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The week prior to Easter Sunday was an event held at Makerspace 125 known as Member Week. The STEM center was opened to the general public in an effort to get more members to join the makerspace, which had recently converted into a member-owned cooperative. While I was there a couple of nights that week, I only took pictures on Thursday, April 13, 2017, when there was a demonstration of the various electronics that the makerspace hopes to run workshops on in the future, including open source devices like Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
The decoration of the outside of Makerspace 125 was well underway that night but it was still a work in progress when I took these pictures.
Here is the electronics demonstration itself.
Member Week at Makerspace 125 ended with the 2017 Greenbelt Maker Festival, which was held on the day before Easter Sunday.
Robot Diavolino
Mixed media (Diavolino electronic board, polymer clay, beads, enamel paint, hand-shaped charms, acrylic gel, plastic skulls, scrapbook paper, and tin on canvas)
5 inches x 7 inches
13 cm x 18 cm
This art piece came from a failed project. Last year I had taken classes in Arduino and soldering through a local STEM group. Soon afterwards I went to the Micro Center in Rockville where I found this Arduino-compatible board called a Diavolino. This board has really cool black and red graphics that includes flames (which is an appropriate design for a board that takes its name from the Italian word for “Little Devil”) and, at the $12 retail price, is far cheaper than the $30 Arduino.
But there’s a catch. The owner must assemble the Diavolino using a soldering iron. Having taken a soldering class, I felt confident enough to buy the Diavolino. I felt further confident when I downloaded the assembly instructions from the Internet and I found that they were incredibly easy to follow.
So I followed the instructions and soldered the board. Sounded perfect right? Well, no. The Diavolino turned out to be useless because I used too much soldering material. One of my technical friends said that I was supposed to use a small amount of soldering material but I had used whole globs so the back of the Diavolino resembled a moonscape.
At that point my only option was to put the Diavolino in the recycling bin. But I was very reluctant because I really loved the cool graphics and color scheme on the board. Then I came up with another idea.
I went to the local hardware store and bought some small tin pieces then I went to the local arts and crafts store where I purchased a blank canvas, scrapbooking paper, polymer clay, and enamel paint. Since I was shopping last summer, I saw that the store had already gotten a shipment of Halloween items and I found a small mesh bag that had plastic skulls in it.
So using my newly purchased items and other various arts and crafts materials I managed to scrounge around the house, I created a new work of art. Not only is it a mixed-media piece but it also has a dimensional effect that makes it look like a relief.
I basically was inspired by both the name, the graphic design, and the electronics to answer this question no one had ever asked: What would hell be like if the devil was not an organic demon but was actually a demon-shaped robot?
I entered Robot Diavolino in the 2013 Greenbelt Labor Day Festival Art Show and I found that I won a Second Place ribbon in the Mixed-Media Category. I was so proud that I took a smartphone photo at the time.
For many months I’ve heard via Facebook and other websites about something called a Maker Faire where all sorts of cool DIY stuff is demonstrated. I envied cities like New York City and San Francisco for hosting large Maker Faires and I found myself wishing I could check those events out but I couldn’t due to tight finances.
But then I saw a notice in The Washington Post about a Mini Maker Faire that would be held for one day in Silver Spring so I decided to go for it since it was a fairly short drive from my home and it was free admission. The Silver Spring Mini Maker Faire billed itself as the first official Maker Faire in the DC area and, given the huge response to this, I’m sure there will be more events like this in the future.
For those who have never been to a Maker Faire, here is a brief description of what it was like. The Silver Spring Mini Maker Faire had agencies from the local universities, the federal government, and government contractors provide demonstrations of the latest in high technology like computers and robots. For those who aren’t hi-tech geeks, there were plenty of craft demonstrations of things like making your own wool felt and weaving strands of LED lights in clothes. There was even a cooking demonstration. Basically it was an event that had something for everyone no matter what your personal interests are.
The day was warm, but not too hot, with low humidity so it was the perfect day for an event like that. It was very crowded though. I wasn’t able to try any of the hands-on exhibits because of the throngs of eager kids who pushed their way to the front of the tables and were grabbing things to try. I only stayed an hour because it was very crowded. But it was a pretty good event nonetheless even if I saw some demonstrations given by both NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab that all reminded me of my ex-husband. (He works at NASA and a few years ago he made an ill-fated attempt at getting a Ph.D. through the University of Maryland’s HCI Lab until he decided to drop out.) Here are some photos I took with my smartphone of the event.
I only got one new thing at the Silver Spring Mini Maker Faire. One of the Mini Maker Faire’s sponsors, Google, gave away free recyclable shopping bags in a variety of colors. I got the green bag.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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