Monthly Archives: June 2017

Workshop in Marquette: Introduction to Fashion Hacking

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This week in Marquette we started the day with a workshop on Fashion Hacking! We began by making some t-shirt bags, then we sewed pockets in them on the sewing machine!

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We talked about transforming cheap clothing from thrift stores into different kinds of creations, and then the participants got to try that activity out for themselves! People were making aprons, cat-shaped pillows, and baby clothes!

 

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Meanwhile, we discussed ideas about programs concerning fashion hacking, and how to overcome potential sticking points in the process.

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The materials for this class can be found here, and we will be offering this session among others in different towns around the state for the rest of the summer, those can be found here.

 

Workshop in Marquette: Selling Handmade Goods Online

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Our very last workshop in Marquette explored the idea of how libraries can be amplifiers of local craft entrepreneurs.

Here’s a link to all the information, slides, and bibliography we covered.

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We focused on Etsy with some exploration time, photography practice, and discussing different communities that already exist around the idea of collegiality amongst a team of sellers.

Finally we had an overview of some different sites that can help budding entrepreneurs get started without having to invest in inventory. For instance, did you know that even without a 3D printer, you can have Shapeways print a model you make? (We recommend TinkerCAD as an easy start to 3D modeling, too!)

Check out our other events this summer — next up: full day fashion hacking in Frankenmuth!

Workshop in Marquette: Maker Idea Swap

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We had a great time today in Marquette at our Maker Idea Swap!

 

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Everybody kept their hands busy with some Toy Takeapart, one of our favorite activities while we talked about Maker programs everyone is running, thinking of running, or has heard of.

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The notes for today’s session can be found here, and if you are interested in attending any of our future sessions, they can be found here!

 

Workshop in Marquette: Design Thinking

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Our second day in Marquette and our first day at the beautiful, enormous Peter White Public Library.

Check out the slides and folder of additional infomation here.

We started the day working through the design thinking process so the participants could have a good handle on both the individual steps and the entire overview of what it’s like to complete a design thinking cycle.

 

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After sending the participants out to observe each other’s dashboards and prototype solutions (with Legos!) to the main problem, we had them discuss problems in their own community that could be solved with the same process.IMG_20170628_121524862

We hope that this can be a useful way to balance open-endedness with bit of structure and direction, for classroom teachers and librarians alike — or for anyone in the community!

We hope to see you at some of our future events.

Workshop in Marquette: Introduction to the Maker Movement

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Welcome to the UP! Chris Standerford at the Digital Learning Lab Makerspace on NMU’s campus was very prepared to host our first of three days in lovely Marquette.

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We started off with a short activity to introduce our approach to conducting workshops (hint: heavy on the activities and a healthy serving of agency, not to mention a good amount of principles to take home and apply!). We had some very creative notecard-pencil-yarn creations! (Here are our slides and files from the event!)

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We continued with some background about our experiences and what we’ve learned — focusing strongly on the purpose behind the makerspace and what each person’s individual community needs.

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In the afternoon we had more activities that the participants really enjoyed! We made flashlights and then used our (curated!) junk box to enhance and pitch some products. (“Worried about your neighbors or enemies knowing how much ice cream you eat at 2 in the morning? Use Secret Scoop™!”)

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Participants finished the day by designing some board games, learning about assessment strategies, and looking through some tools and toys they could make use of, both ours and NMU’s! More pictures can be found at our Flickr album here.

Hope to see you later this week at some of other events, or at future events.

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Workshop in Frankenmuth: Digital Art

Road Trip

At Pam’s suggestion, we spent our afternoon in Frankenmuth working on three digital genres: photo editing, video editing, and graphic design. You can view the slides and resources here and find event photos here.

This was a one-time event being offered only in Frankenmuth this summer, but we have lots of other great events going on around Michigan — check out the events list here!

Here are a few photos from the afternoon:

photo of screen of picmonkey.com

Dog photos!

Group of collaborators

Hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!

Workshop in Frankenmuth: Selling Handmade Goods Online

Road Trip

We premiered a new workshop in Frankenmuth today — a workshop on how to support patrons in turning their interests into online craft businesses. This was a lot of fun to put together and to run today!

{Decorative} Skeins of embroidery floss

We gave everyone embroidery floss and some Make charms so we could keep our hands busy while we talked. Here’s a work in progress …

Hands making a floss and charm object

We went exploring on Etsy to do some market research; then Alyssa showed us how to help patrons take better photos of their creations.

Instructor pointing at display screen

Armed with new strategies, we went throughout the library and garden to photograph our new creations:

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We swooned over Spoonflower and other online stores and swapped ideas we had for how to use it in libraries:

Photo of the book The Spoonflower Handbook

And explored several Etsy- and craft business-related titles.

Books about Etsy on a table

etsy book

If you missed this event, check out our remaining events throughout the state this summer. We’ll be repeating this workshop!

You can also view our slides and resources here.

And check out Pixabay.com, Wikimedia Commons, or SnappyGoat.com, which Ben recommended for stock images for creating your store brand!

Photosphere tour of Niles District Library

Road Trip

Panoramic photo of children's area of Niles District Library

We just acquired a 360-degree video camera after learning about it to prep for our Google Cardboard workshop earlier this month.

Check out Ben’s efforts — saved to Flickr as auto-play panoramic videos but inserted here as still images — and check out the wonderful atmosphere of the Niles District Library! Put this library system on your must-visit list for its beautiful layout, inviting furnishings, and engaged staff.

Workshop in Niles: Gathering Financial Support

Road Trip

Do you freeze up when it’s time to write a grant, scrambling to find the information and get it done on time? Do you know where you can get great demographic data to help build a case for why your community is in need of funds? Do you know what a program officer is and how he or she can be invaluable in your project planning?

Those were the kinds of questions we sought to answer in our last workshop at the Niles District Library on Friday, June 16, 2017.

We started by making a wish list so we’d have it at the ready when we found out about new grant opportunities.

Photo of a wish list worksheet

We used BusinessDecision (free to Michiganders via the Michigan eLibrary!) to dig into demographic information and look for how we could weave data into compelling stories.

And among other things, we took some time to just think about how to organize our thoughts with some sample grant questions culled from a variety of common funding sources.

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If you missed this workshop, check out our schedule of upcoming events and come and join us!

You can also download our planning packet here.

Kristin

Workshop in Niles: Design Challenges

Road Trip

On Friday, June 16, Ben and Alyssa led us in a half day of design challenges: short, one-session design sprints using various physical materials.

First off, Guinness World Record-style challenges. Who can build the longest or tallest or fastest or …? For an example of this, we used the classic marshmallow challenge with the largest marshmallows we had ever seen!

Photo of construction using marshmallows and toothpicks

We continued our use of everyday materials by converting brown parcel paper into life-size marionettes, turning our attention to STEAM-related design challenges with bunraku-style puppets:

Two paper bunraku puppets sitting side by side

After challenges with paper and food, we turned to non-natural materials with a challenge involving Strawbees that demonstrated the challenge cards available from Strawbees:

Assembling an object using Strawbees connectors

And finally, we used our own in-house design cards to challenge people to solve problems with cardboard and plastic MakeDo screws:

A chef's hat made from cardboard and MakeDo screws

We’ll be repeating versions of this workshop throughout the summer. If this looks like fun, we hope you’ll register for one of our free statewide workshops.

You can also find our folder of support materials here.

As always, these workshops are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services RE-05-15-0021-15. We are grateful for their support and for their funding, via the Library of Michigan, of LSTA funds that bring us resources like the databases and electronic resources of MeL.org.

Kristin