This summer, as last year, the Syosset Library hosted a series of Teen Summer Reading Programs for fans of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM). Dubbed “Maker Camp” (inspired by Make Magazine), I have had a lot of fun getting people together to make and create.
First up, Maker Camp: 3D Printed Jewelry.
We have a MakerBot Replicator 2 at the library, so we are very fortunate to put together programs using this machine. There isn’t a lot out there on the web right now on how to actually run teen programs using the MakerBot, so it’s a little like the wild frontier in YA programming land. This is where I thrive! Haha, anyway. The main problem, as you can imagine, is how do you get multiple teens to use the machine and feel like they were able to get hands-on with it and even take something home? A small item, like an inch-long replica of a cat, might take a 30 minutes to print. You can’t make a cat for everyone during a 1 hour program, sorry. But what you can do is a combo of making items in advance and running small jobs during the program.
I decided a while back that I wanted to have a 3D printed jewelry/keychain program for the teens where I would make a big supply of small printed items (in this case, Platonic solid/Polyhedral dice bracelet beadsPlatonic solid/Polyhedral dice bracelet beadsPlatonic solid/Polyhedral dice bracelet beads, found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:233562) to have on hand as supplies.
Then I made a few larger charms, like hearts, anchors, 8-bit dinosaurs https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:357808, you name it, in a few different colors.
We own filament in neon pink, neon green, purple, translucent red, white, black and clear. So I made a bunch of items in advance in each of the different colors.
I went to the craft store and purchased jewelry and keychain making materials, metal jump rings, earring backings, stretchy bracelet thread etc. This way everyone was guaranteed to leave with something that had 3D printed parts. I also made sure to mention it was a program to make jewelry AND keychains, to attract both girls and guys. Larger or custom items, such as a robot charm https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:99339 or a READ keychain https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27949 could be pre-made and raffled off or could be printed after the program ends and picked up later.
In general, the kids were pretty good about sharing the larger items and whenever there was a request for a particular charm, I’d try to get a consensus on what color filament they wanted (in this case, black was the winner) and would try to shrink down the items and add multiple items to the build plate to speed the process along. For example, we made a few mini Deathly Hollows charms https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:42780 and shrunk them to 50% to hand out at the program.
The other benefit of running print jobs at the program is that a lot of the teens had never even seen a 3D printer! So it was an informative demonstration of the machine, the MakerWare software, Thingiverse.com and the process of desktop manufacturing. It was education, artistic, scientific and fun! What more could you ask for?
Keep on making,
Sharon Long
Teen Services Librarian
