Last Sunday we visited the Manchester Mini Maker Faire at MOSI, about which we previously talked here. We’ve had a wonderful time playing fun games, experimenting with physics, building stuff by ourselves in workshops and chatting with mini makers. We could say that the two stars of the faire were the Raspberry Pi and 3D printing machines. Every other maker used one of these two, and, in some cases, both, to build some interesting gadget, fun toy or useful tool. All ages have been catered for. From puppetry performances to electronics, from playing music to building aeroplane models, age simply did not matter.

We admired the nice woodwork of the TreeStation and Start in Salford, the fancy designs of Mim Sanders, the intricate 3D printed objects of Sculpteo and FabLab and colourful electronic gadgets of Grumpy Mike and ShrimpingIt, and peeked at the data flow around…