I had the honor to be on a podcast panel during Albuquerque mini MakerFaire 2017, Myself, and Mini Maker Faire organizer Wendi Flybutter, Bernalillo County Seed Librarian Brita Sauer, Talking to the City on the Edge podcast crew, all about making, makering, planting new seeds, and about many more things including Quelab (even if they got the tags a bit wrong).
Enjoy!
City On The Edge Podcast
The fourth of July is nearly upon us! So in preparation I bring you my collection of fireless ideas for entertaining kids and adults alike on this holiday! At the end will be links to the 2013-2016. If you celebrate with fireworks or without, some of these may help you out! pass the time and have fun, and if you celebrate with fireworks, please do it responsibly, keep a hose handy, a bucket of water to quench the deads, and common sense.
Well here is this years list!
500 drones with lights?? Substitute for skyblooms?
Here are a bunch(15) of things to try out!
http://lemonlimeadventures.com/15-science-experiments-pop-fizz-crackle/ http://lemonlimeadventures.com/15-science-experiments-pop-fizz-crackle/
5 minute cheap and mostly color related science experiments safe for kids and adults (bunches of ideas here!!!)
I think there has been basically this idea in every one of my Fireless Fourth, posts since 2011 or so, but each year i find slightly better versions, painted firework blooms
Stained glass picture frames, (make still life window fireworks)
Easy Starburst Wall Art.
Hotdog firecrackers.
http://www.popsugar.com/food/Firecracker-Hot-Dog-Recipe-37777925
Crackling Goop!
http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2013/06/pop-rock-goop.html
Here is a simple toy, to amuse, says toddlers, i’m pretty sure i know enough adults who would play too….
http://frugalfun4boys.com/2013/07/03/preschool-play-with-magnets-and-pipe-cleaners/
Overnight crystal garden. Red White and Blue!
http://www.lilmoocreations.com/science-for-kids-overnight-crystal-garden/
Not sky blooms, but it gives you the option to make colorful blooms!
Exploding Sidewalk chalk!
http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2013/05/play-recipe-sidewalk-chalk.html
Rainbow bubble snake maker!
Train your kids to be ninja superheros.
http://www.brassyapple.com/2013/05/diy-laser-maze-kids-activity.html
A quick selection of fireless amusements from Steve Spangler
So simple a photo can explain it.
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/ba/b8/d3/bab8d3047e33cb17bc8e9900b86ec709.jpg
Another single photo idea (well it’s a composite, but who’s counting?!?)
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/5d/df/1d/5ddf1d1a4c27fea9fdbc13f29ed86716.jpg
Quelab past fireless fourth links.
All links and ideas are rights of the perspective creators, i just collected most of these not responsible for misuse or damage or danger caused by any of these.
Quelab is having some upstream mailserver problems right now, so if you just got home from the Albuquerque Maker Faire, and are sending us an email. it might bounce or fail please try again in a few days or hit us up on facebook! Or Drop by for open hacknight Tuesday 7pm-10pm
Last month we celebrated our 6 year opening day — Just last week we celebrated our 6 years since our official Grand opening! It’s hard not to feel like a proud parent watching it grow and get better all the time!
2010
2013
Take a stroll with us through the good times.
Iconic moments from Quelab’s last 3+ years (slideshow)
Some older iconic moments at Quelab. (slideshow)
In our our early days we had less than 1,400 square feet of space, we are now pushing 10,000 square feet with a huge selection of tools and equipment we never dreamed we would get to acquire. But it is not the tools or the space that is what makes Quelab so special — it’s the members, the supportive friends, and the whole Maker Movement that is what makes the magic happen!
This 4th of July, many of us near Albuquerque are living with the fresh memory of the Dog Head Fire — 17 thousand acres just went poof! — a few miles out of town, it’s now considered 95% contained, but as hot and fierce as it burned, it’s important to continue looking for fireless ways for people to celebrate. Since 2012 I (Adric) have collected ideas for sending out to friends, and Quelab friends.
I know my mother, who supported the responsible use of fireworks to entertain us kids, hated anything that went boom or whistled. (and if it flew in the air, it was pretty much forbidden by our county firework laws) This naturally made me love and lust for anything that whistled, boomed, or flew in the air. But her lessons on knowing where to safely set up fireworks, how to set up buckets and hoses and all to make sure we could contain anything that did start to burn, and other general safety ideas did stick with me. I’m not in favor of banning personal fireworks, but i do plead that everyone who uses them please be careful and responsible!
On with the Fireless Stuff!
Some of these can be combined as entertainment before and after the fireworks (no matter if it’s a big stadium display or your own small home one).
All ages ideas:
A bazooka that does not explode — and despite the fact it sucks, it throws a pingpong ball or paper ball pretty far!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Vacuum-cleaner-Bazooka/
Smoke ring cannon, with dry ice fog
http://www.instructables.com/id/Dry-Ice-Smoke-Ring-Cannon-No-fog-machine-necessa/
Salt paint fireworks, (might be fun to setup some blowgun targets with paintballs and see if salt will stick to the “paint”) …
http://busymommymedia.com/firework-salt-painting/
Fourth of July slime
http://www.pleasantestthing.com/4th-july-activity-make-slime
Dish brush painted fireworks
http://www.craftymorning.com/kids-fireworks-craft-using-dish-brush/
Wind twirls
http://happyhooligans.ca/patriotic-wind-twirlers-paper-towel-rolls/
Make pretty giant stars out of nothing but paperbags and glue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAYLq1k264I
Bubblewrap machine gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76usvBPZbSk
On the food front we have:
Alton Brown’s Favorite 4th recipes
http://altonbrown.com/alton-browns-july-4th-recipes/
Stained Glass Jello
http://www.instructables.com/id/Stained-Glass-Jello/
Red White and Blue Layered Drinks for kids.
http://artsymomma.com/2013/07/red-white-blue-layered-kids-drink-4th-of-july.html
And Red White and Blue Drinks for adults.
http://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/g2465/boozy-4th-of-july-drinks/
Pizza Box Solar Smores!
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/solar-oven/
#Danger# Section:
Exploding water bottle bb/blowgun/pellet targets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rDRFFSUrPI
Liquid nitrogen can be pretty hard to get, and surely needs a little more safety, but here is a build for liquid nitrogen and water rocket launcher.
https://youtu.be/jrRmID81wrc
This one is for home made caps/exploding targets, it’s not entirely fireless, the compound does explode but there is no sustained flame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctX3juq9Okw
#needs work section:
Glowing fountain (blacklight), this one was a bit of a failure, but i suspect the addition of some yellow highlighter marker ink, and a brighter blacklight could probably make this work. But its good to know others are also on the hunt.
https://tutorialsformyparents.com/how-to-create-the-fireless-firework-a-humbling-scientific-exploration-and-thoughtful-relfection-on-the-michelson-morley-experiment/
Link to 2015’s Fireless Fourth, which also links back 2014, 2012, 2011!
https://quelab.net/19047/quelabs-annual-fireless-4th-collection-of-links/
Hi there, Im Adric. I love fireworks, Big, Small Loud/Smok!! But this year like several in the past, I have very much enjoyed collecting ideas and links for Kids and adults to do in places where fireworks are either not legal, not safe or not advisable. Some of these ideas can be used to entertain away the long hours it takes to get dark for the big shows, Or your own fireworks.
As always I don’t claim the rights to any of these ideas, (unless otherwise noted). But I do encourage people to share this post Share it on your social media, share it to your clubs and school groups. Its all a fun part of learning to DIY!
-This one is a fun color changing drink: starts off with a purple(blue) liquid, and mix in a clear (white) and you get a pink(red) right in front of your eyes.
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Color-Changing-Sports-Drink-Mocktail/
-Red, White and Blue Patriotic Parfaits
http://www.ehow.com/info_12340443_red-white-blue-patriotic-parfaits.html
-OOPS, this is a repeat from last year! sorry, but its still fun! Not technically a firework, but still cool, and I think some skybloom fireworks look like jellyfish, make a pseudo jellyfish!
-Or How about DIY Origami Fireworks:
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Origami-Fireworks/
Steve spangler show’s both the yeast, and the potassium iodide version of Elephant Toothpaste (in a Red White and blue motif):
-Funfetti or sprinkles to paint teeny firework paintings?
http://www.readingconfetti.com/2012/06/sprinkle-fireworks.html
-Glowsticks in old refilled water bottles, then pick your favorite ball. and night time bowling!
