Meet a Maker!
Do you sometimes wonder who is lucky enough to work in MAKESHOP? Well, here is your chance to meet one of our talented makers! Check back every week to meet new people. This week, we introduce you to one of our Teaching Artists, Rebecca! Name: Rebecca How long have you been at Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh? I worked at the prototype…
Meet a Maker!
Here at MAKESHOP we are just bursting at the seams with talent, which we credit to our amazing Teaching Artists. They are the ones that help you tie your knot at the sewing table, solder a pin, or hold two pieces of cardboard in place while you’re taping a recycled sculpture project. Let’s take a closer look at the MAKESHOP…
Making Use of a Record Player
We needed something that spins for our kaleidoscope workshops. I was planning on making something like a big spinning wheel, but by coincidence, an employee from another department dropped off an old record player. It was a great coincidence! I own a record player and I use it to play music. I never thought I’d be using a record player…
MakeShop Bloopers
We have been weaving on hula hoops and other circular looms for the past month. We decided to create a giant circular loom by bending yardsticks and taping them together. We thought it would be a great way to make a giant, circular rug. Unfortunately, the material that we used bunched up and created something that we never intended…. Check…
Prototyping with Visitors
Here’s some footage of our first attempt to make kaleidoscopes with visitors. Anyone can look up a project online and assume that people will enjoy it. I’m the kind of person who needs to get the opinions of visitors before I believe that an activity is worth doing. Plus, I really enjoy having the opportunity to teach something new. In…
ACM InterActivity 2013
Every year, there is a conference for the Association of Children’s Museums. The location of these conferences is different each year and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh has the privilege to host the 2013 conference! We promoted our conference at the 2012 conference by creating a short promotional video. One of our Teaching Artists, Christina Zaris, is a talented stop-motion…
Fifth Period: Shop Class
Every Sunday I find myself venturing into the MakeShop just to see what’s going on. Lately we’ve been allowing visitors to experiment and build using wood. Visitors are able to create whatever kind of project they want using our tools and materials. First off, visitors are asked to draw up a blueprint of their project. Visualizing your project is incredibly…
WoodShop Begins
It’s been quite a change, moving from the malleable and forgiving materials of SewShop to the hard-bodied solidity of wood, and making the adjustment from electrical-powered sewing machines to a cadre of hand-powered tools. Already with WoodShop I am discovering a completely different kind of reaction to the tools and materials we’re using. Hammers and nails are nearly ubiquitous, and…
Some Reflections on SewShop
Last week we wrapped up SewShop, sorted through all the scrap fabric, put the bear-repair teddies out of their misery and put our sewing machines back in storage (for now). Many of the visitors (not just the youngest ones!) were completely new to the world of sewing and textile manipulation. Quite a few had never cut fabric before, never held…