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!

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!)

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.

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™!”)

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.

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:

Hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!