8th Annual Threadless Family Reunion

Location: West Loop

Date: Saturday, August 23, 2014; 1:00-3:00 pm

This is an annual event where artists get together for a day of games and other fun activities.  The theme for this year had something to do with Universe etc. and of course ‘Adler Planetarium’ was involved.  Michael had sent an email soliciting volunteers and I had replied that due to other commitments, I would not be able to attend the entire event from 10 am onward, but could help out in the afternoon; which was fine with him.  I did not know anything about ‘Threadless’ as an organization and according to their ‘Wikipedia’ page, “Threadless is an online community of artists and an e-commerce website based in Chicago.  Threadless designs are created by and chosen by an online community. Each week, about 1,000 designs are submitted online and are put to a public vote. After seven days the staff reviews the top-scoring designs. Based on the average score and community feedback, about 10 designs are selected each week, printed on clothing and other products, and sold worldwide through the online store and at their retail store in Chicago.”  Sounded like an interesting concept.

Initially I had thought that this was at Adler, but the learnt that it was actually at a location in West Loop.  As I walked over there, the skies were looking threatening and I had not carried any umbrella with me.  I arrived to see a carnival like setup with different game stations where families with kids were enjoying themselves.  Adler had a couple of tables under a tent and I saw some familiar faces from ‘After Dark’. One of the main attractions was a “Robotic Checkers’ game, with two sets of robotic arms that could be maneuvered on a checkers board.  Also, there was the dry ice experiment, and materials to “Make your own Martian”.  Also, there was a bowl of cornstarch and water to demonstrate “Non-Newtonian” material – hard when you tap on it, but melts when pressed.  Oh boy, I better remember that ‘Rheology’ course from all those years ago!

The dry ice "crystal ball" actually worked!

I stood next to the “Martian” station and a kid came over with his mom.  He started making his creature and said that it was a “Cyclops” with one eye.  I told him to be as creative as he wanted to, and he did a good job using the materials.  Later, his brother came and made his own creature and they both had fun at our station.  As some of the volunteers who had been there since morning took a break, I took over the dry ice station. We were making the bubble in a bowl, otherwise known as "the crystal ball", the "rocket in the canister" and also a tube which showed how dry ice sublimes. The CO2 vapors are transferred through the tube and can be seen at the other end as bubbles in a soap solution.  As people came over, I would ask them about dry ice and then tell them about its properties, especially the ability to “sublime”.  Then I would mention that this was how ‘Hollywood’ made all of its cheap special effects for horror movies. People were excited to see the bubbles and for most parts, we were successful in our demonstrations.  Once when it did not work, I told the visitors that they were just going to have to see a picture to believe me.  Yeah, that is very scientific!  But the important thing was to educate the visitors and so I was telling them how dry ice had been used to solve a 150 year old mystery regarding the “Martian canals”.  Many wanted to touch it but it wasn’t wise to do so without gloves.  All in all, everyone liked the demonstrations.  Just like “After Dark”, we had a volunteer walking about with Meteorites doing “Pocket science”.  The best place to engage people was as they waited in lines at various game stations such as “Ping-Pong”, some rockets that you could launch by jumping on a pump, a “Bouncy house”, and a giant inflatable Rat that you had to “feed” using balls! 

The skies finally opened up and the rain came down in Biblical proportions.  Everyone rushed inside a warehouse like thing and it looked like we would be in there for some time.  The party was well and truly on indoors and people were playing games in order to win tickets, which they could exchange for t-shirts.  I tried my hand at a “miniature golf” game and actually made a “hole-in-one”!  I got a ticket which I could have used, but the line to get the shirts was a mile long.  It just goes to show that people love their ‘SWAG’, but hey, it was pouring outside. What else were they going to do!  It did not look like we would be going out anytime soon, and so after a round of discussion on planetary motion around the sun with my colleagues, I called a cab and left.  It had been a nice little outing, even with the terrible weather.  And I had actually won at something – an event rarer than spotting a one-eyed ‘Cyclops’.