Moving Sale: Complimentary Shipping

                 Hey guys, so Nash and I moving has given us both an excuse to clean up and sort through inventory. Certainly overdue. Most of the stuff we're keeping, but I do have a couple of things to list online for anyone in the area who needs it.

                The first is a Consew 124, you've probably seen it in tons of posts over the years as it's an all around work-horse designed for military applications for everything from silk, to uniforms, to leather work. Pretty much every instructable, sample, or piece I've made has come off this machine or it's sister. Please feel free to check out the photos on Craigslist. Nash can deliver it in the area. We have two or I'd probably keep it because I'm pretty much addicted to the machine due to how easy to fix it is. Something you might not appreciate when first starting out, but you will be grateful for a year in. In working order and has been serviced in the past year so you should be good for a while. It is available for $550.

           Next, spare design books. I have several design books that I have multiple copies of and am posting them for sale in the Etsy shop. Books on leather working, quilting, patternmaking, etc. These books are especially helpful as most of them include patterns (either full scale or 1/4) in oak tag or paper for easy use. One of the biggest stumbling blocks I find for new designers is sizing and scaling their drawings. Complimentary shipping on all books this month and most are $5.00-20.00!

       

Spring Show Artisan Guidelines

             Hey everyone, it's spring! It really is! And our group is getting ready for our semi-annual Arts and Crafts show. This season it will be in downtown Durham during the Spring Art Walk, April 13th  from 10 am- 5 pm. If you are member of the local group and interested in being in this year's show: go register here through March 21st.
           
We will be partnering this time with:

The Durham Store Front Project and
Cocoa Cinnamon at

420 W. Geer St.
Durham, NC 27701

to bring you some spring magic. Nash is standing in the lovely stone courtyard they are offering us for the day.

Each artist will get a table, chair, and table cloth for the event, plus paid advertising.

Set-up is at 9 am (All artists are expected to arrive by 9:15 at the latest) with the event starting at 10:00 am. Break down begins promptly at 5 pm and generally takes 30 minutes. 

We are so excited to be doing the Durham Art Walk this spring with everyone! We love Durham's strong artist vibe.
           
As a side note for artists who may not have done an arts and craft show before remember to bring:

Smile
Business Cards
Plenty of Product
Square/Cash Box to take Money
Bags or Gift Wrap for Customer Purchases
Clear Pricing (Each Item MUST be marked)
Bottled Water/Snacks

Nash and I will be offering vendors space coverage every 2-3 hrs. for 15 minutes so that you can do your own browsing, grab a bite of lunch to eat, or quick pop to the facilities.

Can't wait for another great show! Have a lovely day everyone! And a warm thanks to Jess for making all this possible. You rock!

Yawy: We Will Be At SparkCon!

                          I just heard back from SparkCon and we will be at the BazaarSpark September 13th-16th. Come see us then at the Triangle's large talent call for artists and designers. I can't wait to see you then.

                           This is one of my favorite events to go to as you can really feel the sheer joy and enthusiasm from the crowd. The musical talent is particularly over the top awesome!

                          Yeah! Now to get back to work sewing fun product for the show. :-) Can't wait to surprise everyone in a couple of weeks.

Spring Arts and Crafts Show

       Man, last night was a lot of fun. It was great to see the gang out and about. Raleigh is such a fun creative place to live. Thanks everyone who came out and look forward to seeing you at the holiday show at the Visual Art Exchange.

        We are collecting photos and posting them on facebook. Until then, have a great day.




Update: Melanie posted some amazing pictures on shutterfly if you want to go look! Yum.

