READY MADE Magazine

Here's another DIY magazine covering a wide range of home, fashion, food and other projects -- definitely more focused on the hip crowd. The blog contains projects from all the past issues -- check out Sew! and Plug it in!

Green Craft Magazine and blog

While at the Barnes & Nobles newsstand I cam across a magazine called Green Craft which also has a blog. It's a new bi-annual publication which features a wide range of projects with recyclable materials. It's a bit Martha Steward-like photographed, but showcases how plastic bags, old t-shirts can be turned into stylish artifacts. The blog has planet of 'how-to' examples and might be good place to get patterns and guides for free.

MAKE magazine

Do I need to say more? Check out Make magzine and associated blog.

CRAFT Magazine

To follow up on the search of print magazines that serve today's DIY crowd, there is of course one promising candidate: the Craft magazine and associated blog.

DIY Magazines newstand -- 100 Idées

Today I spent some time browsing print magazines at Barnes & Noble newsstand to see what's available in the DIY aisle. Well, there is quite a bit on quilting, crocheting, scrapbooking, beads, sewing, knitting, and so on. It all seems to be aimed at a particular audience, more adult, kind of Good Housekeeping gone wild. I was trying in vain to find something hip, like for college students, artsy crowd - like 100 idées (see below). I suspect all of these groups are much better served by online blogs and communities.

When I lived in France in the 80's we had this really cool monthly magazine called 100 ideas -- 100 Ideés -- which really was a whole DIY movement without the technology. It stopped circulation in the late 80's but here's a website (unfortunately in French) with some pics. I actually once knitted the sweater with the clouds for someone -- believe it or not -- I still have the pattern!

Renegade Craft Fairs

I just found out about the Renegade Craft Fairs that take place all over the country .... they also have a cool blog, called Renegadehandmade-- Check it out!

Berkeley Workshop on Music & E-Textiles

http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/event/2009/08/15/August_interactive_e_textile_workshop_arduino_lilypad

LilyPad Arduino Flickr Group

http://www.flickr.com/groups/lilypad_arduino/pool/

Communicating Between LilyPads

Leah says:
"You can physically attach 2 LilyPads to each other so that they can communicate. To do this you would attach the TX petal of one to the RX petal of another & vice versa. To do wireless communication you would need to use the LilyPad XBee (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8937)."

Getting Started Resources

Ordering Toolkits:
To order the LilyPad Arduino kits are available from SparkFun electronics. Leah suggests ordering the following as a starter kit:

1 LilyPad Pro kit: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8873
1 spool of 4ply conductive thread: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8549
5 LEDs: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8873
1 light sensor: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8464
1 RGB LED: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8467

NOTE: Each spool of thread can be shared with 3 or so people & you may not need the mini USB cables that are part of the pro kit.

Download the Arduino software for Mac or PC:
www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

Getting Started Guides:
http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/LilyPad/
http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoLilyPad