Ground Hog Day, sort of, from the Portland Mini Maker Faire

3S Consulting LLC, chemistry demo, as seen at the Portland Mini Maker Faire. I had been attracted to this booth because I noticed the man's old Aladdin Thermos, just like the one that my dearly departed husband LeRoy used to have. Then I started watching and listening. By the time the man asked, "Does anyone want to strike a match?" I hollered, "Leland does!" My son stepped right up and followed directions as his brother Lamont, in the solid red T-shirt and the sunglasses, looked on and I took photographs which turned out well, despite the loud pop.
 

Straight out of the camera, cropped only. That's my son Leland holding the bottle in which something just ignited. Leland and I remember it as oxygen and hydrogen. I know you don't have any trouble understanding just how excited I was to see this photo of the explosion and the flame inside the bottle, as well as flying out the neck of the bottle. So was the man in the booth, wearing the red shirt and holding the match. I promised to e-mail him the photo and he handed me something with his e-mail address on it. I have lost it. I don't follow directions nearly as well as my son.



Cropped and altered with BeFunky's HDR 1.



Cropped and altered with BeFunky's OrtonStyle 1.



Cropped and altered with BeFunky's Underpainting 1. Which is your favorite, please? I like 'em all, but if forced to pick, I'll go with Underpainting 1. Come back soon for more about this fabulous chemistry demo! I hope to find out more about 3S Consulting LLC because on Monday I'm going to call OMSI, host site of the Portland Mini Maker Faire and see if they will give my contact info to the man doing the demo.

How many degrees of separation from a shaved ice delight to quite a silly sight? Look all the way to the end, and you shall see, my friend.

I thought about making a collage with these photos, but I like seeing them larger than that allows. Hope you will!
 

One. So Cold Shaved Ice, in action at the Portland Mini Maker Faire, September 15, at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). He's making me a Wild Cherry. From SCSI Web site: Portland's only sustainable and solar powered shaved ice vendor! We use locally sourced beet sugar and the stand is run solely on power harnessed from the sun! (I say, so cool, so Portland.)



Two. See the red already in the cup, more visible in the photo above than in this one? That means he's already drizzled a good deal of syrup on the ice inside the cup, before putting on additional ice for the final shaping. Leland and I were pleased to see this because we knew immediately that we'd have flavor from top to bottom!
 

Three. The final shaping.



Four. Soaking the shaved ice with syrup! Here's what the Web site says about their syrups: So Cold Shaved Ice makes all of it's own syrups using beet sugar and natural extracts as well as using unaltered, naturally sweet fruit juices to produce unparalleled flavor! I can testify to the truth of that statement, as can Leland whose watermelon one had us both looking for the seeds!



Five. The Alter Egos Society booth. A silent exclamation called my name! You know just what I'm talking about! Their booth sign points out that the AES encourages creativity and original, DIY costuming for superhero enthusiasts while raising money to support the mentoring of homeless youth. (I say, more cool Portland going on.)
 

Six. I stepped up to wait for a little boy to finish his mask, reading this sign as I stood there among the children. I like these instructions because they promote safety in mask creation. Smart.



Seven. My fearless leader. Well, he's the AES man helping mask-makers like me and the children at the table.



Eight. See what I mean? I traced the pattern, visible there at the top of the photo, onto the bright green fun foam. I cut out the holes, and the AES man cut them a bit larger on the bottom and the outer edges. He then cut tiny slits near the outer corners where the strings could be inserted so that I could tie my mask to my face. Since there was a child there who needed the AES man's help, I offered to show him an easy way to insert the piece of string through the slit. Fold the end of the string over into a loop, use your finger to carefully force the slit open, the shove the loop through the slit so that the string could be tied off. You see, he was trying to shove the cut end through the slit, and it's just not big enough to go through easily. He smiled and then allowed me to complete the other side of my mask while he helped a nearby child.
 

Nine. Silly sight! As promised, me in my mask with my Wild Cherry red tongue. Do you like the marker marks on my thumb? They came from holding the fun foam as I cut out my eye holes. Later on when I took off the mask, Leland asked, "Mom, what's that purple on your face?" Yep, marker marks between my eyes and on my nose.