i3 Detroit

Offical Maker Faire After Party!

Well here we are finally! The weekend we have all been working towards for weeks and months. i3 Detroit is proud to announce that we are holding the official after party for Maker Faire Detroit 2010. We have a lot of friends in town from other hackerspaces across Canada and the US so what better way to celebrate Maker Faire and all of us being in Detroit together than to throw a party. We would like to invite you and all of your friends to come out to i3 Detroit this Saturday July 31st 2010 to i3 Detroit for drinks, snacks, live DJ and great company.

Make sure you come prepared for great conversation and people!

Where: i3 Detroit – 1481 Wordsworth Ferndale, MI 48220

When: Saturday, July 31st 10PM-3AM

Free|21+|Live DJ| Great Company

Weekend update: Maker Faire is coming, Maker Faire is coming!

Been too busy for blog posting…

This weekend will be busy too, with Maker Faire prep pretty much dominating the schedule. On Sunday, the Michigan RepRap group will be meeting in our shop to do their Maker Faire planning.

Guests are welcome, of course. Check the Twitter feed to make sure we’re open, or just swing by.

Also, take a gander at some of last weekend’s fire-breathing absurdity.

i3Detroit gets Red Rolled!

Red Green visits i3 Detroit tomorrow.   Everyone is welcome to come at 11:00 AM to meet Red Green in person and his 16ft statue!

Here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come!

Never gonna Red you up,

Never gonna Red you down

Never gonna run around and desert you…

Red Rolled! from I3 Detroit on Vimeo.

Last day for Maker Faire Detroit advance ticket sales — save $6!

If you didn’t submit an exhibit for Maker Faire, you’ll have to pay to get in — but you can pay less, by doing it in advance. Today’s the last day for advance ticket sales, so if  like me you’re cheap and lazy, it’s time to embrace one virtue and nix the other vice.

At-the-door admission is $3 more for single-day passes, or $6 more for the two-day version. Imagine what you’ll do with all the money you save…

Mos I3 (hacker)spaceport

While I’m not aware of any scum and villainy last night (though the duct tape residue was a bit scummy) our space was certainly a hive of activity.

Mike and his band of budding directors were training hard in the back of our shop last night, experimenting with lighting, sound, and camera work.  Ed was busy taking strange noises to a science with his PVC pipe based feedback instrument, or as I prefer to call it, “A Series of Tubas”.  For the record, it sounds nothing like a tuba, but never let the facts get in the way of a bad pun I say!

Ted was hard at work being a model for today’s blog post image and when he wasn’t fixing his hair for his closeup, he was hard at work welding up some pretty massive improvements to our power wheels frame.

Finally, the Red Green statue is in the home stretch with all of the tartan panels complete and ready for mounting.  A big thanks to Dan and Seth for pitching in to make sure that got done tonight.  Meanwhile, while that was happening, Nick was hard at work turning Red’s head from a loosely connected bundle of sticks into a really cool looking final design for the statue.  I won’t spoil how it looks for our readers, you’ll just have to show up Saturday to see the finished product!  Drop by the space around 11AM to meet the man himself, or if you want to sleep in a few hours, he and his oversized duct-tape doppelganger will make an appearance at the Ace Hardware in Clarkston at 2PM.

Lets put some clothes on Red

On this bright Sunday morning we will knock out stage two of the “Lets put some clothes on our GIANT Red Green monument”.
So far pants, shoes, undies, and a belt have been dressed on our GIANT.

Starting early at 9am members leading the build will be at the space to help with the dressing of the Red Green Giant.  Using seven foot sheets of Tyvek, duct tape will be layered to make up the tartan pattern that is seen on the common flannel shirt Red is seen wearing.

So if you’re just waking up checking your RSS feeds, head on over to the space and lend a hand.   We’ll be here most of the day.

Red Green Build Update: Tartan Test

The Red Green build continues to make forward progress.  Tuesday we brainstormed the shirt and decided we need to use a very specific tartan for the flannel shirt.  Bonus points for all who can identify.  To the left is our test pattern.

This is all duct tape and backed by a cool material called Tyvek.  We are actually going to build a giant shirt for our giant to wear out of duct tape.

Keep checking the blog for more progress.  We will be working on the statue on Saturday and Sunday.  Please stop by to help.  Members and non-members alike are welcome.  Some back of the napkin math says we need 128 squares like this to the left.  Hope to see everyone there.

Meeting Tonight & More Red Green Statue Building

It must be a 1st or 3rd Tuesday of the month because it is i3 meeting time.  If you have never visited the space, this is a perfect time to meet its members and learn about the interworkings.  It would also be a great time to join and get your 24/7 key card.

After the meeting, we will be working on our giant Red Green Duct Tape Statue as seen in this pic.  That section is 8 feet tall and the top section has a host of woodamatronics (wood + animatronics – electronics).  All are welcome to help staple chicken wire and wrap duct tape.  Way more fun that sitting at home watching TV (I think NCIS is a rerun anyway).

We are also here to help on your Maker Faire projects too.

Details:
Time: 7pm
Location 1481 Wordsworth, Ferndale, MI 48220

BBQ done, up next: Red Green build!

Saturday’s last-minute barbecue got quite a turnout — some fingertip tallying came up with 16 members and 25 28 guests over the course of the afternoon. For roughly 45 hours’ advance notice, I’ll call that a success! Thanks to all who dropped in, double thanks to those who brought food or drink, and triple thanks to those who helped clean up.

Sunday’s activities are considerably more functional: Advancing (perhaps finishing?) the giant duct-tape statue of Red Green being constructed in the shop. Nick says he’ll be here roughly 10am until “late”.  All are welcome to help, so if you have latent artistic talent in the medium of adhesive tape, or just need something to do for a few hours, swing by, won’t you?

To give you a sense of scale here, the photo at left was taken from Red’s shoulder. When finished, he’ll be too tall to stand up in the shop!

Barbecue, Saturday July 3, 4pm

There’s this pile of hotdogs and buns in the freezer, just itching to be eaten! Come help? BYO food is quite alright, too. What more is there to say? Come one, come all, members and non, friends and family…

1481 Wordsworth, Ferndale, MI