Textile Friday: Feltronics

                  This past week was a fun new fair to me, Burlington Maker Faire. This comes before the big Maker Faire: North Carolina in a few months which we will be showing in. There was a lot stuff I loved in this nerdy adult science faire,  but my favorite was Feltronics which featured circuit boards made of felt and soldiered electronics which comes out of the Charlotte Hackerspace. This project won the Make magazine's hackerspace challenge this past year and features cool soft components that can be combined to teach elementary kids how to design circuits.
                   Can we say yum, yum yum? eTextiles is so much fun in my book and it's such a wide wild wild west at the moment that I'm enjoying seeing it evolve. Plus, there's something fun about seeing another local group come up with a cool idea and win awards from it. It's fun to route for the home team. If you want to make your own kit, you can check out their website. In general, they say that cost to make your own should run you under $100, mostly the arduino being the largest cost. Felt is pretty easy to cut out on a laser so I think that you can either do this by cutting out the templates and then gluing them together or you can also do this by hand. Needless to say, one of the better applications of felt I've seen in making a difference that actually makes sense to me.
                    I'm really looking forward to seeing what people bring this year to Maker Faire: North Carolina. Thanks everyone for a great time this past weekend. What a joy.

Flat Annual Membership Fee Starting in April

This spring I'm taking the lead from some of my other girl friends who run Etsy groups in other parts of the state. They have moved to charging a flat annual fee and having free meetings which is less paperwork for everyone involved. We are doing the same starting May 1st. The Acorn to Oak Handmade Team membership will be $20 starting in April and last 1 year. All events and weekly meetings will be free effective May 1st as long as you pay your dues. To apply simply click the paypal button and you will be charged a flat $20 fee to cover annual supplies, events, and a small administrative fee. We will start collecting memberships now, they will be due in April, and you will be late in May. If you are planning to participate in the kids summer camp, please click the family link at check-out so we know to contact you directly as summer gets closer. Participation in the camp is free at this time. You are welcome to support the group even if you are not in the area. We will be happy to add you to the mailing list for our monthly newsletter.  Pricing

Individual $20.00 USD Family $20.00 USD Friend $20.00 USD

Textile Friday: 3D Printer Class in March

        Today I am pleased to bring you a guest blogger, Rye Gewalt, who some of you may remember from the summer Hello Etsy Event. This past Saturday Rye and Luis hunkered down over a bunch of parts and built a fun 3D printer in a few hours from scratch that you can currently see by the front desk and will be available for members to try out during our weekly meetings this month. Like many fellow artists in the area, I have been interested in rapid prototyping for a while, but lacked the knowledge or engineer bent to work one of these wonders. Now...I am fixing that oversight in March. :-) Like a happy little kid in a candy store. I hope you get the chance to take advantage of this opportunity too.

   As some of you know, our March meetings are rather ambitious and these two guys wanted to go through and test the series to make sure everything worked. I am pleased to say the model was a smashing success and is sitting by the front door at Techshop RDU if you would like to check it out.

So who is Luis Freeman and why in the world is he teaching this event?

"Luis Freeman’s day job is at IBM where he is involved in engineering and supply management chains.   He has been building and designing 3D printers as a hobby since 2007 when hobby 3D printers were more a matter of conjecture than hands on reality. He has has built several dozen machines of increasing complexity and currently has six operational machines that will be used to make parts for the class machines..  His printers utilize proven techniques from the Mendel and Openscad technology. The photo below shows Luis with his Mendel Prusa based machine which is considered an ideal machine for beginners due to it desktop size and large 8” x 8” x 8” product capacity. It is easy for even less nimble fingers to work with putting parts together without being so clunky that smaller frames have difficulty putting it together.   

This class provides an opportunity to build your own fully functional turnkey 3D printer in a group environment with a the help of knowledgeable hands-on instructor and the collective experience of classmates with similar interests.  Reinventing the wheel is seldom fun, but figuring things out with friends can be quite rewarding.

Each student in the class will build their own fully functional machine, starting with assembling the Arduino based electronics and finishing with the final checkout and test of their full system.  The build process takes place during five classes spaced over a four week period starting on March 6^th  as detailed below.  

Week One (March 6th from 5-10 pm): You start with your basic kit and go over the basics. There are generally 50-200 separate parts that need to be soldered to your ardunio card as shown here such as stepper motors, capacitors, and hook-up connectors. This generally takes 2-3 hrs. depending on your prior experience soldering and doing electronics. No prior experience is necessary, but it is helpful if you have taken beginning soldering with Dr. Britton at Techshop RDU or have prior soldering experience.

