maker faire – Parrotphernalia

I returned for a second time to the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire a few days ago. As always it was an absolute blast to see all the other makers from all around the province. I was also happy to see some familiar faces. One person even brought her purchase from last year because it had been damaged in a move. I happily repaired it over the weekend and returned it to her.

This year they changed the set up and created two distinct spaces for makers that were showing and telling, and makers that were selling. Parrotphernalia was perfectly situated near one of the main entrances on a corner with beautiful natural daylight coming through, and even a nice breeze now and again. With such a great space and so close to the outside I had no problem being indoors on a beautiful weekend.

Once again Parrotphernalia made a donation to the Maker Faire silent auction. Up for grabs was a set of beach themed feather earrings and necklace. The earrings were sterling silver with small anchors and bright blue macaw feathers, and the necklace was sterling silver with section of a sliced sea shell and two tones of blue macaw feathers. I was pleased to hear the bidding got pretty high before the end of the weekend.

The highlight of the weekend was getting interviewed for a show about the Maker Faire. I’m not sure when it will be aired, but I’ll be sure to let you know.

We hope to see all you amazing makers and maker enthusiast again next year!

This June we had the pleasure of being part of the Mini-Maker fair being held at the PNE Forum on Saturday June 1st and Sunday June 2nd. It is the biggest DIY event in Vancouver, and there are many more Maker Faires held in cities and countries all over the world. It brings together people and creators from all walks of life. Techies, engineers, crafters, builders and tinkerers join together as “the aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community.”

It was amazing to meet so many local makers and creators including Living Lotus Food & Nutrition, Self Design, Heike Kapp Glass, and Window Arcades Terrarium Design among many others. We recommend checking out all of their pages and seeing the great products they have to offer. I wish I had had the time to visit every stall and browse over everything each maker had to offer.You can see the full list of 2013 Makers here.

In preparation for Maker Faire we worked hard creating new inventory, many of which sold at the Faire. We were also making custom pieces throughout the weekend. We made both pendants and earrings as well as a custom hair piece. Over the weekend we spoke to many attendees and other makers about our products and parrots. For the children there that we knew would want to touch all the pretty feathered pieces (which we didn’t stop, but encouraged the gentleness you would apply to a live bird) we put out a few of Larry’s wing and tail feathers to be flapped, rubbed, pulled and twisted. We showed how each strand on the feather or barb rather, had tiny hooks on them which allowed them to be preened back into place. We also surprised many visitors at our booth with the long life cycle of parrots.

One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting so many attendees that had feathered companions or had met local rescues and sanctuaries such as O.W.L. Orphaned Wildlife and Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary.

We were also part of a Silent Auction and held a draw for people to enter to win a pair of earrings or a pendant. We had over 150 entries! Larry picked the winners and we mailed their prizes off right away! Watch the video here.

We are cannot wait to go back next year and are looking forward to meeting all the new makers and returning ones.