Derek's 3D printed head with Dana's vacuformed mask!

Last night at the open house: Dana’s home-made vacuforming efforts resulted in a bunch of people leaving the shop with a mask of Dana.

“I think Halloween this year is going to be a blast!” – Dana

” I would like to order a stormtrooper costume please. ” – Paul Walker

So Site 3: it’s about being loud and burning things without getting in trouble.

The next video will hopefully feature our hardworking founders; Alex and Seth, who are teaching a flame effects class very soon!

If you don’t know Byron, he was arrested during Toronto’s G20, media reports have been across the board; from treating him as a terrorist, to a trouble-maker, to a hapless geek.

1. Toronto Life – a particularly negative article
2. Macleans on Byron as a scapegoat/gadfly
3. Boing Boing, the infamous video of his interrogation

We support Byron Sonne, the person, the maker, and his family. Join us at Site 3 coLaboratory Friday, December 16th, to support Byron Sonne.

For those without access to facebook, the event begins at 9pm:
Come party your ass off to celebrate the end of the first round of trial and to support Byron the best way we know how: by getting shitfaced. For silly legal reasons if will be BYOB, but there will be snacks, and *drum roll* a BACHELOR/ETTE AUCTION!

That’s right! You could be going on a date with Byron himself, or one of several other devastatingly sexy Byron supporters! Is this kinda silly? Yeah! So what!? It’ll be great!

All proceeds will go to help Byron and his family cover his ever-growing legal costs.

As Lauren says, “We’re getting better!” .. As I say, “Awesome burnination and bubbling guys!”

Sabrina Scott is a communication design student at OCAD, http://sabrinascott.ca/

Lauren and Paul started from zero experience with metal casting a couple of months ago, this week, they teamed up with Derek (our local 3D printing expert) to turn out some pretty awesome casts:

So bring your ideas, learn stuff, hang out – 7-10pm every Thursday!

Also, if you’re interested in getting involved in a fire-art based project; Seth Hardy’s “Super Street Fire” is having a meeting on December 11th, for people who want to contribute.

What is Super Street Fire?

SUPER STREET FIRE: TURBO CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION is a simulated fighting game in the style of Street Fighter. However, instead of playing a traditional video game, the participants interact with the game with motions and thoughts. Instead of an actual fight, the participants face off by controlling a two-dimensional wall of fire, creating flames of their own color to attack and defend.

Each participant wears a pair of gloves that reacts to specific gestures, and a headset that reads their brain activity. A punch or throwing motion will send a single wave of fire towards the other player’s side; raising a hand in a blocking gesture will create a stationary pillar of fire that will block the oncoming wave; a consistent focused thought will send a rapid pattern of flame across the entire ring.

More information, including video, here.

Or, to put it visually:

No photoshop was used in this photo (really). Don’t worry, the fire is actually 10 – 15 feet away from the participants!

We want to get together a team of people who are committed to making this project happen for a second year, with the goal of bringing it to Burning Man 2012 as an honorarium installation. Many people from last year are still onboard, but we have a handful of new roles as we put some polish on the project and get it ready for larger audiences.

To start, we’re looking for getting all the team lead roles filled. The complete list of roles (including some that have already been assigned – marked with a *) is:

Seth kindly posted the video on the FB group

What’s Next? More events and classes!

The Mad Engineer’s Ball was such a ripping success we’d like you all to come back for DECEMBERWEEN!

Inspired by Santarchy & Halloween, conveniently around two founding members birthdays; Seth and Laura.. there couldn’t be more reasons to put on your Decemberween costume* and celebrate!

* We’re looking for creative modifications of Santa suits, Rudolph costumes where the nose is on fire, that sort of thing. The more ridiculous the better.

And now back to the business of why we all get together at Site 3 – learning and making things:

Upcoming classes at Site 3

• Designing Printed Circuit Boards with KiCad, Seth Hardy, Tuesday Nov 8th (four weeks)
• Site 3 Laser Training is generally the last Saturday of the month (check the calendar below)
• Wheel-Truing with Jordan Tam – Getting your bike into shape! Sunday, 20th November
• DIY Holiday Cards with Sabrina Scott – our book-binding superstar is back – on Saturday November 26th
• Prototyping circuits: intro to electronics – beginner’s welcome! Wednesday, 30th November
• There are rumors of a flame effects class coming soon! Watch facebook, twitter or the announce list for more!

Prizes for the best costumes complete with oversized category. Take home a handmade Site 3 trophy for your efforts.

Jello shooters, drinks in test tubes, Einstein hair, accidental lab explosions, .. make your mad engineer dreams come to life.

$5 cover at the door, food and drinks upstairs. This is the place you want to be for halloween.

Wednesday October 12, 2011
205 Richmond, room 7602

The Toronto Wearables Meetup is a gathering of people interested in wearable technology, fashion, wearable electronics, soft circuits, electronic textiles, emerging materials, and other creative and innovative approaches to things that live on the body. This Meetup is intended for artists, fashion designers, industrial designers, textile enthusiasts, engineers, researchers, students, and anyone interested in these emerging and intersecting fields.

Jessica Thompson is a media artist whose projects facilitate social situations in public space through sound, performance and wearable technologies. Her studio practice involves the creation of interactive sound pieces that audience members are invited to borrow and use within urban environments, and large-scale collaborative performances.

Her work has been shown in numerous national and international exhibitions and festivals such as ISEA 2006 (San Jose, CA), FINE/LINE (Denmark), the Conflux Festival (New York), the Deep Wireless Festival of Radio and Transmission Art, (Toronto) and most recently at the Norsk Teknisk Museum (Oslo). Her projects have appeared in publications such as Canadian Art, c Magazine, Acoustic Territories, and numerous art and technology blogs. She holds a BFA in Visual Art from York University in Toronto and an MFA in Emerging Practices from SUNY at Buffalo.

Jessica Thompson: http://www.jessicathompson.ca

The H2.0 Collective consists of OCAD art and design students Loretta Faveri, Joanne Jin, Michael Vaughn and Chris Holborn. The Collective launched their first exhibition at Nuit Blanche 2011, for which they designed a series of anthropomorphic dresses that interact with viewer’s movement, speech, and proximity. Through this work the H2.0 Collective raises the issue of modern society’s reliance on technologies to represent one’s sentiments, while at the same time humouring and impressing the viewer with the capabilities of wearable soft circuits encased in their clever designs.

http://torontowearables8.eventbrite.com/