Castle in the Air at Maker Faire

Over the weekend Castle in the Air went on a fantastic journey to San Mateo, where we participated in this year's Maker Faire. Our theme was paper crafts, and the entire Castle crew pitched in to dream up an amazing booth and fill the van all the way to the top with crepe paper, our new French paper models, vintage ephemera, paper theatres, Dresden trim, and other treasures, along with several finished pieces to show our visitors what can be done with it all.

Crepe paper artist Aimee Baldwin and I greeted countless people at the booth over the two days at Maker Faire (big thanks to Anandamayi Arnold for helping with this on Saturday). Aimee, who teaches crepe paper flower making at Castle in the Air, demonstrated how to make the flowers to our booth's visitors. She is a thoroughly accomplished artist and has spent the past few years perfecting her latest passion -- life-sized replicas of extinct and endangered birds made with crepe paper from Castle in the Air. Her works are flat-out amazing and she received no end of admiration and questions from the thrilled passers-by. For those who weren't able to see Aimee's birds at Maker Faire (or if you were there and want to see more), watch this space for an exciting announcement in the next few days.
Our paper model of a "Bateau Sous-Marin," an early military submarine, was another favorite with the crowd. We sold through our stock of this particular paper model within the first hour. Thankfully we had brought several more types from our 300+ style collection to choose from!

I only got a very brief chance to wander away and see a bit more of the exhibits, but even taking in just a glimpse gave me such heart and hope for the human race. We are a curious species, full of enthusiasm for trying, building, and doing, working in so many different ways to make our dreams a reality. At Maker Faire we can be reminded of all this, and also that it's okay to wear this imagination and excitement proudly on our sleeve.