SAN MATEO, Calif. — The muffins are rolling. The muffin cars, electric-powered vehicles built to resemble cupcakes, scoot around the open spaces of the San Mateo Event Center & Expo, a sprawling fairground about 20 miles south of San Francisco and, on this day, a million miles from normal.

Just inside the gates of the third annual Maker Faire, a converted fire engine belches an occasional explosive flare that sends a chest-pounding Pfoomp! throughout the fairground, startling bystanders over and over again. That contraption was made by folks from the Crucible, an industrial arts studio based in Oakland where people can take lessons in welding, blacksmithing and many, many other ways to play with heat and flame.

Caffaknitted is offering a pattern for this cute knitted guitar in her Etsy shop. (You may remember Caffaknitted as the clever crafter behind this fun knitted calculator, too.)

Bluelines teaches us how to make quick and easy hair ties for summertime using your favorite buttons, hair elastics, and jump rings.

Cindy at Skip to my Lou made this tutorial for sewing a reusable oilcloth lunch sack. She's included a pattern, detailed instructions, and excellent photographs.

Heidi points to this photo-intensive, step-by-step tutorial explaining how to make a Cathedral Quilt at Hyena in Petticoats.

Theresa writes in about the Raw Silk blog's recent project to realize a photo of a factory through weaving. The results are quite lovely!

Bloesem recently posted about the textile art made by Tamara Morgendorf--these stunning birdhouses in particular are handmade from a variety of vintage fabrics and antique embroideries. Looks like they are available online at Tiny McSmall.

Check out the sci-fi sweetness of these Darth Vader cupcakes by Flickr user Katipeck--I love the crossed lightsabers! I also love the photo captions she wrote, such as: "Fear leads to anger, anger leads hate, hate leads to chocolate frosting." [via]

Related:
• Star Wars Cake
• R2-D2 Cake

Krista writes:

I want this site to become an easy research stop for anybody shopping for for old sewing machines on eBay or Craigslist, or at garage sales or thrift stores. If you want to review your old sewing machine, email me!

Alice writes:

Well I was invited to prom yet again this year and felt like doing something a little out of the box. I'm very interested by all the unconventional materials people sew with (I believe it was the garbage bags that gave me the idea). Anyways seeing as I'm also trying to build a portfolio, I figured why not. And so many cavities and sugar highs later it was complete. Really I automatically knew I would use skittle wrappers (because they are fantastic and rainbow...and I love fantastic rainbow things). I also wanted to make sure nobody else had made a dress or anything out of the same kind of wrapper.

Don't miss the ITP Spring Show 2008, where there's sure to be projects galore with wearable electronics and other crafty smarts!

Monday, May 12 and Tuesday, May 13

from 5 to 9pm at ITP

A two-day festival of interactive sight, sound and technology from the student artists and innovators at ITP.

An oversized Greenwich Village loft houses the computer labs, rotating exhibitions, and production workshops that are ITP -- the Interactive Telecommunications Program. Founded in 1979 as the first graduate education program in alternative media, ITP has grown into a living community of technologists, theorists, engineers, designers, and artists uniquely dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactivity in the real and digital worlds. A hands-on approach to experimentation, production and risk-taking make this hi-tech fun house a creative home not only to its 230 students, but also to an extended network of the technology industry's most daring and prolific practitioners.

Interactive Telecommunications Program

Kanbar Institute of Film and Television

Tisch School of the Arts

New York University

721 Broadway, 4th Floor, South Elevators

New York NY 10003

Take the left elevators to the 4th Floor

This event is free and open to the public

No need to RSVP

Keeping with the CRAFT shoe theme -- Dr Martin's has a "design your own boot" contest, so I made a boot I always wanted, one with a circuit board on it, specifically one with the Wave Bubble open source RF jammer - vote it up if you'd like to see this become a real boot one day!

Made by Tess has created a great new Flickr group where indie biz owners can show off their booth photos from various craft fairs and festivals. What a great way to get display ideas and compare notes! Pictured above: the Queen Puff Puff booth from last weekend's Maker Faire!

Boston's only weekly artisan outdoor market, South End Open Market, starts their 2008 season next weekend, May 17 & 18. Check out their site for more event info, to check out vendors, or to find out how to become a vendor yourself.

Emma Jane Hogbin talks about why and how to get women involved in the free and open source software movement, which is typically dominated by men. Interesting even if you don't write code, as she's an avid crafter, too. She even designed and knitted Drupal socks. (Thanks, Patti!)

