Allen’s Car
Here is a great example of how a visitor can really come prepared to MAKESHOP. Allen visits the Museum a lot and although there are lots of things to play with at the Museum he sometimes brings his own toys as well. During this particular visit his toys completely inspired him to create something in MAKSHOP. He wanted to make…
Melt the Night Away
We hosted yet another Adult MAKEnight this October. We offered hand sewing and machine sewing as an activity along with circuit blocks and stop-motion animation. We prompted our patrons to make something for Halloween, but of course everyone was free to make whatever they wanted. The Art Studio also provided a bunch of activities, including silk screening with glow in…
Field Trip: Braddock Library
The Braddock Library is an amazing place. The building is beautiful, the staff is extremely friendly and the patrons are awesome. I was lucky enough to visit the library twice this summer and teach two workshops: one woodworking and one electronics. The woodworking workshop had about twenty kids participate and all of them created something original. One girl simply spent…
Maker Faire 2013
The third Pittsburgh Mini-Maker Faire was held in September here at the Museum, presented with HackPGH. As always, it was a lot of fun. I spent most of my time in MAKESHOP drawing with robots and teaching people how to solder. But I did get a chance to see all of the fun inventions and ideas that the makers were…
Open Source PinBall
Christian built a pinball machine… Well, he built a box with a ramp out of pegboard. The rest of our staff really helped turn it into a full-fledged pinball machine. We encouraged visitors to add their own obstacles, ramps, scoring systems, etc. This open-source pinball machine is my favorite new toy in MAKESHOP (sorry laser cutter). The additions to it are…
More Magnets?
As usual we are always prototyping or experimenting with something new (or old) in MAKESHOP. This particular day we decided to continue our exploration of magnets. Magnets are something that really seems to intrigue the entire staff of MAKESHOP. I found some plastic tanks in the basement and decided to them to create some new magnetic prototypes. We tried to…
Pirates, Catapults, and Pedal Carts!
Two visitors help assemble our pirate pedal-cart catapult We’re working on an exciting new project at MAKESHOP: A Catapult! Normally we don’t make war machines, but this one has been repurposed for FUN. Our design is based on the trebuchet, a sling-based counterweight-powered type of catapult originally invented in the 11th century. We’re building this crazy thing to throw the first…
Making a Board Game
How do you make a board game? All you really need is a table, pencils, a stack of paper and your imagination. A couple of weeks ago we allowed visitors to play and add to a simple board game that we started. The end result was amazing…And really challenging. Most of the rules forced you to do some…
Field Trip: Avonworth Elementary
Recently our Maker Corps Members and I visited Avonworth Elementary to hang out with some second and third graders and their teachers. We presented them with a design challenge. We put the kids into four groups and challenged them with the task of creating a structure out of recycled materials and tape that could support a certain amount of weight. Our…
Another Youth MAKE Night…
We held another Youth MakeNight for some of our teenage visitors a couple of weeks ago. These events are so much fun. As staff, we get to interact with an older demographic of children, and the group of teenagers get to visit the Museum without their parents. We offered several different activities for the kids (sewing, pinball, circuits, etc.) and…