Our mapping data, from OpenPaths, during our Zurich vacation laser cut into plastic and made into a necklace.
Inspired from Meshu – meshu.io
Tag Archives: Art
Printmaking Plates
One of the things I’d like to try at the Makerspace is printmaking, and since Brent brought in a press, and I’ve got some ink and nice paper, the next thing I need is a plate.
You can use a variety of materials to make the plates, but I’m interested in using wood, and as you can see from the photo above, one option is to use a CNC Router to do the plate. (The one in the photo is at UWM and features one of Frankie’s pizza cutters.) I’m going to first try the laser cutter for making a plate. I’ve got some half-toned artwork which I’ll do a raster etch with, and see how that goes.
If this works (and I’m sure it will, right?) we should be able to make plates that are 12″x24″ on the laser cutter, or 24″x32.5″ on the CNC Router. For anything larger than the press we’ve got we’ll need to make the print by hand, which I’ve seen done, but haven’t tried yet myself.
If anyone has experience with any of this, or wants to work on it together, let me know!
Kenilworth Open Studios
On Saturday April, 21st, 2012 a few of our members visited the UWM Kenilworth Open Studios, and got a look at some of the work produced by the Peck School of the Arts faculty and students.
My only complaint is that the event only lasted 3 hours! :)
Seriously, we could have spent twice that long seeing the work, the workspaces, the tools, and the people.
We had a great time talking to Frankie Flood about his work, RepRaps, tools, the Makerspace, and just making in general. Check out his handverker blog for a great behind the scenes look at some of the things he’s working on.
There were plenty of other things of interest to our members, including printmaking, photography, screen printing, music, film, CNC machines and 3D printers… and a personal favorite… Cake!
If you missed it, put it on the calendar for 2013. They only open up like this once a year, and it’s definitely worth seeing.
And if you don’t feel like waiting that long, there’s some great Summer Workshops in Jewelry & Metalsmithing that at least a few of our members may be taking part in.
Gallery Night – Spring 2012
Our friends over at Bucketworks serve as the home to Artworks for Milwaukee, and since they’re a stop for Spring Gallery Night on Friday, April 20th, 2012, they figured the more the merrier, and invited us to take over part of Bucketworks and show the art appreciating crowds the sort of stuff we do… which is often a cross between art, technology, engineering, software development, and… well, we just call it making.
So join us April 20th from 5pm to 9pm and see what crazy things we come up with this time. :)
One Tool at Sweet Water Organics
As we’ve mentioned in some previous posts, a few of our members took part in The Tool at Hand Milwaukee Challenge recently at Sweet Water Organics, so I figured I’d add just one more post to tell you about the event.
First of all, I should state that Milwaukee’s Art Community is one of those things that makes this city special. We’re lucky to have such talented artists here, and we at Milwaukee Makerspace are honored to be a part of it. That said, the show itself was well put together, and the variety of pieces shown was fascinating. I’d suggest a big round of applause for the Chipstone Foundation for making this all happen. But, hey, we’re here to talk about our makers! :)
On the left we’ve got Kevin’s piece, which includes a table and a set of “rocks” he created with an angle grinder. Kevin was unable to make it to the show, so I tried my best to answer questions about his piece. People were definitely interested in it, but alas, it did not rise to the challenge of being selected for the Milwaukee Art Museum. I think that’s fine though, as Kevin already has a spot in his home picked out for it.
On the right we’ve got a door with laser-etched glass courtesy of Jason H. (with a little help from his partner Dena.) This too is a piece that belongs in a home, and by that I mean it’s beautiful and should be on display. I get the feeling Jason may be etching more glass for people in the future…
And here we have Shane’s piece titled “A Dream Half-Remembered” which was created with the chopsaw and a lot of wood. Shane put a many hours into this thing, and it shows. There were challenges along the way, but in the end we got it there in one piece, and got it attached to a concrete wall, so I call it a success!
Last, and maybe least, is my piece, titled “Plastic Sun” which was created with a heat gun, and about 200 plastic grocery bags. I won’t go into too many details, but if you want to see more photos, or the video I produced, head over to my project page for it.
While none of our pieces were selected for inclusion into the exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum, that’s just fine. We all had fun doing this, and we met a lot of great people at the event, from artists to art-enthusiasts, some of whom were interested in the Makerspace.
The One Tool Challenge is a great concept, and who knows, maybe it’s something we might want to see happen as a Milwaukee Makerspace event, either restricted just to the members, or opened up to the public as well.
So what tool would you choose?