This week on Maker Update, a 3D scan of the Titanic shipwreck.
LED-lit mermaid hair,
A Victorian mob boss suit, and a robot arm made of stained glass.
Hi, I'm Jen Schachter, joining you
from my home workshop in the Bay Area to guest host this week's episode.
We have a fun show for you this week featuring new projects
from some of my favorite makers.
So let's dive right in.
For the Project of the Week, Bernadette Banner has been working on a three piece
Victorian suit and completed the video series on her channel this week.
It's packed with precise tailoring techniques, antique sewing machine ASMR,
and a fascinating history lesson on the evolution of garment design.
She sets the stage for the type of Victorian lady
who would wear such a garment and possibly purchase it with her own wages.
Given the newfound independence of working women at the time,
and trends in literature and theater, Bernadette imagines
this piece belonging to a stylish Victorian mob boss.
She tailors an existing jacket pattern
and uses traditional methods and materials like horsehair canvas lining,
boning inserts and surgically precise hand stitching
to get as close to a Victorian era creation as possible.
She even inspects an actual 19th century jacket
from her own collection to study its interior boning structure.
Now, I'm not a seamstress, but it's hard not to share Bernadette's joy
as she revels in the successful execution of a pad stitched, curving lapel.
And also her annoyance with the repetitive tedium of attaching the lining.
I also love Bernadette's closing thoughts about how tailoring
is actually a rather complex engineering process of shaping and sculpting
two dimensional fabric to contour to the human form.
The jacket comes together with dramatic poofy
sleeves and a matching pinstripe waistcoat and skirt,
which are covered in parts one and two of this series.
If you're interested in sustainable
fashion and learning how to mend and create your own garments.
Bernadette has written a whole book and a Skillshare class,
as well as a wealth of videos with historical citations
and a bill of materials she uses for each project.
In news this week, a deep sea mapping company called Magellan
has created a full scale 3D model of the Titanic shipwreck,
where it sits two miles down on the ocean floor.
Over a six week expedition,
They captured 16 terabytes of image data, which was then stitched together
to create the most detailed look at the entire ship to date,
down to individual rivets and the serial number on the ship's propeller.
In other news, makers from across the pond gathered in Birmingham
earlier this month to show off their creations and hang out.
Thankfully for those of us who couldn't make the trip,
there was plenty of coverage from the show floor and behind the scenes.
Ruth and Shaun from Kids Invent rolled around in their Business Baby Walker
and Colin Furze displayed a section of his legendary tunnel.
It seems like everyone had a jolly good time.
Moving on to other projects,
Becky Stern shared a tutorial for making a lighted mermaid hairpiece.
She used several strands of adjustable LED pixels on flexible wire to weave
and sculpt a branch-like shape, which can wrap around the wearer's head
using and Arduino and the tiny Xiao RP 2040 board,
Becky altered the code for the standard rainbow LEDs sequence
to only express certain colors for her design.
She embellished the finished strands with 3D shell diffusers and gemstone hair clips.
Becky's friend Hinano also joins in to share some tips
for creating the finished hairstyle and a fish scale mermaid makeup effect.
Michael Alm built a custom shipping crate for a carved wooden sculpture.
Applying his knowledge from working in museums to design an enclosure that both protects
the fragile piece from damage and makes the unboxing experience
for the recipient as streamlined and intuitive as possible.
There are whole museum departments dedicated
to conservation and transport of art and artifacts,
and this is one of those behind the scenes jobs that has always fascinated me.
The design of this crate is
its beautiful engineering, and Michael's video really demonstrates
how case building is an art form of its own.
Bob Clagett I Like to Make Stuff,
Upgraded a carpeted staircase in his home to a set of handsome,
hardwood smart steps using sensors and LED light strips.
With the expertise of someone who has done this many times before,
Bob removes the carpeting and installs new stair treads and risers
and modified the skirt along one side to run the wires.
He creates removable LED bars using half inch plywood,
some sanded plexi as diffusion, JST connectors
and some tile shims to under mount the strips below each step.
Bob used in Arduino Uno and three PIR sensors placed along the railing
to detect a person's position and illuminate the LED strips in sequence.
The whole system runs off a 40 amp power supply, tucked cleverly inside the wall
and showcases a few different light sequences to choose from.
The finished result is a pretty slick and entertaining home improvement.
Simone Giertz combine two of her favorite pastimes stained glass and robots
to create a working stained glass robot arm.
She starts by patterning the glass sections of an existing robot structure.
But once the force of the control motors
is applied to the delicate glass and leading assembly, tragedy strikes.
Of course, Simone writes her own rules in the unprecedented stained glass
robot arm industry, and the resulting solution is a beautifully
strange machine in the style of grandma cyberpunk.
For tips this week, Beverly Downing of Downing Creative Studios
shared a clever way to make highly portable dress forms
on her recent visit to Adam Savage's workshop.
Beverley used Fosshape, a felt-like thermoplastic
and traditional costuming techniques to pattern and stitch the form.
Once heat is applied, the form then shrinks and hardens,
resulting in a figure that is both lightweight and easily nestable
by unzipping around the center seam.
It is a perfect solution for displaying
cosplay creations at con booths on the road.
Dan from America's Test Kitchen shares why baking soda
is the most useful ingredient in your kitchen.
You're probably familiar with its use in baking, hence the name.
But did you know baking soda solution is a fantastic meat tenderizer?
Dan takes a deep dive on the chemistry magic
of sodium bicarbonate as an example.
It changes the charge of the muscle fibers inside of the meat
so they repel each other, staying loosely woven, so to speak,
and retaining moisture.
For non-meat eaters, it can also be used to drastically
shorten the cooking time and softness of vegetables.
So cool.
That's all I have for today's show,
and let us know if any of these projects spark some ideas for you.
Big thanks to Digi-Key for making the show possible and inviting me to guest host.
Thanks so much for watching. Bye.