Week Two (March 13th from 5-10 pm): You go to work on assembling the outside frame of the machine from wood. This part can be easy replicated with a 3D printer. Next you start filling in the gears and assembly that will house the extruder head and flat base you print on. You will use a combination of 3D printed parts and ball bearings. All the pieces have to come together cleanly and smoothly to function in real time. Extra steel wool will be provided for sanding and smoothing the parts.You will finish assembling the inside of the machine in the next class so focus on smoothing parts here is important.

Week Three (March 20th from 5-10 pm) Install and check all the parts you spend last week double-checking to create 2 platforms: 1 for the print head and the other for the print platform. You must check the that x and y axis move smoothly for when the extruder is finally installed. You will also practice printing parts on some extra printers Luis has on hand so you understand quality control when you need to replicate or replace parts on the machine. 

Week Four (March 27th from 5-10 pm and March 29th from 5-10 pm extra time for programming): On Tuesday you will finally install the extruder and wire all the parts you have been working on the past few weeks together. This includes wiring the printer cards, brackets, endstop brackets, and spool holder. You should be printing off your printer at this point. Thursday is available as time overflow in case you need to catch up. Luis will be going over using Openscad to do CAD design on your 3D printer and printing test parts. This time is for you to fine-tune and better understand how to use, fix, and work with your machine. This is what your Mendal Prusa will look like without the wooden frame around it. The wooden frame serves to stabilize the design and cause your pieces to printer with finer quality details." 

by Rye Dewalt

Happy Friday Everyone. I hope this post has been helpful about the next big leap forward in design innovation. And thank you Rye for all the photos and help. Neither of us could have done it without you.

If you have not already signed up, we have 2 slots left for the class on Skillshare: http://www.skillshare.com/How-to-Make-A-3D-Printer-Class-with-Louis-Freeman/1324082886

New Visitor: Mobile Convience Store

Need fuel to that late night art project? We had a lovely visitor over this past week, the new Mobil Mini-mart is coming to Roth complete with tasty snacks, chocolate, and deliciousness. You can check them out on facebook, twitter, or their webpage. Their website has a gps tracker so you can figure out exactly where it is down to the ft. I'm so excited to have this new tasty addition to our location and hope to have them drop by for some Tuesday night get togethers.

Plus, they carry miso soup along with the normal hot dogs, tacos, and snack food. A place after my own heart.

Check them out on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mobile-Mini-Mart/232470686814464

Can't wait to have them back again.

February Acorn to Oak Etsy Team Meet-ups

          Hey Everyone, so excited about the new space. This coming month we will be splitting our time between our normal Techshop RDU and our new expanded space team studio as we get ready for our 3D printing class in March. We will also have one class at the Durham Scrap Exchange on Feb 18th. I am so excited about this, great people one and all.
           I really think that 3D replication is where the industry is headed as a whole in the next 40 yrs. and Luis Freeman is coming for 4 weeks in March to teach us to build, replicate, and program 3D printers. 3D printers allow for rapid prototyping, especially of metal. Nash and I can't wait to make our own and we hope that some of our other fellow artists can do the same. I've wanted to be able to print my own custom buttons, zippers, and hardware for my clothing. WHICH is awesome! Ok, I'm getting sidetracked in my excitement.I'm just so happy about our cool classes this spring. Note, I have decided to not hold a meeting for Valentine's Week so everyone can have fun eating chocolate and being with people they love.


Locations: 

Acorn to Oak Handmade Etsy Team Studio
5825 Triangle Drive
Raleigh, NC 27617


Techshop RDU
5900 Triangle Drive
Raleigh, NC 27617


 Feb 7th from 7-10 pm: New Studio

7-8 pm Finishing Quilting from the Linus Foundation: Come finish our quilts for the Linus Foundation blanket day on Feb 25th. I have 5 quilts that have been sewn together and simply need to be hand sewn at 4 inch intervals to complete them. You can also bring back any quilts you finished to put in loft and backs. We will be hanging out in the lobby of our new space and putting them together over coffee and dessert.

8-10 pm Making Origami Jewelry for Valentines: This week we will be making jewelry from the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. There are two really good books that cover this topic that I like which you can get off Amazon (the book cover pictures come from there). The first is more traditional paper jewelry making by Ayako Brodek and the second is the popular metal silver clay origami which is folded and then fired in a kiln by Sarah Cole. They will run you $10-15 each and are great investments for people into paper crafting. I will have lots of paper and jewelry findings available which have been donated so you can make your loved one something special for Valentines. Paper jewelry is often sprayed with a lacquer finish to give it strength in regular wear.
Cost: Free and Open to the Public 
Register on Skillshare: http://www.skillshare.com/Origami-Jewelry-Making-Class-for-Valentines/1009706890 

Feb 18th: Sock Monkey Making Class- Durham Scrap Exchange

For anyone who enjoyed out sock monkey making class in the fall, we will be having it again at the Durham Scrap Exchange this spring. You can check it out on their website here: http://www.scrapexchange.org/programs/classes.htm. Use EventBrite to register. There is a $10 cost which goes directly to support this wonderful institution.

Feb  21st from 7-10 pm: Techshop RDU Conference

7-8 pm: Clark Whittington with Artomat: I am really excited about this partnership with established graphic artist and designer out of Winston-Salem. He does vending art all around the country that allows local artists to reach people in everyday venues. Clark is a lot of fun and I hope this will help our artists gain more exposure in the marketplace. With over 700 artists, I feel we need to work on growing sales as a group. You can listen to him on youtube. I love this quirky fun concept and can't wait to part of it. Starting in April, 1 meeting a month will be for making art to feature in his machines. Hopefully this will help the group in many ways and be a great partnership for everyone.

8-10 pm: Using Bamboo As A Natural Wood to make Beer Mugs: Tonight we will be using the rotary turner on the laser to show people how to make cool, one of a kind products from naturally grown local bamboo donated by Mike Shaperio. Thank you Mike! Everyone is welcome to bring a design or lineart to put on their own bamboo pieces. We will also discuss other things you can make with bamboo such as rain sticks, planters, audio sound systems, vases, planters, etc. There is lots of bamboo that has been cut so please feel free to come and take some. All left-over bamboo will be available through the 28th for artists to come and get as much as you want. I can't wait to see what everyone makes.

Cost: Free and Open to the Public
Register on Skillshare: http://www.skillshare.com/Bamboo-Beermaking-Glasses/1954327458

