Makeshop™

A creative space to play with ideas, explore materials, and tinker with tools.

Children's Museum of Pittsburgh

Knitting with YouthALIVE!

Knit the Bridge is a local art initiative by the Fiber Arts Guild to cover an entire Pittsburgh bridge with colorful knit (or crocheted) panels. MAKESHOP has hosted a KtB drop-off box, and we’ve had several visits in the past from guest KtB knitters. Last week, KtB brought a team of high school students from a KtB school residency to run a…

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Animation and a lot of jewelry

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Michael and Katie are two kids who really took full advantage of MAKESHOP.  They spent some time getting introduced to two different projects, mainly stop-motion animation and jewelry making.  After an introduction, they set out to create several amazing and varied projects.  Katie spent some time making felt balls out of wool and then proceeded to make necklace using her…

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Giving back

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Here at MAKESHOP, we know it’s the season to give back to our community. If you are a regular reader of our blog,  then you know that we have a floor loom, a machine that weaves fabric. Last year, a lovely couple donated their loom to MAKESHOP. We dusted it off, and with some light care, have been able to…

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Looming Danger

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Sure, we’ve made some beautiful things here, but not every weaving experiment goes well.  Sometimes… well, sometimes this happens. If our strings aren’t strong enough, they’re liable to break, shred or be otherwise completely messed up. Here are some other problems, surprises, and discoveries: DENSITY Sometimes you can really tell who was doing the weaving! Every visitor who works on…

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Weaving Experiments Ahead

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Weaving is a repetitive process, and we do a lot of it, but we love it and want to keep it fresh and interesting. So every time we start a new project, we start a new experiment! Sometimes it’s special colors, an unusual pattern, or turning it into something exciting.    Our two most recent experiments are two of my all-time favorites….

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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…

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