Feisty Elle checking in

Hi there, I'm Leslie, owner of Feisty Elle and a fiber artist residing in San Francisco. Tirsh and Kristina met me at Maker Faire, where I was selling my feisty women's accessories at Bazaar Bizarre, a craft show housed within the faire showcasing lots of great artists and indie businesses selling handmade wares.

They've invited me to start blogging here and I'm stoked to share with you future shows in the Bay Area and my experiences as a one-woman indie, handmade women's accessories business. (If you'd like me to talk about any other topics of interest, let me know.)

That said, I've been in business since September 2005, but it feels like only now am I close to getting the hang of making things, selling things, and promoting what I make and sell. Since it's just me, I'm the only one I can point the finger at if nothing gets done or changes. In that sense, it's exciting, lonely, frustrating, and rewarding. To manage the ups and downs of running a small business, I keep myself connected to communities that do what I do and support one another in our crafty business endeavors.

One such community is The Switchboards. Their tagline is, "Connecting Creative Women in Business," (yes, you can be a guy and ask questions too, we're friendly ladies), and they do just that. The Switchboards is an active forum where you can ask questions, vent, and share experiences around the creative and business aspects of running your own business. Check it out!

Also, I'm a proud member of the San Francisco Craft Mafia (SFCM), a collective committed to promoting and supporting indie with a specific focus on handmade work. SFCM which is currently comprised of eight fabulous businesses and their owners. We meeting monthly to work on promoting both our own businesses as well as SFCM. We figure if we pool our resources, skills, talents, thinking, and time, we can do more together for our businesses than we can by ourselves. Speaking of which, we put on a great show last fall at Craft Gym (also a member), so look out for more events from us.

And that pretty much concludes my introductions. Thanks for reading!

computer science made cool

Tirsh and I met Leah Buchley at the Maker faire in San Mateo- we were wandering around and saw this girl with an LED shirt! She made it herself, the LEDs were 'wired" with sewn conductive thread(which looks like thick greyish thread) which was party handsewn and party machine sewn, and She had controls on the side with the battery pack. It was totally rad, and my mom ended up picking up a kit to make a small LED "soft circuit" patch. (which is a current struggle to get to work)



A video of it being programed and demo of the shirt here. The math handbag shown below was cut by a laser cutter from a file generated by a graphing calculator. She is a phd student at the U of colorado, and on her website she says,

"I am interested in integrating "feminine" activities like sewing with computer science, mathematics and technology. I think that social issues more often than lack of talent discourage women from entering math, technology and science related fields, and I hope to help create environments where women's interests are explored and represented."



When I was in highschool, we would program our TI-83s to graph hearts, but I think Leah's designs are way cooler.

-K

Plume

This metamorphosizing lighting piece by Gregory Davis was designed for use in the dining room.

zomg First Post

Hi I'm Corbett Griffith and I run Instinct Engineering, inc.

Basic info:

My personal website is http://www.corbettgriffith.com

My company website is http://www.withinstinct.com

I'll be posting more interesting stuff soon.

Cheers!

-c

conduit

Designed to transform with you through the changing rituals of your daily routine, this two-in-one communication device functions both as a mobile workstation and as an elegant accessory.
Some interesting features of this phone include a rollable color display that provides the user a larger PDA work surface while allowing the overall design to retain a sleek clean appearance. A third of the phone detaches to be used as a PDA stylus or as a separate slimmer component when a more compact form is desired. Customizable web based interfaces let users visualize their network according to their needs. For example, ‘wiki work files’ provide group access to documents and allow for “real time” changes on projects, live conference calls are facilitated through ‘skype video’ while ‘widget tabs’ quickly hide or display needed information during calls.
The overall function of this phone is to enhance personal contact and give greater flexibility and mobility to the user experience.

BabySays: Baby Cry Translator, Monitor, Routine Tracker

BabySays

New parents are often frustrated to find themselves clueless on why their baby is crying. Moms are told that they would know with their instinct, which makes them feel like a failing mom when they couldn't figure out the messege from their baby. Dads, who don't spend as much time as moms in most cases, are even more embarrassed. Grandparents don't remember those days when they were new parents.
BabySays will translate the baby's cry for you. You will see the text messege on your bracelet monitor. Plus, you can track the feeding/sleeping/diapering routine for your baby simply pressing the buttons on the pillow. The data will be automatically updated onto your computer to visualize your baby's pattern.

Convertible Pot

Remember stirring the soup with one hand and holding the pot lid in the other hand with the pot turning with your laddle last night?
Remember the hot lid was dangling on the countertop upside down and hard to pick up?

No more hassle with this convertible pot.
The lid will stay open on the pot for you to add ingredients, stir, taste, season, etc... Convertible pot will make whole cooking process easier, safer, and less messy.

designed by Hansook Lee

The Spilt Milk cafe: designated space for family

The Spilt Milk cafe is a cafe for parents and expectant parents to commune together- and features special rooms and services just for them.

Chip's phone

Welcome all!

Our group Thunder Root(a bunch of designers) is showcasing our recent work at The Maker Faire at the San Mateo county fairgrounds.