Sylvia's Super-Awesome Maker Show! - summer

I'm not dead! Just busy. Also: MAKER FAIRE!

Super-Awesome Sylvia — Thu, 15 May 2014 18:19:17 +0000

HI GUYS!!! So, How have you been doing? Good, good. Oh really? Awesome!

Well, I have been doing pretty well, but I’ve been hecka busy. Sorry even though I keep promising new episodes it just doesn’t happen. School has been torture, I started Karate, and Girl Scouts has been fun but selling cookies is a chore, and I’ve also been working on secret projects (hee hee hee) and traveling the world for STEM and showing the WaterColorBot.

It’s been crazy. Everything is crazy. You’re crazy. I’m crazy! No, just kidding... let’s get on with the blog post!

GUESS WHAT: January 2014 was the first WaterColorBot anniversary! 1 full year of awesome progress and watercolor painting awesomeness. Yay! I wanted to make a birthday cake for it to paint.. but then got busy again. Geeez! February and March were boring catching up with school and stuff, but also some planning for April!

I was invited to go to Geneva, Switzerland to talk at the UN for International Girls in ICT day! The UN peoplez!! It was so cool, and I got to talk about ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and STEM and why I think it’s really awesome for girls to get into it and work it. Also talk had fun and made and made an awesome mobile app and showed off the WaterColorBot (which everyone really liked)! I’ll have to do a full post on that one day soon. Here's a quick video they shot to give you an idea of what it was like.

So yep! That was fun. Oh! And hey, I’m making this awesome- wait! It’s secret!!! I almost told you what my super secret project is. Phew! If I did, you would know all about-OOP! I almost told you again! Well, I guess I could just say that we will be announcing something incredibly super awesome on Saturday at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014! And, soon after we will blog about it and how its about- ARG. Anyways...

This summer, I really want to take charge and own my time. Here’s my goal list for the next four months:

Make 5 episodes or more, changing to format of the episodes a bit: More humor, easier editing! :D
Try and build more stuff and explore new fun ways to make the shows.
I want to make at least 100 different projects
Aluminum casting my own sword with lost PLA casting from 3D printed thing!
Begged parents for Ukulele, earned money from WaterColorBot, got it, learning right now! YAY!
Mostly built an electric Go Kart for my science faire project, but couldn’t find the right parts in time, argh! I want to finish that puppy NOW! (Well, not now, but as soon as possible. ;) )

But before all that... Come see us at Maker Faire!

We don’t have a booth this year (I need my time to go see the faire!), but I will be doing fun demo stuff with the WaterColorBot and an Arduino at the Make live stage in the Expo hall on Saturday at 11:30 with the special announcement at the end. On Sunday at the education stage at 11:00am, we will be talking in detail about the announcement, and you can ask questions and stuff then too! Also I’ll be hanging around the Atmel Truck both days and building simple Arduino projects with kids for a bit. Hope to see ya at Maker Faire!! :D

EDIT: Oh! Almost forgot, my latest fun project with my dad and @MakerBlock is MakerBingo! Print your own bingo card for Maker Faires everywhere! Share it with your friends, give em to family! Go out and have fun!!

Sylvia makes sidewalk chalk

Dadmin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:24:02 +0000

Mini

Welcome to our third episode of Sylvia’s Super Awesome Mini Maker Show! Hey! Bored on a hot summer day? In the mood to let out your inner "van Gogh" and make something cool? Then lets make some sidewalk chalk!

For this colorful build, we will need:

Plaster of Paris
An old bowl you don’t mind mixing plaster in
Powdered Tempera paint
Warm Water
Wax paper
Some short cardboard tubes, or something else to mold the chalk in
And some wide sticky tape for sealing the bottoms of the tubes

First, take your tubes and line them with some wax paper, then seal the bottoms of each tube with tape and put them in a safe container to catch any spill when pouring. Take note: once you mix the plaster, the clock is ticking to get it poured into your mold, as it won’t want to stay liquid for long! You have about 2-3 minutes before the plaster becomes twice as hard to pour, and anything after 5 minutes is almost a paste and will be very hand to get into a mold. Be sure and have your molds completely ready before mixing. Safety first: Plaster dust is bad for you! Pour it outside, or with a breathing mask and eye protection. Always read the safety warnings on the package before working with chemicals or other potentially hazardous materials.

Now mix in ¾ of a cup of warm water with 1½ cups of plaster of paris, along with whatever colors you might want. The more the better, but not too much! If your paint has any water content it will offset the mix. We originally tried with wet tempera paint, but it never dried and turned to mush! Oh well, Failure is always an option!

Now that you're mixed, carefully pour the plaster into your molds. The mix should be enough to fill about 1 to 2 cardboard tubes, to make the other colors just repeat the previous steps. Once you’ve all poured, leave them out in the summer sun, or wait overnight and in no time they’ll be dry and ready to start drawing with.

And that’s it! Try experimenting with different colors, different molds, or different paint types, like neon or glow in the dark. There’s a million different ways to have fun with this one, just be sure that you do. And remember, get out there and make something!

