Podcast

Lenore Edman, Maker

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Cool Tools Show 42: Lenore Edman, Maker

Lenore Edman is the co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, an open source hardware, hobby electronics, and robotics company. She likes projects at the intersections of cooking, electronics, papercraft and sewing.

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Show Notes:

minidiamond

Mini Diamond Ski and Snowboard Stone Coarse, $7
“This is a diamond file and it is sold as a snowboard edger or a ski edger for finishing the surface on your skis … It’s just a great file in general. The nice thing about it is that it’s rectangular in shape with rounded edges and a plastic backing so it’s not the least bit scary to TSA, I travel with this all the time.”


seamripper

Dritz Deluxe Seam Ripper, $4
“I love the seam ripper. I’ve had a seam ripper pretty much all my life … A seam ripper has a pointy bit and then a little bit of a hook which has a sharp edge inside. You can use the little pointy bit to go underneath a thread in a seam and then push it forward to that sharp cutting edge to cut the thread.”


patterns

Patterns From Finished Clothes, $0.01 (Used)
“One of the ways that I really learned to be creative with my sewing … to not necessarily rely on patterns and things … I could look at a garment that I loved and figure out how it was put together and use it as a map for moving forward to make something similar. That was a really great tool for me in learning to sew.”


silvano

Quick Mill Silvano Espresso Cappuccino Coffee Machine, $1,055
“When we got the Silvano the other expresso machines that we had just felt like cheap plastic. It’s just so nice to use. If you’ve ever used an espresso machine that is not plumbed in, so it doesn’t have a plumbed in drain tray, you’ll know that they often have one huge flaw which is that the drip tray is always too small. It’s really hard to empty, it’s really shallow. This one has a two-inch drawer with a big handle on the front. It’s really easy to clean up after and it’s just a dream to use, never mind being beautiful.”


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Wordnik, Free
“Wordnik is a website that concatenates dictionaries and provides example usages for words. You just type in a word and it will show you all of the available definitions that it has for it, any etymologies. It will give you links to all the places that have available pronunciation and then it will show examples of places it’s being used like Twitter … It’s just a really neat site.”


throwies

LED ThrowiesWhite 5mm Clear LED, $0.45 + Energizer CR2032 3 Volt Lithium Coin Battery 10 Pack, $8
“A throwie is an LED and a coin cell, oftentimes with a magnet. The idea being you can make a piece of information or light or art very easily and have it available … I’ve done a lot of projects based on the LED throwie over the years, things like yard lanterns for parties and light up origami and things … I can’t tell you the number of times the power’s gone out and I’m able to grab the LED out of my wallet and just turn it on and find the candles or the matches or whatever I needed.”


-- Mark Frauenfelder 11/11/15

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