Skiing on Jet Power

From author Methodical Maker — “The first time I punched the throttle, there was no explosive launch, no violent shove. Instead, I just started sliding forward, smoothly, quickly gaining speed faster and faster. Before I knew it, I was flying past everyone around me. I had strapped 16 kilowatts of electric jet thrust to my arms, and it was exhilarating! This project had lived in my head for years, and I had just made it a reality.”

Chatty C-3PO (Threepio) Explores Human-AI Relations

AI chatbots are a dime a dozen, sometimes cheaper. Chatbots in custom hardware are less numerous, but still pop up steadily. So if you want a conversational robot to stand out, it helps to go the extra mile. Something like a realistic layer of personality, a shiny gold coat, and six-million forms of communication would help a lot.

Torch It! All About Yakisugi Charred Timber Finish

From the latest Make: magazine: Yakisugi is a traditional technique originating in western Japan more than 400 years ago. It is the process of deeply charring the surface of cedar boards to make them less susceptible to fire, bugs, rot, and UV damage from sunlight. These boards were used almost exclusively for siding buildings, for fences, and occasionally ceilings. The effect is pretty dramatic, especially when covering large surfaces.

Make: Live – Maker Faire Turns 20!

Join Dale Dougherty and some of the original makers from the 2006 Maker Faire Bay Area as they look back on their projects and share what they've been up to since.

The first Maker Faire took place on April 22, 2006, at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. About 200 makers participated in the two-day event (like trampoline Simon above), drawing an attendance of roughly 15,000 people, and none of us could have imagined what the next 20 years would bring.

Now, two decades later, we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of Maker Faire Bay Area. With this year's event just around the corner at the Historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard (September 25–27, 2026), we wanted to mark the occasion in a meaningful way – by catching up with some of the original makers who brought their projects to that very first Faire. Join us for this special celebration to hear how their work has evolved, what they've been building, and how their passions have grown and changed over the past 20 years.

Featuring: 

• Bruce Gee - Blogger Dump Tank / Waterworks-Hydro

• Jeffrey McGrew & Jillian Northrup - CNC For Couples / BWC Architects

• Bruce Shapiro - Eggbot / Sisyphus Industries

• Joe Grand - Grand Idea Studio Open Lab / Hardware Hacker

• Gever Tulley - Tulley’s Tinkering Challenge / Brightworks Schools
  
  

Upcycling Old Phones with Rephone

While old phone upcycling projects have been featured before, there’s a universe of untapped possibilities out there. So Martijn Verpaalen decided to put some minds on the problem. They invited 50 students from French design school L’École de design Nantes Atlantique into small groups and set them loose designing niche apps and supporting enclosures.

Hands On with ROS 2: Nodes, Topics, and Services

From Make: magazine: ROS is an open-source robotics middleware framework and collection of libraries. If you’re looking to build a large, complex helper bot for household chores, improve your robotic programming skills for a job, or simply see what the hype is about, we’ll walk you through installing ROS and creating simple communication examples using topics and services.

Review: Creality Raptor Pro 3D Scanner

From Make: magazine: Having a quality scanner to create duplicate items for 3D printing has long been a holy grail in the 3D printing community; when I worked for MakerBot it was jokingly referred to as the “washer/dryer” combo. Creality has launched a series of 3D scanners to try to step up to this goal, and their top of the line is the Raptor Pro, a scanner that brings a lot to the table, and a learning curve to match.

Wednesday, May 27, 2026 @ 4 pm Pacific

It's craft takeover with a tech twist We're celebrating the fusion of making and traditional crafts: build a glowy mini bag with bargello embroidery, Pixelblaze LEDs, and 3D printing; follow artist Kenny Sing into the world of digitally designed ceramics; forge a knife, sew an inflatable costume, or try yakisugi wood finishing. Plus: 18th-century paper quilling — lit up with LEDs, naturally.

Craft: eBook Collection

Ten volumes of the beloved magazine that sparked today's craft renaissance are available in PDF format. Sewing, embroidery, paper arts, wearables, and more: this is the archive that inspired a generation of makers.