An Evening in the Sphere

The Pirate and I headed over to the Maker Faire last weekend, and had our brains recharged and inspired. I bought a pair of sunglasses from the very talented and self-effacing Stuart Breidenstein and the Pirate and I walked out with a Minty Boost kit and a few other odds and ends. The biggest thing we walked out with was the desire to restart the brain-in-a-jar project, of which you'll be hearing more in future.

So, in the spirit of "let's make some stuff," the Pirate and I spent our Wednesday night making some stuff. The Pirate got out our soldering iron and third hand (no one should be without a third hand) and put together the Minty Boost. Meanwhile, I dragged a bunch of oils up from the soapmaking stash in the basement and made a big batch of body butter using my favorite fragrance, the Gap's long-discontinued Om. I now have five old Body Shop shea butter containers filled with my creation. It's a lot different in texture (I used 60% shea, 20% palm and 20% coconut oils), but goes on wonderfully, is very moisturizing and smells amazing. Next time, though, I'm thinking castor oil. It'll give the finished product a little better spreadability without making it more greasy.

At the end of the evening, we hadn't caught up on any reality tv. We hadn't watched another installment of someone else doing things we'll never do. Instead of sitting by, passively consuming, we were creating stuff. To me, that's always the best evening in the world.