Music by The Wavers - Three Minutes to Escape [CC Sharealike v2.5]

Ep. Number

See this post on MakeZine.com

Favorite Comments

10secondrideSomeones been watching mythbusters cause failure is always an option
themaxxrayIs it just me or does Sylvia have the best theme music on Youtube.
brian940808OMG when i grow up i wanna be JUST like her!!!!!!!
WambliPetaMy 5 and 7 yr old girls Love these Mini Maker vids 8-) Thank you for share'n!!
ProfessorAlaskaThat little girl is sort of epic.
MacintoshUser1986"Safety First!" Haha, that was so cute! She's an awesome little scientist!
skippygirl959its really cool that makemagazine is getting kids out there for july! great job sylvia! :)
kickercaster18Awww...She's like a scientist, only miniture!
dreamfaeiry~Thanks for the 'how to' Sylvia, thats cool and I love sidewalk chalk! I'm gonna do that with my niece and nephew! I think I'm gonna try layering different colors in the tubes, and maybe see what happens if I add a little glitter to it also! Peace, love & :) !!!~
oddsourcelol... like how you did the last bit. Dads a techninja and mom is the Paint ninja.
wurxUnbelievably great! Keep making these videos...please!

Season

Sylvia builds a paper rocket

Dadmin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:04:50 +0000

Mini

Super Awesome Sylvia shows you how to build a paper rocket in this MAKE video special MINI episode--

Welcome to our first Sylvia’s Super Awesome Mini Maker Show! Hey! Did you know you could be a rocket scientist in just one day? Well, a hobby rocket scientist anyways! The field of hobby rocketry is huge, ranging from $5 mini starters to multi-thousand dollar custom made giants that can fly thousands and thousands of feet. Today we’ll show you enough to get you up in the air and crashing in no time!

From the hobby store, you’ll need a complete launch kit (Launch pad w/launch rod & launch controller) plus a few size C-6 rocket engines and electric ignitors (the engines usually come in a pack of three, with safety plugs and ignitors). We could make some of these parts, but for safety it’s best to buy your first set. The only thing left is to build the rocket body itself, for that we’ll need:

White school glue
Thick legal size construction paper, or any other type of paper about that size
A little strip of of cardboard, about 2 inches long
A long cylinder or rod about 3/4” in diameter. Anything from a dowel to a broom handle
A thin plastic drinking straw
A file folder or fancy card stock
Some stickers, markers and other crafty things to decorate the rocket with
A paperclip (optional) to help secure the rocket engine
And some not too sticky masking or painters tape

First, take your paper and wrap it nice and tight around your cylinder against a flat table while you glue. Use tape to secure it if needed. Use the card stock to cut out 3 to 4 fins, and glue them on evenly around the rocket body (or fuselage). You can add more if you want, just go crazy! The minimum number of fins is 4, but there's no real maximum (within reason). We added 4 more tiny ones above the main fins on one of our rockets.

The entire assembly has to stay on the cylinder to dry completely overnight (otherwise there's a risk of the fuselage warping as it dries). Once it’s dry, roll up some card stock to make the nose cone and glue it on. Just be sure and trim off any excess nose cone paper to allow the launch rod to attach freely. Now draw a straight line down the fuselage and glue on two pieces of drinking straw for launch lugs.

To make sure your rocket engine doesn’t fly out through your nose cone when it launches, roll the cardboard into a tight circle, coat it in glue and use an engine to push it into the fuselage just far enough to have a tiny lip of engine sticking out. To ensure the engine doesn’t go anywhere before launch, you can either glue in the engine, or use a straightened paper clip sandwiched in the fuselage and bent over to hold the engine. Even engines that are glued in should have the cardboard engine block installed.

Once dried and decorated, your rocket is ready to launch! Find an open area away from trees and power lines, and set up your launch pad. Insert your ignitor with safety plug, attach the controller, get back to a safe distance, and launch! The greatest thing about these little rockets is they're so cheap to make, you won’t really mind the crash at the end. That’s it! Be sure and experiment with different fin shapes or nose cones. Have fun rocket scientists, and remember, get out there and make something!

Songs used during this mini episode (all licensed under Creative Commons Share-alike v2.5 license):
-The Wavers - Surfin' Mosquito

Ep. Number

See this post on MakeZine.com

Favorite Comments

onemanshow520Great project for kids. And great job by Sylvia
chrisradcliffSylvia is my new hero. Awesome introduction to model rocketry!
579093well no wonder they have honor classes and GT programs! :)
TopachulaNASA, if you're looking for another Capcom - here you have it
wlchaseSWEET! Great work! Don't know if they still do, but Estes, who pioneered the self-contained engines, used to have some awesome technical texts on rocketry math, like center of pressure/center of mass and aerodynamic drag! Keep up the good work, Sylvia!
themaxxrayThis girl is going places. Like to see her make more interesting stuff
laughordie72Great job Sylvia! I've got an old rocket kit I can resurect now thanks to your idea! Keep up the good work.
naturalist92683Go Sylvia! a role model for everyone!
captwasabiSylvia's voice-over on the closing credits is the new internet insanity test. I couldn't listen with out giggling. Awesome video! My son and I will be building some soon!
guns4goodThis little kid is cool! It's great to see young people getting involved with hobbies and crafts. At least she's not glued to her TV or Nintendo DS. Oh, And I'm sure she had parental/adult supervision through this whole process. That's kind of a no-brainer.
suprafanatic1984She could sell ice to eskimos
Loki95531Love your intro! I would give you all five stars if that was still the rating system. I am 40 and you made me want to build a rocket ! good job.
ProbewitchBest video of 2010.

Sylvia's Super-Awesome Maker Show! - summer

I'm not dead! Just busy. Also: MAKER FAIRE!

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Sylvia makes sidewalk chalk

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Sylvia builds a paper rocket

Ep. Number

Favorite Comments

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