Nerd Craft Librarian goes to L.I. Who 2013

Long Island has been seriously lacking in the convention department. We used to have I-con at Stony Brook unfortunately the con was canceled last year (Thanks Hurricane Sandy). So when someone told me about L.I. Who I was thrilled! It was the first Doctor Who convention on Long Island in over 20 years. After searching other Who conventions, it looked like LI Who has become the only con of the North East! So I'm really pumped that it is was only a 20 minute drive away.

My brother, Charlie and I ventured out and arrived at the con pretty early on Sunday. Upon entry when I saw the TARDIS car I knew I was in the right place. The lobby was full of my people! Where else can you guy when you see a couple of Doctors hanging out with some weeping angels and Tardis'. The first thing we ran to was a panel with the Doctor of the con, Sylvester Mccoy. He played the last Doctor in classic Who, the seventh. He shared some stories of his days as the doctor and also talked about one of his latest roles in the Hobbit in which he plays Radagast the Brown. He spoke about working with Peter Jackson and that he was up for the role of Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings series. Towards the end of the panel and he started fielding fan questions and did the most extraordinary thing. He walked the room and approached the fans. He was very sweet to all of the fans!

We left that panel a teeny bit early so that we can check out the panel featuring Ian Mcneice. He's a guy who likes to keep buggering on, because he's known for playing Winston Churchill. He was really, we came into the panel a bit early and he acknowledged us and said "Oh please do come in, welcome! Would you like some water?" He talked a little bit about who, but he talked more about his varied career as a respected actor and he kept us laughing.

After Mcniece we went to check out the vendor tables. I was excited to meet other nerdy crafters that live locally! Some of the nicest people were, Pixel Who and Geektastic Creations. I was glad to see some amazing work. So go to their sites and check them out!

 

We then took a trip to the main room to take our picture with the cons TARDIS! While on line, we saw some amazing costumes, including a family of Cybermen (adorable). After the TARDIS photos we went and took an amazing/ridiculous family portrait with Sylvester McCoy. Its pretty amazing and I look forward to hanging it in my house and confusing future house guests.

I attended another panel that was all about my favorite Doctor, Matt Smith! It was hosted by the podcast Two-Minute Time Lord. It was an interesting discussion, where fans talked about why Matt Smith is their favorite Doctor and how sad we are that its his last year.

The rest of the day was great. We saw Daphne Ashbrook, who played Dr. Grace Halloway in the Doctor Who TV movie from the 90s. Then afterwards I participated in a game show styled like Wheel of Fortune and I won! woot woot! Afterwards things started to wind down. Towards the end of the day I received a ribbon that advertised for next years con! So I was excited that it will be back next year!

Comic Con 101

Today was an exciting day for me. I was lucky enough to showcase some of my crafts for some Suffolk County librarians. It was all a part of, Comic Con 101. An event for librarians to share ideas to create a Comic Con like experience at their own library for their teen patrons. I was glad to meet so many fellow librarians (and nerds). I was so honored that Barbara Moon asked me to participate. I even won a prize! I won this nifty Dave Roman picture!

Any way onto what I did. I focused my area on three different fandoms, Star Wars, Doctor Who and Zombies.

Last May 4th (May the 4th be With you) I held a very successful Star Wars program. It was so much fun and I was glad to see that the Yoda ears were a big hit among the librarians. Here is how you can make your own Yoda ears or Leia Buns.

Materials:
Green Card stock (Yoda Ears)
Brown card stock (Leia Buns)
White oak tag (head band)
Stapler
Markers
Gems (optional)

Instructions

• I free handed a template for some Yoda ears and made a bunch. Be sure to leave a flap (this gets folded and stapled to the head band, so your ears are all floppy) 
• The buns are just big circles 
• the head bands measured 1 1/2 inches x 21 inches 
• Trace and cut out all of your pieces! 
• The kids can decorate the ears/buns before assembling. You can use markers or gems to really glam up those Leia buns 
• Take the strap and measure it on your head then staple
• For the ears fold those flap (as mentioned earlier) and staple them to the headband
• You are ready to use the force! 

You can read about my complete Star Wars Day experience, here. Theres more info on light sabers, snacks and even some games! If your looking for more Star Wars stuff check it out! 

I was really excited to see that a lot of librarian's not only recognized the Doctor Who stuff but they loved it just as much as me! If you aren't familiar with the Doctor here are some quick facts:

• Doctor Who is a BBC series that has been on the air since 1963
• The Doctor is an alien, a Time Lord, from the planet Gallefrey. He is the last of the Time Lords and has two hearts
• He travels through time and space righting wrongs and fighting evil. This includes Daleks, Cyber men and the Angels
• He Traves via TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space). It has a perception filter making it look like a blue police box and it is bigger on the inside. 
• The Doctor hardly travels alone and has companions
• The Doctor's weapons of choice include, books, his wits and Sonic Screwdriver

I made some shrink plastic key chains as a craft example. They are quite simple and come out looking so great! Here is how you can make your own:

Materials:

• Shrink Plastic (better known as Shrinky Dinks) are avaible in blank or printable sheets.
• Sharpie Marker
• Colored Pencils 
• Scissors 
• Brown grocery bag
• Toaster Oven 

Instructions

• Do some digging online for images you want to use. Here is what I found: 

• Be sure to make the images bigger than your desired finished size (because they do shrink) I resized and configured the images in Publisher. Also the instructions of the shrink plastic inclue a sizing ruling to help you determine how small and image will become.

• Trace and color your images on the shrink plastic. Trace the image with sharpie marker (on the glossy side). Flip the plastic over and color with colored pencil on the other side (you can also use paint and markers as long as they are NOT waterbased! 
• Cut out your images. Punch a hole if you are creating charms
• Pre heat the toaster oven to 325 degrees
• While the oven is pre heating, take the brown grocery bag and cut out a rectangle shape. 
• Place plastic, colored side up, on top of rectangle shape and place it in the oven
• Be sure to keep an eye on it so it won't melt. You will see the plastic shrivel then flatten out. Once it is flat you can take it out of the oven and let them cool down

Zombies 

In October I held a zombie program for tweens and helped the teen librarian do a similar program for the older teens. This involved zombie make-up, a zombie fashion show and trivia questions. I also made a zombie survival game in which I presented the kids with a zombie senario with options. Their survival depended on which choices they made. For the tweens everyone survived, for the teens they all got infected and learned that the zombie apocalypse was caused by bad mayo.

The teen librarian also made up some Zombie standees and the kids used nerf guns and did some target practice. The teen librarian even volunteered as a walking target! The zombie target practice was a big hit so I brought the standees and a nerf gun to demonstrate.