Category Archives: General News

Uncovering the Silicon at Bay Area Maker Faire 2019

We had so much fun introducing visitors to what is inside of integrated circuits last year at Maker Faire that we’re going to do it again! For Bay Area Maker Faire 2019 we are excited to be again joining forces with Eric Schlaepfer and Ken Shirriff, along with our new collaborator John McMaster. We’ll again be bringing decapped chips along with microscopes to let visitors see what’s inside of famous and interesting integrated circuits. We’ll also be bringing large scale reference models. Bay Area Maker Faire is May 17-19 at the San Mateo County Event Center. You can check out our Maker Faire page and we’ll hope to see you there!

AxiDraw at TinkerFest

We’re excited to be bringing AxiDraw out to demo at the Chabot Space & Science Center for their third annual TinkerFest.

Tinkerfest is a one-day festival that celebrates the creative, curious, and innovative spirit in all of us. Tinkerfest brings together makers, artists, and tinkerers to showcase their work while inviting attendees of all ages to join in on the DIY fun! During the festival the entire Center (inside and outside) will be activated with activities that spark curiosity and ignite creativity.

TinkerFest is Saturday, April 13 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

AxiDraw on MythBusters Jr

I’m super excited to see the new MythBusters Jr episode tonight, because I’m in it with the AxiDraw!


I had a fun time working with Valerie, Rachel, and Elijah, as well as the great crew.

Plotter People Meetup

There’s a new get-together just for plotter people!

Plotter People is a meetup for creative coders and people interested in collaborating with robots to make art. You’ll get to talk to folks who make generative art in a wide variety of programming languages and software environments, and you’ll get access to pen plotters and the people who make them.

The inaugural Plotter People meetup will be hosted at Github in San Francisco on Monday, January 14 at 6:30 pm. There will be two speakers, including Sher Minn, who will be talking about Recreating Retro Plotter Art, and me, Lenore Edman. I’m excited to have been invited to speak and I’ll be talking about the Plotter Projects of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, from the Analog Plotbot pictured above to the AxiDraw. There will also be time to mingle, talk, eat, and even play with plotters.

The event is free, but please head over to the invite page to RSVP!

Maker Gift Basket

Gareth Branwyn posted an article on creating a gift basket for makers. It is full of awesome tools, including one of our favorites, the resistor lead forming tool.

He’s also having a give-away for his example basket!

To be eligible, all you have to do is post an entry, on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, mentioning my book, this article, and/or the idea of a tool gift bag, and include this link and hashtag: https://amzn.to/2DPaXAd #tipsandtalesfromtheworkshop. The only things you have to include are the link and the hashtag. You can post as many times as you like. On Dec 12th, I’ll do a random drawing from the hash-tagged entries and send out your gift basket.

Note: This drawing is only available to those residing in the United States.

Fall Open House

Evil Mad Scientist Sign

You’re invited to our annual open house!

When: Saturday, November 10, 4 pm to 8 pm
Where: Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
1285 Forgewood Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

You can see the MOnSter 6502 in action, check out an AxiDraw demonstration, maybe meet Zener the cat (she’s not fond of parties), do some shopping if the mood strikes, and share in food and conversation.

Lady Ada Lovelace Day 2018

Julie interviewing Rachel at Maker Faire NY
For Ada Lovelace Day this year, I would like to celebrate a group of young women in science, technology and making who are celebrating and uplifting each other. I had the privilege of seeing some of them at Maker Faire New York this year, and I find their optimism and strength to be inspiring.

Check out their twitter feeds, their youtube channels, and especially the connections they make. It is awesome to see these young women making a difference in the world right now.

Maker Faire NY Panel: Ask a Maker!

Jimmy DiResta, Sophy Wong, Lenore Edman, Matt Stultz

I’m excited to be hosting an “Ask a Maker!” panel at Maker Faire New York. The panel will be on Saturday, September 22 at 3:30 pm on the Make: Frontiers stage. My guests will include Jimmy DiResta, Sophy Wong, and Matt Stultz.

I’ll be accepting audience questions for these amazing makers with a broad range of skills and experiences. If you have questions but aren’t going to be at Maker Faire NY, you can submit them in the comments here, or send them to me by email. Questions about aspects of making including processes, tools, inspiration, sourcing, design, and techniques are all welcome. I’ll accept questions about genres of making including electronics, woodworking, sewing, digital fabrication, papercraft, writing, video making, cooking and more.

The rest of the schedule of performances and talks looks amazing, and there is a great group of makers showing their projects as well. Hope to see you there!