TWO WEEKENDS OF MAKER FAIRE

We're really excited about the next two weekends! Why? Because we have two weekends in a row of getting to attend and exhibit at Maker Faires! Maker Faire is the celebration of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness, and there are almost always robots and lasers for attendees to play with.

This weekend we'll be at World Maker Faire in New York, as part of the Bust Craftacular. We'll be with Metta Metalworks representing businesses working with 3D printing with Shapeways. 

The following weekend, on October 6, we'll be at Atlanta Mini Maker Faire. We'll be bringing our MakerBot and giving 3D printing demonstrations and possibly have a planting DIY activity.

A lot of our other friends and people we like to work with will be at these events, too. If you're going to World Maker Faire in New York, make sure to see LittleBits, Shapeways, and Belle Helmets. At Atlanta Mini Maker Faire, the Georgia Tech Invention Studio and GVU will also be there demonstrating their abilities of what they can do and student projects. 

PROTOTYPING WITH MAKERBOT

In our studio, we have a MakerBot Thingomatic that is used to prototype new products. The objects that we create on it are not production quality, but they help us get an idea what a final product will look and feel like. We created a time-lapse video of the bot in motion to give you a better idea of what it does and how 3D printing works. The movie doesn't have any sound, and I wish that I could share with you the cute little electronic chirping noises the machine makes.

One of the neat things about 3D printing is that I was able to print an iPhone mount from Thingiverse to capture this process. We didn't end up using the iPhone footage because of video compression issues, but if you don't have access to a camera, using your phone is still a great way to create a timelapse video.

In the video our bot is making a small desktop planter that we would like to print in ceramics. We printed this prototype to see if this size planter would comfortably hold a larger air plant. While the machine we use to prototype with is far from perfect, it's a great low cost and quick way to get a feel for new objects.

If you have a MakerBot or access to a 3D printer, you can check out our Thingiverse page and download some of our files to print for yourself.

SHAPEWAYS 3D PRINTING & THE CULTURE OF CREATIVITY

A few months ago I was asked to take part in an upcoming video series for 3D printing startup Shapeways to showcase the broad base of talents found amongst their users. Above is the first video of the series to get you excited about the possibilities available with this emerging manufacturing technology. At 0:35, there's a cameo of our planters, and soon you'll see me talking more about my work in another video. The videos were shot by the talented Stephen Malik, and it was great to spend a day hanging out with the people at Shapeway. You can learn more about their video profiles on the Shapeways blog.

NEW ITEMS FOR THE END OF SUMMER

Summer for the northern hemisphere is ending. Well, not really, but all of the back to school sales that have started popping up are trying to make you think so. School might be starting soon, but summer and warm weather are still going to be here for a while.

We have some new items in the store to help you enjoy the rest of the summer in style and with some cool plants by your side.

We have new planters that can attach to your tote bag or purse that work great with air plants and succulents, as well as some new smaller bike planters. If you're still in school, maybe you can incorporate some greenery while carrying your books around campus? It would look pretty cool on a backpack, too.

This necklace, our genie bottle vase, can be worn with small little flowers you've found, or can be worn without them by itself. Maybe you could roll a secret little note up inside it if you're giving it to someone as a gift. 

We're also working on some new ideas that aren't more planters, but are still related to gardening that y'all will still find interesting. Above is a little teaser of one of the new things you can expect. Follow us on twitter as @wearplants and on instagram as wearableplanter for fun updates as we make new things and develop new ideas.

BRINGING THE FIELD TRIP TO YOU: A TRIP TO THE ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is one of my favorite places to spend time in the city. Last week we had a free afternoon and took advantage of some cooler than usual weather to go check it out and get some inspiration. Since it's Wednesday, and you're most likely trapped at a desk dreaming of the weekend, I figured it might be a good time to bring a little adventure to you.

We saw this cute little cucumber in the Edible Garden, where they grow foods that are suited to the climate and season. They have recipes on the website, too, of what you can make with the plants that you find there.

The Edible Garden also boasts a large wall of vertically grown herbs. You'll have to visit to find out more about how they grow plants on that wall, but the technology is pretty neat and actually really simple. 

We were pretty fascinated by the water lilies, and won't admit to how much time we spent there taking pictures and watching the frogs. This little guy was hanging out making some noises and sitting very still. We thought he was fake until we saw the skin under his mouth jiggle.

The indoor greenhouses and orchid rooms were on last stop on our afternoon trip. I love the way they hang and layer plants in there, and this was also the first time I'd noticed their cool way of displaying tillandsia from the rafters.

Hope you enjoyed this little desktop trip, and try to check out the Atlanta Botanical Garden next time you get a free moment.

LET'S TALK ABOUT SHIPPING

Something that I've begun to notice over the past few years is that there is a lot of inefficiency and waste involved in shipping. It seems like everyone I've talked to has had that shipping experience where a tiny object ordered from a big online retailer arrives packed in a much larger box than necessary, full of bubble wrap and plastic shipping products. Thankfully most online retailers are getting better about this. We've learned a lot from items shipped to us, as well as from the 2000+ products we've shipped out over the past year and a half. As long as we've been in business, we've been committed to keeping our shipping footprint as small as possible.

This week as I was buying shipping supplies, I decided to do a little bit of research into the shipping supplies that I use, and I'm really happy to report that they're actually more sustainable than I thought. Almost all of our items are shipped by USPS Priority mail, with the exception of some international orders. USPS will provide boxes to customers, so I decided to dig up a little information on these boxes that I've been using.

Originally, I picked this box because it is small, and provides just the right amount of space and padding for our Wearable Planters without being too large. After some research, I found out that their boxes are Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certified. This means they use responsible methods in the manufacturing of their boxes, and that these boxes can be 100% recycled as well. Since the size is standardized, the postal service can easily stack these boxes in their trucks to maximize efficiency with each shipment, cutting down on the amount of fuel used.

Another neat thing I noticed about these boxes is that they're also cut to reduce the amount of waste. In the picture above, you can see how they fit together to minimize the cutoff waste paper.

Not all orders fit into these small boxes, and we were happy to learn from our supplier Uline, that the corrugated cardboard boxes we use are made from mostly recycled content, and are also 100% recyclable. They're also really strong and will survive multiple trips through the mail, so you can reuse them as well. 

Finally, we use some pretty neat packing peanuts. Traditional packing peanuts that have been around since the 1960s are made using polystyrene. Polystyrene is a plastic that, although recyclable, is not biodegradable, so it could just end up in a landfill if not continually reused. Most of you know this type of plastic as styrofoam, of which the plastic cups littering highways are made.

We started using 100% biodegradable packing peanuts made out of cornstarch earlier this year, so you can either reuse them when sending a gift to a friend, throw them in your compost or yard, or just disintegrate them in water with no harm to the environment. 

We even included this silly .gif of our packing peanuts dissolving in water.

Even though shipping will probably never be 100% sustainable, we're constantly trying our best to ship things as sustainably as possible.  Getting your item to you safely is a priority for us, and we want to make sure that we consider the environment as much as we can in this process. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments or through email.