-15 second paper screamer.
http://www.instructables.com/id/15-Second-Paper-Screamer/
-This one requires liquid nitrogen, and there is a danger frostburn or bottle fragmentation, but i think the risk is pretty low.
-Smoke ring launcher (on the subject of cold stuff, this can be done with dry ice)
http://www.instructables.com/id/Dry-Ice-Smoke-Ring-Cannon-No-fog-machine-necessa/
-Diy stomp rockets, 2l soda bottle, and an old innertube,
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Stomp-Rockets/
-Past years collections
Quelabs 2014 Fireless 4th links
Quelabs 2013 Fireless 4th links
Quelabs 2011 Fireless forth ideas
As always if if you do play with traditional fireworks keep a garden hose handy, and one or 2 buckets of water. and if your doing fountains, you might consider launching them from a ladder or other stand to get them up off the ground. It makes the fountains look more impressive, and more of the sparks are out before they can reach dry grasses or other combustibles.
Have ideas that have not been covered? send me a note and I will add them! Or collect them for next years post! adric at quelab.net
On Sunday morning in January 2015, a member’s project finally took flight from Quelab, and caused a bit of a stir. Gonner was test-flying his solar balloon, and it managed to get away from him. The tetrahedral contraption (known as a Tetroon) broke free and floated free in the skies above Albuquerque, prompting local residents and a news-team to call the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration. KOAT-7 (ABC) came by to interview the creator, and put the story on the 5pm and 10pm news on 18 January. Click here for the News coverage (apparently, the 10pm coverage included a leader about UFOs in Albuquerque over the years).
I have always been into affordable entertainment and gadgetry. So when I finally found a source to buy a Google Cardboard, (a fancy name for a box you wrap around your smartphone to turn it into a Virtual reality viewer), I jumped at the chance. (one of our members had already lasercut one but the tricky part was finding strong enough lenses. figured id buy one, and then work my way around to finding ways to duplicate it. )
Its funny I knew exactly what it was physically, and was prepared to have some fun with it. But I must say my first 15-20min experience with the default app google put out first, It blew away all my expectations. Sure the cardboard rig was clumsy, the magnet switch was finicky, the pupulary distance was not quite right, and my big head and mismatched perscription eyes were less than ideal for it. but it was just a toe in the water. I could always modify(cut, tape, shape) the cardboard, or even lasercut my own wide enough to fit my face, (which I later did). but even withh all its warts, it was a very fun, “You gotta try this” thing. I love watching people when they realize they can actually look around, or fly around, or see the world with interesting camera effects.
But what amused me the most about google cardboard is, its really just a stereo-viewer, These things have been around since the 1800’s and those
view masters disks, full of Disneyland I remember so well (much better than actually visiting at age 5). But with the update of Accelerometer/gyroscope, and real time image rendering. (these contraptions we call smartphones are amazing bits of tech we take for granted every day). So from day 2, i decided i needed to retrofit Google Cardboard, into a classic stereo viewer. So i tracked down a small pocket travel stereo photo viewer and out of junk cobbled together a phone holder for it.
This was fun, and I liked it, but wanted to go back even older, so i kept hunting for an older wooden stick style of Stereoviewer/Stereoscope
“Holmes stereoscope” by User Davepape on en.wikipedia – Photo by Davepape. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
One of the many things I’ve always dreamed of Quelab being, is a place various clubs and organizations which are inline with the interests of Quelab and the member interests could meet at. Aside from the now semi defunct 2600 meeting’s this has not been realized as well as I hoped. But the idea was kicked off in grand fashion by the visit of the New Mexico Radio Collectors Club (NMRCC) A dedicated group of collectors and restorers and repairs of everything from vintage console radios, to the tabletop tombstone ones, all the way down to pocket transistor, and some members are into the HAM aspects too.
The club held its annual potluck, swapmeet, meeting, Show and tell, and club auction, there were some beautiful radios. They also had an AM transmitter connected to a XM radio playing classic 1920’s-1940’s tunes, for one of the restored console radios.
I snapped some photos of the meeting There was actually a lot more cool stuff I never got around to snapping.
More can be seen here on our flickr feed.
