P1020588 Laura Scarborough HoopCircle

P1020644 Yarn muffins

A craft exhibit at the Maker Faire 2008.

P1020652 Zen Bend

"Save resource, environment happy; engage consumer, mind happy". I didn't look at this closely, but maybe they practice an art of wire bending as a form of meditation?

P1020654 Amy Cools clothing

I guess that's recycled / reconstructed fashion

P1020554 A girl in funky clothing

P1020580 A family of hipsters

P1020649 Tara To The T

handmade vintage inspired accessories

P1020647 Tara To The T booth attendant

They had barrettes such as the one worn by the blonde attending Tara To The T booth

P1020648 Tara To The T

They also had quirky clothes like this tank top with a bib decoration -- probably made of recycled clothing?

P1020655 Another reconstructed dress

P1020659 Hayley Pannone's Craft-o-Rama

P1020660 Another reconstructed dress

P1020661 An apron dress

P1020561 A high school robot competition

Teams from two Austin high schools pitted their robots against one another. What exactly was the goal of the competition, I could not tell. Click on an image for a link to a video from the competition.

P1020562 A high school robot competition

Teams from two Austin high schools pitted their robots against one another. What exactly was the goal of the competition, I could not tell. Click on an image for a link to a video from the competition.

P1020563 A high school robot competition

Teams from two Austin high schools pitted their robots against one another. What exactly was the goal of the competition, I could not tell. Click on an image for a link to a video from the competition.

P1020670 The Purple Fig Cleaning Company

shows customers how to make their own chemical-free cleaning materials and lets them take them home.

P1020673 The Purple Fig Cleaning Company

guides customers in making their own chemical-free cleaning materials from ingredients provided, and lets them take the mixture home.

P1020678 The Purple Fig Cleaning Company

A girl makes a chemical-free cleaning solution from ingredients provided by the Purple Fig Cleaning Company, under their supervision.

P1020680 A woman from the Purple Fig Cleaning Company

pours a chemical-free cleaning solution, which she helped a customer to make, into a dish for the customer to take home.

P1020665 A woman managing the Naughty Secretary Club booth

P1020666 A woman tattooed in a zebra pattern

Yes, I wondered if those face tattoos are washable or permanent. Then some people told me they were permanent.

P1020568 A merry-go-round of two hanging bicycles

It may or may not be known by a more elegant name Bike Rodeo. :-) This creation from Cyclecide allows two riders to spin the merry-go-round by pedaling the bikes. Click on the image for a link to a video.

P1020578 Axe Grinder

When a rider pedals the Axe Grinder, it plays sounds resembling an electric guitar. The composition of six guitars at the top rotates. I guess you can play some rudimentary music by pedaling this instrument. For some reason there was a written sign forbid

P1020690 MegaModel created by Scott Specht

The author's description of the exhibit said: "MegaModel is a large, abstract, continually growing model that can be interpreted as a futuristic cityscape, or some other densely-packed landscape." Click on the image to read more.

P1020695 Kanya Lyons demonstrates Anda Mandala

The author's description of the exhibit said: "Anda Mandala marries the accessibility and affordability of new digital technology with old-school, hands-on, stop motion techniques. Stop motion creates the illusion of movement by taking pictures at in

P1020695 A girl creates a mandala under the guidance of Kanya Lyons

The computer screen now shows girls hands pushing around the cubes. How are those cubes supposed to form a mandala through a stop-motion technique, I have hardly any idea.

P1020702 Perhaps this is supposed to be a mandala

It kind of tries to look like one, but it's a long stretch. This is part of Kanya Lyons' Anda Mandala exhibit.

P1020759 A guy demoing Aural User Interface

Created by Jerry Chamkis'. The author's description of the exhibit said it's a "mouse-driven computer interface tailored for easy use by blind and visually impaired persons".

P1020586 Life Size Mousetrap

sitting still and empty between the performances. This project is a giant Rube Goldberg-style contraption. Rolls through all the various stages of the contraption, a ball makes a 4000-pound weight hoisted in the air to drop and crush a box where supposedl

P1020605 A guy in a crop jacket

One of the guys running the Life Size Mousetrap show. I would say that's an odd choice of cut-out places in his costume. :-) Click on the image for a video of Life Size Mousetrap in action.

P1020607 Esmeralda Strange sings before the Life Size Mousetrap show

A one-woman band who plays drums, accordion, and percussion at the same time, she sings a song praising geeks and engineers.

P1020614 Guys bring cheese to the Life Size Mousetrap show

To bait the World Sexiest Mice, as we'll see in subsequent pictures. Click on the image for a video of Life Size Mousetrap in action.

P1020621 The World's Sexiest Mice come in

To be honest, I did not see what part the World's Sexiest Mice played in the Life Size Mousetrap action, other than being bound with ropes and later collecting donations. Or maybe I'm just not perceptive. Click on the image for a video.

P1020625 The World's Sexiest Mice are bound with ropes

before the Life Size Mousetrap show. Click on the image for a video of Life Size Mousetrap in action.

P1020629 Black cube is being hoisted

A volunteer turns a winch to hoist a 4000-pound black cube up in the air. As a final step of the Life Size Mousetrap action, the cube will crop. Click on the image for a link to a video.