Textile Friday: The Race For Convertible Footwear

              I love shoes. I mean REALLY love shoes. I've made some, probably will make more, but won't claim to be an expert. There's a lot that standard, and a lot that's open to interpretation and personal style. One of the quiet revolutions that people are fighting for in this down market since Sheila's Heels in 2005 (some would argue earlier) is convertible 2-in-1 (or more) shoes that can function as multiple looks or most popularly as both heels and flats. Ironically this trend came out of the car insurance industry to improve female driving behind the wheel. Go figure. There are a number of companies failing at this concept and 2 that I think are doing a great job out of Chicago and Germany.
              The latest failure is made by Night2Day which features 5 different heel heights for office to work. This is one of several companies that has tried to launch this idea in the last 2-3 years and while the funding levels vary, I remain skeptical of the viability of the overall project. Every woman loves the idea of being able to switch in and out of those killing high arches at will. The major problem I see at this point is referred to as the 1/2 inch rule that most actual cobblers use. This states that for every 1 inch of heel height a woman increases her foot, there is a corresponding 1/2 shrink in the foot sole print. That's why many women drop shoe sizes as the heel height increases, you need a snugger fit or the shoe will fall off. You'll also see your foot literally come out of the shoe if you do not have strap on top. I have yet to see any major shoe company peddling the flat'n'heels idea address this specific problem that a shoe sole needs to shrink with heel height to some extent to remain comfortable. Until that I will be passing up buying a pair for $150 on their website: http://www.convertible-heels.com/Day2Night.html. No offense to the lovely ladies involved.
              In case you think I'm doom in gloom here, there are several other companies that have successfully bridged the gap of offering multiple shoes for 1 price. Their success is awesome and worth talking about as they've taken unusual solutions and should be rewarded in my mind for their creativity, beauty, and inventiveness. It's also a testament to their hard work in the face of a graveyard of companies who have not been able to do what these handful have accomplished. Their prices are reasonable and often affordable for a fashionista.
              My first favorite is the local US company, Mohop. They're an amazing Chicago company that makes convertible sandals using CNC and computer modeling technology! I really can not say enough good things about this company. I love companies that are using their brains to make a difference. They use sustainable local woods to create bases that can be custom finished with bands of fabric woven into different patterns and colors across the foot. Best of all, when you get tired of one look, a few pulls or new fabric and voila...a new you is born. Check-out the youtube video for further drool factor. Yum, yum, yum....These average between $70-170 range with new colored strings and accessories being $3-10. A totally affordable, ecofriendly shoe! If I only had enough money to buy 1 pair of shoes this year...these would be it!

               The second major company is more urban hip hop than my taste (read great brand, but a little too young for me in my opinion). It's a Munich company called Nat-2 and they're currently winning a bunch of awards. Their product is fairly easy to understand in which they use zippers to allow you to attach different uppers to your shoe sole. You have probably already seen them in several popular movies such as Transformers, etc. Their current 4-in-1 shoe is my favorite.They're a little pricey, but not over the top. Check out their website. The Nat-2 is more versatile, but more prone to failure as zipper teeth fail more easily than static loops do.

                I could easily mention a couple other shoe companies that are riffing on this idea of the year, but I won't because I have yet to see any of them indicate they're actually going to be successful vs. these 2 are worth investing in. You're seeing a lot of this 1 object/ multiple ways to wear it this year and it's a lovely trend despite it's limitations. A great way to stretch your dollars further in this recovering economy. Donna Karen did an awesome little black dress of this for her Christmas 2011 Collection and it's simply amazing. We'll also discuss the 6 inch rule next Fri which is why objects like this despite their popularity during down economies often do not have staying power as the overall economy recovers. Mostly, it gets down to fit.
               
            

Jan 17th: Models'n'Lace

Can't wait to see everyone for the tomorrow night Quilting Bee. Now, let's look towards next week when we will be spending our time flashing smiles at models and making super pretty lace! This event is free and open to the public!

As always we will be meeting at:

The Conference Room at Techshop RDU
5905 Triangle Drive
Raleigh, NC 27617
(919) 782-2344

Call if you get lost, we can't wait to see you.

7-8 pm Working with Models It's Allegra and Katie time this week as we get to spend an hour working with these lovely ladies on photography shots. I hope that this will allow everyone the chance to work on their photos and lighting. You are welcome to bring your own camera or us one of ours, I will be uploading all the photos afterwards for anyone who does not have ready access to a camera. I really hope that everyone has fun and gets to learn a lot.

If you would like to book them for more work, their going rates are $100/ half day and $200/full day. Pick up their cards and feel free to check out some local model talent.

8-10 pm Beginning Lace-making

Tues night we're celebrating North Carolina's lace-making history. For those of you who aren't aware, North Carolina had a number of famous lace factories until the 1970s when they were shut down to move overseas. Many of the factories have since reopened in the 1990s only instead of making lace for ladies to wear, they are being used by the health care industry in research to knit living tissue together. It's a little wild to think that your new artery or skin might come from one of these vintage machines. Today we will be paying homage to that with a little traditional lace-making 101. This is still popular in Europe as way to make a living, especially if you like crocheting or knitting. Please wear comfortable clothes you can get dirty as stuffing lace pillow bases with saw dust can get on clothing. Everyone should get a free pillow to take home to make more of their own lace after this event.

