Our final day in Coopersville started off with everyone showing up early (including us!), and learning about how to balance open-endedness with structure to increase creativity among students or people at our programs. Here are the resources from the day.

We started by introducing the room to Strawbees, and had some fantastic responses to our first challenge.

Then we broke down the design thinking cycle so participants could implement it. They went outside in the sprinkling rain and research each other’s vehicle dashboards.

Eventually, after going through the steps of the design thinking cycle, they made prototypes with cardboard (and junk box materials — and Strawbees) and Make-Do screws.

Finally, we introduced the idea of a challenge not simply based around technology, but rather drama, with our paper puppet people. After getting used to the movement, participants did short skits.

Check out more photos on our Flickr. And let others know about our remaining events in Coopersville and Benzonia.

We had a lot of fun learning about fashion hacking today in Coopersville! Here are our slides and other info from the day.

Due to the high amount of knowledge in the room we tweaked our usual run-through and covered some of the theory behind fashion hacking.

We discussed different uses for a t-shirt, including costumes for kids and dog toys. Yarn from t-shirts was another topic.

It wasn’t long before our participants were making some pretty amazing things. We even had several finished pieces before lunch!

In the afternoon, we were able to teach the participants about making stencils using a Silhouette machine. Additionally, we taught them about how fun kids find the button-maker.

Hope you can join us at some of our remaining events throughout the summer. Check out the rest of our pictures at our Flickr album here.

Our first workshop in the new, lovely, expanded library in Coopersville was a hit. Here are the resources from the day, including slides.

We started off with a notecard activity to get the participants thinking with their hands. We then dived into the history and aspects of the maker movement, along with our experience.

After asking participants to think about their own communities, we made a flashlight and hacked it into some pretty unbelievable things. (With a junk box that’s been whittled down, even!)

Finally, we had a lightning round of game design followed by tools time where participants got to check out our tools.

Here are all the pictures from the day. Be sure to check out our remaining workshops!

Our final workshop in lovely Alpena was for Selling Handmade Goods Online. It was so nice to have such an engaged audience who had such excellent questions!

We began by talking about how to find potential sellers in your area, and what libraries can offer to budding entrepreneurs.

We went on to cover the basics of branding and everyone got to have a bit of fun with learning the basics of photographing objects for sale!

We then talked about different sites that patrons can use to sell items online, such as Etsy, Society 6, and Smashwords.

Thanks again to everyone who came out! The materials for this workshop can be found here, and if you are interested in any of our events happening in the next couple months around the state, they can be found here.

Our third workshop in Alpena was a morning of discussing and participating in design challenges.

After discussing the balance between open-endedness and structure we dove right into a design challenge using Strawbees. Even with this new (to most) material, our participants were inventive and thoughtful.

We then had participants go out in pairs to observe and research their car dashboards as part of a hands-on experience with the design thinking process, from which we get design challenges.

After following the steps to the design thinking process, the participants had Lego prototypes of their dashboard solutions.

We rounded out the day by sharing our puppet paper people, and using techniques such as breath, focus, and weight (these were our materials for this final design challenge!) to perform a skit. Design challenges can be used for any subject area!

Thanks to all who registered! You can find our presentation materials and resources here. If this interests you, sign up for our future workshops!

What a fun day for fashion hacking! We started out the day making some t-shirt bags with pockets sewn in them, followed by some very thoughtful conversation on the pros and cons of sew versus no-sew programs – it was great to hear so many well-thought-out ideas about the benefits of each!

After talking a bit about the reasons why fashion hacking is important, we went to talk about all the different things that people can make with a t-shirt – from kid’s capes to yarn, to a skirt, and beyond!

We also broke out our silhouette cutter to let people try out the silhouettes as stencils for fabric paints!

Our final big activity was refashioning men’s button-down shirts. So many creative things were made! Skirts and aprons, a hat, and a pillow among them!

Thanks to everyone who came out today, we had a great time and, as always, it’s such fun to be able to see what ideas people come up with. The materials, including the presentation and links to outside resources, can be found here. If you are interested in our events, you can sign up for them here.

We arrived in Alpena and so did 115% of our registrants! Wow!

We did started off with a notecard activity with lots of creative objects resulting. After going over the history and theory behind some of the maker movement, we moved into forming community Maker Visions.

We continued in the afternoon with more hands-on activities, including hacking a flashlight with our trusty junk box. Our participants loved the junk box and we had more ideas that surprised and delighted us all.

After an enlightening discussion about how assessment in makerspaces can be useful for gaining support in public libraries, we moved into board game design and a brief tour of tools we like!

Here’s our presentation and other info from the day. Find more pictures in our album here.

Be sure to come later in the week or to other events down the road!

Our last workshop in Frankenmuth was dedicated to hacking, sewing, knotting, artistry, and re-using old clothing! Check out our presentation from that day here.

We started with t-shirt bags, but that was just the beginning. After some of the reasons behind just why we fashion hack, we listed numerous ways we could hack a normal t-shirt, of which Goodwill Outlet has an almost limitless amount.

We spent some time learning about the Silhouette Portrait machine from our gracious host, Pam.

After lunch, we had a lesson on the anatomy of clothing, and plenty of exploration time to hack to our hearts’ content. We closed with a discussion of how to best implement similar programs in different communities and what the challenges would be.

Check out more pictures here!

And if this interests you we’re doing it again a few times this summer!

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!

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!

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

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.

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.

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!