It was an amazing couple of days for Decatur Makers at the Maker Faire Atlanta 2019 show-and-tell event the weekend of Sept 28-29! There were makerspaces, schools and STEAM organizations, and makers of all kinds from all across the southeast. It was HOT in all ways besides just the 90 degree weather 🙂 as we shared our stories and hands-on making with people from all over Georgia and neighboring states. #EveryOneIsAMaker #MakersGonnaMake
In our booths, so many ideas and things were shared that were dreamed, designed, and made by our members:
We brought back our huge rocket ship and blasted off into space to land on the moon with a VIVE virtual reality system.
Our Venus reigned gracefully and with steam-punked sass on top of her rolling throne for visitors to take selfies.
New this year was our gamification of Deep Purple’s Smoke on The Water with purple smoke rings being generated by a garbage can cannon and a water gun to hit the rings; If successful, our rock ‘n roll member Chris Goode played “Smoke of the Water” on his maker-made electric guitar. Sweet!
Our hands-on make and take projects included the ever-popular story-telling through button-making, paper helicopters with wooden launchers, and cool DIY light up coins designed by our own Makerspace Manager Kevin Arne.
We had many members who brought their own projects to show-n-tell including Laird Popkin’s 3D printed articulated hands for the e-Nable organization, Chris Goode’s electric guitars and amps, Steve Freant’s ever-evolving maker-made car, Cindy William’s cooling mister, and more.Also, a 30 Day Challenge was presented by the Maker Faire Atlanta group to the makerspaces to create a 3’x3′ maker made sign that represented your community: Challenge was accepted and our own Kevin Arne and George Breeden designed and built a winning creation with the help of many of our members who made each of the letters in our name in a different maker medium. Such a great collaboration! Thanks to the following makers for their skills:
D – George Breeden, resin in a CNC’ed cavity in hardwoods
E – Char Miller-King, resin on a lasered wood base
C – Megan, crocheted around a wooden template
A – Chris Monaco, custom petri dish with yeast, preserved in epoxy
T – Bria Sativa Aguayo, welded and ground steel
U – Kevin Arne, 3D printed with Lego nubs that fit real Legos
R – Joel Fullerton, resin-cast painted to look like metalM – John Marting, wood showing the progression from green wood to finished piece
A – Garrett Goebel, forged steel, hot cut and hot riveted
K – George Breeden, fake moss on a laser cut template
E – Maureen Haley and Bill Sandidge, light up circuit board with changing patterns
R – Chrissy Weeks, beautifully quilted
S – Kevin Arne, laser cut with gears
And, last but not least, our own Barbie and Ken cars raced fiercely and proudly to win the gold in Power Racing Series event at the Faire! Woot Woot! There were 5 sprint races, one endurance race, and lots of moxie points they needed to get past to pull it off. It was a nail-biter throughout the entire weekend but they rocked the competition who came from across the country to bring home the trophy! Congratulations!!!Thanks to so many folks for making it such a success:
– to Kevin Arne and George Breeden and all the makers who helped create letters of different maker mediums to build the awesomely cool Decatur Makers sign that won in the makerspace 30 Day Challenge sign competition held by Maker Faire Atlanta! Wow!
– to the entire Barbie/Ken Championship squad for their time and effort in bringing home the gold in the Power Racing Series! Woot Woot!
– to all our members who shared their interesting projects as part of our organization!
– to Kevin Arne with his DIY light up coin project and Chris Goode with his beautiful maker-made electric guitars and amps who were official presenters on their projects at the Faire!
– to David Cohen (aka Doodleslice) who designed our newest, extremely cool Tshirt we revealed at the Faire! 
– to all the amazing volunteers who showed up to help with all our hands-on projects and displays in our booth! We couldn’t have done this without you!
You all rock! We are who we are because of the incredible, inspiring people in our community!