Eric from Instructables talks about Instructables book and Blinkybugs on ABC News

Eric Wilhelm from Instructables is doing the rounds promoting the very cool Best Of Instructables Volume 1 book. Here he is on ABC News, with a bit of footage of me assembling a bug.

2008 Austin Maker Faire

The Blinkybugs and myself will be at the 2008 Austin Maker Faire. Again, I'll be doing a couple presentations and workshops with the Blinkybugs in the Maker Shed area. Hopefully I'll have some LED Art kits ready as well.

Blinkybug Kits on Maker Store

My blinkybug kits are now available on Make Magazine's Maker Store.

DIY Blinkybug Kits

Because some of the parts are hard to come by in small quantities, I'm now offering blinkybug kits on my etsy store. This is for the solder-free version that I designed for the 2007 Maker Faire. A how-to is here.

The kits I'm currently offering contain all the parts needed for 4 bugs! If you're interested in larger quantities just drop me a line.

Seeking Volunteers for Blinkybug Workshop @ Maker Faire!

Photo Credit: Scott Beale

I'm organizing something I think will be a lot of fun to participate in. It's taking place at the upcoming Maker Faire (May 19-20 @ San Mateo Fairgrounds); it's going to be a "Build Your Own Blinkybug" workshop.

The workshop will be open to all attendees, and will be what it sounds like... a bunch of people making a bunch of blinkybugs! The way I see it, the process will be broken down into various steps and there will be "stations" where people can work on each step. I've run this workshop before in a big festival setting and this system works pretty well.

I need help manning these stations! Each step is pretty simple... a bit of soldering, attaching things with hot glue, demonstrating how to crimp a couple wires together, or helping people come up with creative variations on the bug design.

We'll be getting some support from the Make magazine folks, but I'm also assembling a core team of volunteers. There will be other crafty-type things going on in the area, who we may collaborate with as well. I don't envision that the workshop will be operating the entire time, so there should be plenty of time to check out the event.

This is a totally volunteer thing... but it would get you in free to the Faire ($20 adult / $15 student), and it would be a lot of fun. For those of you who went last year, you know how Wicked Awesome it is. If you didn't, it's hard to describe... but I think it's an amazing experience for anyone who appreciates the creative/techy/nerdy things in life.

If you think you might be interested, please contact me.

Behold BlinkyBlog!

This is the inaugural post of the BlinkyBlog. I'll post here about the latest blinkybug news, various other projects, events, and assorted randomness that I may or may not be involved with.

As I'm just now starting the blog thing, thought I'd include some historical stuff:

• Blinkybugs on the Make Blog.
• An interview at the 2006 Maker Faire.
• Images tagged blinkybug(s) by myself and others, on Flickr.