Handmade Nation is now offering tickets for their May Raffle, which included the following craft-happy treats:

• Cancer Pants Journal with cancerpants Super funtime kit! from If'n Books + Marks! • Chocolate and pink Polka Dot Clutch from Poise.cc • Zeichen Press CD Mixpak • Honeydoux "In The Navy" Earrings with vintage blue glass anchor buttons, brass shells and chain. Gold-plated surgical steel earwires. 1.5 inches long • 4 Sublime Stitching patterns • Handmade Nation pocket mirror • Bead Simple by Susan Beal

It all comes packed into a silkscreened canvas Handmade Nation tote. All proceeds help the filmmakers cover their (considerable!) costs. In other Handmade Nation news, the film's companion book is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

Gareth @ MAKE writes:

Artist Thomas Doyle makes fascinating art, tells compelling stories, with model train miniatures and scenery. I've always been strangely attracted to these miniature components and wondered why more people don't make art, jewelry, dioramas, etc. with them.

Congratulations to Atlanta's Young Blood Gallery & Boutique on their grand re-opening! The shop had recently been forced to relocate, and the new space is reportedly bigger and better than ever. See for yourself on May 10 during their grand re-opening, complete with DJ and art show with Jessica Gonacha and Valerie Taylor.

Grand Re-Opening Party
Saturday, May 10, 7-10 p.m
@ Young Blood Gallery
636 N. Highland Ave
Atlanta, GA 30306.

If you're a fan of Doctor Who and ever wondered how to make yourself an Adipose Monster, the wait is over--thanks to this easy tutorial by My Imaginary Boyfriend's Erika Kern.

This week's CRAFT Video Podcast comes courtesy of the fine folks at Skates.com where Luanne Teoh and Richard Humphrey show us how to build a pair of roller skates as featured in our current issue of CRAFT: 07!

Download the MP4 Video or HD Version | Subscribe to CRAFT in iTunes

To celebrate the new shoe issue of CRAFT Magazine vol 7, Skates.com is giving our CRAFT readers a 15% discount from now until June 6, 2008. The coupon code is CRAFT07.

If you'd like a pair of custom skates built for you, just send Skates.com the shoes of your choice or choose the boots you'd like.

Note:
The 15% only applies to the our Custom Skates/Build Your Own category. The 15% is taken of the price of the product before tax and shipping.

From the pages of CRAFT Magazine, volume 07:
"Roll Baby Roll!" by Luanne Teoh & Richard Humphrey, pgs 62-65. Subscribers can read the article in our Digital Edition.

Subscribe to CRAFT Magazine and save 42% off the cover price. One year brings you 4 quarterly issues for just $34.95 / year (U.S.).

Related:
ROUNDUP: Quick & Easy Mother's Day Crafts

Download our handy Mother's Day printable PDF card to give to her on Sunday!

Milliner Boring Sidney created this 1940s-style floral headpiece from snack food bags--now that's recycling in style!

Cindy Moore is rewriting lace patterns from the 1897 book The Art of Knitting, modernizing the terminology and charts used in the patterns. You can buy greeting cards with the patterns on her website (great Mother's Day idea), and look at her altered book full of swatches.

Quilting superstar Denyse Schmidt has just released a beautiful new line of fabric called County Fair, featuring the prints you've come to love printed in fresh new colorways on upholstery-weight cotton canvas. There's also a "cheater print" called Patchwork Promenade, which looks like one of Denyse's signature quilt blocks--only it's printed! County Fair will be available in retail stores and online in June 2008.

Erica Magrey makes earrings with a clear vinyl backing to create the illusion of floating shapes. She writes:

I've recently been making 60s, 70s, and 80s-inspired earrings out of leather, plastic, and yarn. I made earrings as a kid - one memorable pair was made of paint-spattered paper and another a painted toy car tire cut in half - so this is a fun return to my roots.

I used a bunch of different adhesives but none seemed to work too well. I tried Duco cement, a leather/fabric glue, and Wellbond. Eventually I ended up using Petronio's, a very toxic contact cement that I use for shoemaking. So it's really not ideal. I'm sure there is something better out there for this purpose - I just couldn't figure out what that was. Also it's important to score the plastic and the leather with a few short strokes of a blade in the areas where the adhesive will be used so it'll bond better (esp. the plastic). I got that plastic at a tag sale (yard sale) but it's available at most fabric stores. It's like a flexible clear vinyl.

Read about the earrings at Erica's blog, and see them all in her Flickr set.