So, there's one day left in the Bay Area Maker Faire and it's been going pretty well. It's always cool when I get comments like "It's important that you are here" to balance out the "There's a knot tying guild???" On the continuing promotion front, at least 3 libraries are interested in getting some knot tying type activity/class to offer and at least one school plus the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza offered the guild a free booth at their upcoming event in November.
Another librarian dropped by the booth to ask me about teaching classes/putting together a program for them. A number of Scout leaders (both boy and girl) dropped by looking for ideas. A theatre rigger wandered by to hang out a bit. A young woman strode into my booth demanding to know how to sign up for the guild. A man bounded into my booth, showed me his knot book that he carries with him everywhere and told me that IGKT-PAB was the one booth he needed to see at the Faire (which considering the glorious madness that is Maker Faire I find downright shocking, don’t you know there are giant flaming robots around here??). Speaking of giant flaming robots, a Megabots engineer wandered in and noticed my information poster based on David Fred’s articles on NASA’s use of knots and waxed poetic about how much he enjoyed bundling and tying down cables in the most tidy and elegant way possible in their robots.
A pair of administrators (?) for a college said that the IGKT-PAB booth (along with other things seen at the Faire) have convinced them that they need to beef up the Arts component of their curricula. That it cannot just be STEM but STEAM. I pointed out that traditional arts and ancient technology still informs the cutting edge of science today. Origami techniques are being used in satellites and spacecraft for deploying solar panels (and someday solar sails). The same (should be) national treasure of Japan both teaches hand braided kumihimo to crafters all over the world and works with aerospace engineers to braid carbon fibre composites with enormous machines to create parts for spaceships with unique qualities of strength, flexibility and mass. Knot tying (real, not just theoretical) informs protein shapes (this from half remembered articles I have read, later confirmed a few minutes later when a scientist wandered into the booth).
I’ve been thinking about talking to rope companies (eg. Atwood) or craft companies (eg. BeadSmith) so that we can put together freebie give away packages. Any other companies to target?
I reiterate my firm belief that if the guild wants to attract young people so that it can thrive then we all need to be exhibiting at Maker Faires in addition to maritime museums and boat shows. They’re all over the world at this point, it should be easy for any and all find one to see. Woodworkers and flint knappers display side by side with lasers and robots.
I intend to exhibit at the Bay Area Maker Faire again next year and if I could get just one or two guild members to come out to help, we could make the exhibit far more interactive, turn audience into participants and really capture hearts and minds.