Last October, a really spectacular space opened up on campus – we now have a dedicated Maker Space! Loads of equipment, including: vinyl cutter, embroidery machines, sublimation printer, oscilloscope, Arduino, soldering station, engraving machines, laser cutters, Carvey mill, and a virtual reality set up. Oh, and of course, we have 3D printers.

That’s where I decided to start. I don’t really have any pressing need for things I can laser print, but the technology is SO cool, I wanted to learn how to use the machines. My son and I started out with two projects: some Lantern rings (Indigo for me, and Yellow for him). Mine didn’t come out too well – I need to learn enough about the software to make some adjustments, and try again.

I had much better success with a little owl figurine. I’ve been collecting owls for years and years, so I hoped this would make a cute little addition to my collection.

It did take me two tries – the first machine we tried cut out part-way through – but look at this little cutie: