Tag Archives: holiday

Holiday Make-A-Thon Recap

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

Holiday Make-A-Thon

We hosted this year’s Holiday Make-A-Thon on Friday, November 29th, 2013 and it was a big bundle of fun! Lots of people came and we helped them make thing. Lots of members showed up to volunteer their time sharing the maker ethos with the folks of Milwaukee, and that was great to see and be a part of.

Tom makes some ornaments

Besides our CNC cut ornaments from previous years, new member Tom showed people how to fold a diamond-shaped ornament using paper. (He even put a tree together out of pink foam Tuesday night after the meeting just so we’d have something to hang the ornaments on.) For the CNC and laser-cut ornaments we had the typical paint, glitter-glue, and googly eyes for decorating.

Learn to solder

There was also soldering using our tie-pin kit. Under close supervision, even kids are able to assemble this kit, which includes some surface mount soldering.

Jenie does some printmaking

Local printmaker Jenie Gao joined us to help people make blockprint holiday cards, and we also had crowns made from felt, melty-crayon ornaments, pet collars, necklaces, beads, bracelets, and my own personal favorite…

Make-A-Thon

Laser-cut ornaments that we let people design! We used Snowflake 2.0 from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories which is a super-easy to use Processing application that lets you design a snowflake. We had two computers set up and we helped people do the design work, and then Lance would laser cut them from 3mm Baltic Birch wood. People could then decorate the snowflake they designed.

All in all, this was a great event. People came in and saw the space, made things for the holidays, and all of our members who volunteered seemed to have fun as well. A big ol’ thanks to everyone who showed up and made it a spectacular day of making!

Ho Ho Lights

Posted on by Collin Britt

My Husband and I wanted to put up some kind of Christmas decorations in our apartment windows over looking the city. After talking about it for a while, I decided to make lighted letters saying, “HO HO HO” …but since we only have two pairs of windows, it would have to just be, “HO HO”.

In the wee hours on Black Friday, we got the materials: 4 sheets of wood, 4 boxes of 100 count LED lights, and extension cords. After sketching out the design…

…and cutting out the letters…

…it was time to drill the 400 holes and hot glue all the lights in place.

It only took a weekend to make and hang these and I think the end result is well worth it.

MAHRER CHRERSTMAHS

Holiday Make-A-Thon 2012

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

Make-A-Thon

It’s no secret that we love making, but did you also know we love helping others make things as well? It’s true… and one of the ways we like to help others is by taking part in the Holiday Make-A-Thon that happens at Bucketworks the day after Thanksgiving.

Why bother putting up with the malls and the traffic and the crowds so you can try to get some great deal on the latest gadget that will be out of date in six months. You’d be much better off joining us at the Make-A-Thon where we’ll help you make something that will serve as a great gift this holiday season.

We’ve got a few things planned, including ornaments you can decorate yourself (new designs for 2012!) You can also learn how to solder, and walk away with an awesome electronic blinky Milwaukee Makerspace logo. We’re also hoping to let people design their own cookie cutters that we will then 3D print for them. Exciting! Who doesn’t love whimsically shaped cookies!?

There will be other activities and things to make, but you’ll have to join us to find out what they are. So head down to Bucketworks on Friday, November 23rd, 2012 from 12pm to 5pm and make with us. (More details? See the Facebooks.)

(This is a family-friendly event, and it’s free to the public, though we might ask for a donation to help support the event so we can keep doing it every year.)

Holiday Make-A-Thon 2011 Photos

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

Wow! We had a great turnout at the Holiday Make-A-Thon, and besides teaching people to solder, and providing blank ornaments to decorate, we just generally had a good time.

Here’s some photos from the event:

Soldering

Here’s Royce teaching someone to solder with our Tie Pin Kit. We plan to have these at all the events we participate in so we can show people how easy it is to get into soldering.

Ornaments

Here’s Brant working on some ornaments. We used the CNC Router to cut out a bunch of different shapes for people to decorate.

Ornaments

Here’s a collection of finished ornaments.

Penguin

Here’s a dried gourd that was transformed into an awesome penguin.

Some crazy looking reindeer Brant made out of scraps from one of my projects…

And finally… Starclops. (Does Starclops really need any sort of explanation? I think not.)

Thanks to everyone who came out to make this event awesome!

Holiday Make-A-Thon 2011

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

Holiday Make-A-Thon 2011

We’d love it if you joined us at the 2011 Holiday Make-A-Thon happening Friday, November 25th, 2011 at Bucketworks.

This is a family-friendly event where the focus is on making things for the holidays. It can be gifts for others, of gifts for yourself! Members of Milwaukee Makerspace will be on-hand teaching people how to solder, so if you’re expecting an electronics kit this year, you’ll be ready!

We’re also working on a variety of ornaments that you’ll be able to paint or otherwise decorate. Keep them yourself or give them as a gift.

If you’re into knitting, care to try your hand a painting at gourd, or just want to wrap the gifts you already bought… join us and celebrate the spirit of making!

Detail? See Facebook, and then join us on Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) from 1pm to 5pm. Black Friday? We like to call it Make Friday. :)