Bicycle Heaven Field Trip
I own a bicycle. I used to commute to school via bike and I own a Pittsburgh trail map. I can reconnect a brake cable and theoretically know how to adjust my spoke tension. I’m not a total luddite, but to me bicycles are a necessity only if there’s no buses and it will take too long to walk. So when a friend…
Stop Motion Inspiration
This month, MAKESHOP is focusing on activities that relate to a theme of “time,” so we’ve fixed up our homemade stop motion animation station to be better than ever! Whether you’re new to stop motion, were inspired by one of the full-length movies that came out this year (The Pirates! Band of Misfits, ParaNorman, or Frankenweenie) or are in the season…
Light Painting Inspiration
We’re exploring with light painting this month, but that’s just a starting point! If you can’t get enough of light painting or need some inspiration for a bigger project, then watch these amazing light videos and get some ideas! If you’re one of our older visitors, you may remember this Sprint television commercial from about five years ago. It’s short,…
Light Painting Tests
Each month, our staff decides on a theme to help us decide what projects and activities we want to offer to our visitors. Our November theme is “Time” and we’ve been messing around in the shop, brainstorming some fun, open-ended activities that emphasize the idea of time passing. We knew we wanted to do some light painting, so we started…
Duquesne Incline Machine Room Field Trip
Possibly the best fifty cents you’ll ever spend is a look inside the Duquesne Incline’s machine room. At 135 years old, it is the oldest cable car operation in the United States, predating San Francisco’s trolley system. The Incline now runs on electricity instead of steam, but much of the machinery is unchanged from the original 1877 design. In 1962 the Incline…
MAKESHOP Superhero Gadgets
We get our fair share of crime-fighting gadgets here in the ‘shop. Grappling hooks come and go in waves, and lightsabers are always popular. We’ve seen Iron Man-style repulsers, and plenty of Batman-inspired costume pieces. There’s a foam samurai getup on one of the dress forms, and I myself am guilty of making a magazine-paper broadsword and plate armor combo. Usability is a huge…
Robot Fabrication
Robots are a common theme here at MAKESHOP. We have robot sculptures overlooking our area. We live in what is ostensibly the robot capital of America. On her last day, one of our summer interns made a robot pillow to remember us by. Robots are, let’s face it, just plain awesome. Unfortunately, they also get repetitive after a while, which is why I’m always…
Weaving Production Team
About a month ago, two families came in together. Ages 10, 8, 8 and 5, I would normally expect them to have pretty different definitions of what was “fun” at the museum. Upon entering MAKESHOP, they discovered the loom and took turns working at it. The younger three went to look at some of the other activities, but the eldest…
MakerBot in MAKESHOP
We have a new toy in MAKESHOP — a MakerBot Replicator 3D printer! It’s on loan to us from the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, and we finally broke it out to play with it! Calling this machine a “printer” isn’t entirely accurate: this isn’t a printer like the one on the corner of your desk or even…
Sewing Circuits, Part 2
On Tuesday, Pei and I hoped to replicate the success of last Sunday’s workshops. We soon realized, however, that it was a beautiful day outside — after so many unpleasantly hot and sticky ones — and the attendance rate of the museum was therefore lower than we had anticipated, as all of Pittsburgh was busy enjoying the novelty of not…