Hello everyone,

The Maker Faire Wayne County is a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness and a celebration of the Maker Movement.  It’s a place where people show what they are making and share what they are learning.  Makers range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers. They are of all ages and backgrounds. The aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community.

The Daily Record said it best: “Dubbed the ‘Greatest Show and Tell on Earth’; over 1,200 people flocked to the third annual faire at the University of Akron Wayne College last May.  It was a fresh experience with favorite makers from last year along with new makers and new things to see and do.

Looking for something fun and educational to do with your family while staying at home?  Family Maker Camp (hosted by Make: Community) encourages making and hands-on learning at home.  Making is fun and engaging for kids as well as adults.  Camp provides inspiration, guidance and an opportunity to share what you do with others online. There are many projects that will help you get started and continue to develop new skills and a maker mindset.

Most importantly, Family Maker Camp will connect you with a community of makers of all ages who have a broad range of interests and skills.  It will introduce you to makers online and have them talk about their projects and their process.

Click here to sign up for the maker camp newsletter.  And follow their weekly posts on YouTube!

We are proud to showcase Ohio makers participating in the Wayne County Mini Maker Faire.  One of these people is Elliott Liggett.  He is aretired engineer of 42 years with Lockheed Martin, Loral Defense Systems, Goodyear Aerospace and Goodyear Tire.  Elliott is also a member of the Schantz Maker Group helping to teach high school and middle school students how to build and use 3D printers. 

During the past few maker faires, Elliott built and demonstrated a Peltier cooled cloud chamber for observing subatomic particles.  A cloud chamber is a device for visualizing the passage of electrically charged, subatomic particles through a supersaturated cloud of alcohol vapor.   The behavior of charged particles such as alpha and beta radiation, occurring naturally in the surrounding atmosphere and muons, created within a cosmic ray shower, can be observed as tracks through the vapor cloud.

The actual particles are too small to be seen by eye but their tracks, created by ionization and condensation of the cloud, are readily seen as white traces or tracks.  A strong magnet is placed beneath the cloud chamber as a means to identify the polarity of very light weight, negative charge (electrons) and positive charged (positrons) beta particles by the curved direction of their tracks.

Faire attendees viewed subatomic particle movement by looking in the “viewer” on the device or via the large-screen television, too.  The cloud chamber is a big hit with faire attendees each year!

Another person who participated in the Wayne County Mini Maker Faire is Susan Corl.  She is an artist and writer who loves to animate. Since Susan was very young, she wanted to be an animator. Now, with today’s technology, it is easier than ever. Susan’s passion is creating her own characters and using stop-motion animation to bring them to life.  

Ever wondered how they make those characters in movies like Chicken Run, Coraline, and the Box Trolls?  They use something called Stop Motion animation.  Many families stopped by the Story Cultivator Studios booth to see this technique and made their own characters!

Rounding out our participating makers is the Tri-County Beekeepers Association Inc., an organization with education at the center of its mission.  TCBA strives to educate the public as well as fellow beekeepers.  

At the Maker Faire last year, members of TCBA demonstrated the art of beekeeping through literature and an observation hive (a colony of honey bees inside a glass case). The bees were in a sealed box with glass to allow viewing.  Watching the honey bees work was amazing to say the least!  Want to know more?  Follow them on Facebook or visit their website.

If you would like to know more about Elliott’s particle cloud chamber, Susan’s stop motion creations, or the Tri-County Beekeepers Association, please reply to this email!

Until next week,

Tom