wanting to dip your toe into the world of programming but you’re not sure where to start? Need a gentle introduction that assumes no prior knowledge? I have a class for you.
This Saturday we’ll be teaching a class on programming NeoPixels with the Adafruit Flora microcontroller. I love programming things that blink because not only are you controlling something in the real world, but you can also instantly “see” what your code is doing. And NeoPixels are nice because there is no breadboarding. You just tie two components together with 3 wires, and off you go. You don’t even have to solder.
In the class on Saturday we will be teaching the basics of programming (what is a data type? how do loops work?, etc.) using several sample programs that you will learn to edit to change patterns. It’s a great way to get acquainted with what programming is like, and to learn some fundamentals. You can get tickets here.
And don’t worry, class will end before the World Cup begins, and you’re welcome to stay and watch the game on our big screen.
And if you do have experience programming, and would like to branch out into Arduino-based blinky things, we have a NeoPixel programming class for experienced coders on Sunday. Tickets are here.
Want to add blink to your wardrobe? Want to light up the night at Burning Man or the next NYC dance party? This intro class covers materials for illuminating your outfits. With a mixture of hands-on tutorials and demos we’ll teach you how to incorporate LEDs, NeoPixels, EL Wire, and fiber optic filament into your outfits.
This is an assembly-only class, no programming, but we will be providing some basic code to get you up and running. You are welcome to bring an outfit to add NeoPixels to, or we will provide a fabric swatch to practice on. Don’t forget your laptop! Get your tickets here.
Instructors for this class include team members responsible for our recent and on-going collaboration with the Brooklyn Ballet, adding blinky technology to the dancers’ costumes.
photo by William Ward
felting needles
felted balls and creature
Another way to felt is to wet and rub the fibers. We made some felted soaps this way. We started with glycerin soap, wet it and wrapped roving around it, and then moistened it again with hot water to press the fibers onto the soap. After this the soap was dropped into a plastic bag and rubbed until frothy and matted. Then we rinsed them, and left them to dry. The result is a decorative, scrubby soap. Designs are created by felting onto the roving before wrapping it around the soap. Surprisingly the wetting and rubbing procedure doesn’t distort the design.
felted soap
Felting can also be a creative way to repair clothes. One of our felters at the Make-Along brought a sweater with a hole in it, and felted on a flower on as a patch.
At our next Make-Along we’ll be working with paper. We’ll have patterns, ideas, and some supplies, but you can also bring your own projects and supplies. Here’s a little inspiration.
I’ve been wanting a sunrise lamp for a long time, but I’ve never found the perfect one. Having a free summer, and the knowledge that I would be starting my first full time job in many years in the fall motivated me to actually make something happen. I’m glad I had the whole summer because this project had several learning curves for me — it was my very first electronics project, my first chance to learn how to use a laser cutter, and my first foray back into programming in many years. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing more projects like this!
Read on for build instructions and links to code, patterns, and components.
Continue reading »