Lace making traditionally occurs on a pillow that has been stuffed with saw dust, shavings, or straw to provide a firm base. Richard from Triangle Outdoor Furniture is providing the dust for this event. The pillow is filled with at least 2 inches of wood shavings, then sewn or stapled shut. The most common form used is round as it allows for more mistakes.

Next the needles or bobbins are threaded and the paper pattern is laid out on the pillow. You begin filling in the pattern with 3 basic stitches that are alternated and pinned as you go to fill in the designs. We will have free downloaded designs on Italian Lace from the University of Arizona's public library at the meetings. You can visit the website here: http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/ng1_lace.pdf to get an idea of available patterns.

When you get done, take the lace off the pillow and voila. You are ready to decorate your own outfit or give as a unique Valentine's Gift. Have a great week everyone and can't wait to have you drop in.

New Year, New Fun

Welcome back from the holidays, we are happy to be starting a new year. We will be continuing our textile Fridays and working to start a Acorn to Oak Handmade Posts on Mondays to invite you to come to the upcoming event on the following Tuesday nights. This hopefully will give everyone time to make plans, blog, and invite friends. In addition, we will be finishing up our 30 days of design for the winter and starting on spring. I hope that you will enjoy the concepts before you and look forward to seeing where everything leads.

Day Eleven: Free Jewelry Making Kit Listia

Today we're winding down the last of Listia Give-A-Ways. You can find our beginning jewelry making kit by the front desk of Techshop which Katie is modeling for us. It has a variety of items in it including:

1. Glass Oven Bake Pens/Paint
2. Needles
3. Twine
4. Seashells
5. Feathers
6. Beads

Most items are unopened in orginal packaging. We are still accepting donations, but after doing a number of these, I've found the shipping is more than the item is worth. We will go back to offering the supplies for free at our meet-ups. Did I mention how much I love our Etsy Group? Thanks guys. You are the best.

Day Ten: Seige Warfare

This week it's war in our neck of the woods with the Avalon Reenactments coming to town. Techshop is getting involved building small and large scale trebuchets. Trebuchets are an ancient launching device that armies used to target cities under attack. Pretty cool. This means that Nash has basically died and gone to heaven. Actually, most of the guys in the studios have. So where you may ask does fabric come into this? It's easy to see the wood and metal, but what a lot of people miss is the fact that the slingshot mechanism is made of rope and a fabric cup. Yes, fabric is everywhere around you. When you can cut your own desktop trebuchet in a few minutes on the laser cutter, or a larger seige size in a few hours (car drums are popular counterweights), you get a lot of fun fielding requests for how to make the fabric cups to place the projectiles in. The laser program is available saved on the epilog upstairs, or if you are doing a larger scale model, the measurements are 12 inches by 6 inches as follows to make a huge polygon on a larger standing model.

Simply place a hole in each end and sew the sides. We will be field-testing each division this coming weekend for the open house. I will be competing in the small division, Nash in the large. Good luck everyone who is putting theirs together this week. If you have any questions, you can find Nash at Techshop. Oh, and I will be launching flaming fire projectiles from mine so fair warning to the opposing team :-).

This is great week for mayhem.

Day Nine: Free Skirt Making Kit on Listia

This is our second free fabric drawing on Listia this fall for a basic skirt sewing kit. Skirts, aprons, and pillows are the staple of beginning seamstresses as they allow you to flex your sewing muscles and can normally be completed quickly so you don't get bogged down in the process. The kit includes pattern, materials, and fabric to make it. I picked a lovely heavy-weight red double-knit jersey fabric so the finished skirt will be both warm and functional. You can bid anytime this week on Listia. This item ships free in the US. Happy Holidays from all of us at Li Sashay.

Day Eight: Battle Signs

Today we're kicking back and getting ready for the local Avalon campaign. It's fun to create the unexpected and guys are all about tribes. A group of guys getting together to play paintball, outdoor soccer, SCA reenactments, and other event is something intrinsically masculine. I honestly believe that if you leave 4 guys in a room with nothing to do, they'll invent a new game, sport, or activity in roughly 15 minutes. This is a wonderful, fun thing.

The second thing you need is a sign, an emblem to hoist in the air as a battle cry and this is where we come in. We have 2 types of textile signs we do. The first type is today's show which is an athletic or military sign. These are primarily for outdoor sporting events, naval, or military reenactments. They feature a fabric sign with an applique that is finished with embroidery. The signs are weighted, machine washable, can be left outside and hold up to mountains of abuse.
Teams often purchase matching iron-on labels which can be put on arm bands, belts, hats, or other clothing. Overall very cool. Check it out and we look forward to showing you the other type of sign we make.

Etsy October Recap

Holding Part up for inspection, a photo by Li Sashay on Flickr.

Just got the pictures from the Car Restoration meeting back. I am putting them up on flickr. Thanks everyone who came. It was so much fun to have you. And a big thanks for John and all his hard work. Everyone loved their starburst medallions.

Day Six: Free Quilting Kit On Listia

This week I'm listing the first of a new series of kits for our 2012 Etsy Meetings. This one is for a free intermediate quilting kit on Listia. It will be available until Weds next week for our Jan 10th meeting. I'm not an expert quilter by any means, but there's some great tools on the market to save you weeks of time cutting and sewing.
It's wonderful to use on left-over clothing or old linens. And the added speed makes it possible to do some of the more complicated styles like Amish Quilts. I love making interesting projects like this that create one of a kind works of art.
If you've ever heard Alabama Chanin talking about heirloom creations, quilts in my mind are a personal private one of a kind work of art. I will post more details on the meeting as it gets closer, but for now enjoy bidding on a kit for you to learn this week.

Have a great day. Look forward to tomorrow.

Day Five: Under $100 Open-Source Arduino Moving Projection Instructions

Today, we're venturing into the world of open-sourced prototyping. While a lot of what we do at Li Sashay is commercial, a good bit of it is also whimsical and fun. This is one example.
Jeff dropped by one evening asking me what I knew about sewing. One of those down the rabbit hole questions that is always promising. A few days and I had his prototype in my studio. Jeff is busy designing an open-source Arduino driven moving projector screen.
This is a really brilliant design and incredibly simple. I won't speak to the electronics (You can check out his blog for exact details and open source code), but you create a basic projection screen from blackout-fabric ($30) at any Jo-Anns. Use a basic straight curtain rod curtain design. At the top you attach straps at 8-12 inch ($2 for a yard) intervals that wrap around a hollow pole, I've seen plastic hollow tubing used ($10 Lowes). You then attach a controller to the entire curtain and for under $100 depending on where you source your parts. If you scrounge the board and motor, you can do this for closer to $50.
Voila, a moving projection screen that rolls up and down at your command. Now all it needs to do is Tweet.

Well, that's all for today folks. Have a great day. Check in tomorrow for more free ideas.

Textile Friday: Listia

This week I'm having fun starting to raffle off the left-over art supplies from the Hello Etsy Event we had last month on Listia. Hopefully this will allow you to pick up items or craft ideas that appeal to you. The entire system is cashless and everything ships for free afterwards so I hope that everyone can pick up something they like without breaking the bank over the next few months. An early Christmas present from us to you. A new item or two will be listed every week. I will try to mail out the kits complete with enough fabric or supplies to actually correctly make them. Perhaps we'll see some cool photos in a few months from our fellow artists of their creations.

Raffle List:

This Week: Sock Monkey Kit
Next Week: 23 Skeins of Yarn, Scrapbooking inserts

First Week of November: Complete Quilting Kit
Second Week of November: Charcoal sticks and paper
Third Week of November: Skirt Pattern, Zippers, Fabric, Buttons, Thread, and Needle
Fourth Week of November: Beginner Jewelry Kit

Happy Friday!