Do y'all know just how many cool art machines there are out there? I've usually just been around machines such as basic printers, computers, cameras, etc. I recently learned that at Texas State University we have an area called Makers Space where students are able to use art machines such as laser printers, 3-D printers, engravers, embroidery machines, paper cutters, and vinyl cutters! When we went to the Makers Space we were able to get a tour and demo of how the machines worked.
First we looked at the laser cutter, I had no idea you were able to use so many different materials with a laser cutter. You can use wood, acrylic, cardboard, and paper! For our demo, the supervisor of Makers Space explained how we first had to figure out what material and what exactly we wanted to laser. After deciding to do acrylic and the Seattle Needle, the helper opened up adobe illustrator and began to edit the Seattle Needle. I was a bit disappointed because he didn't really give us a step by step on exactly how to laser it (It totally would've helped for my Impossible Project!).
While that was being lasered, we went over to learn about the embroidery machine. We are able to sew basically anything onto any cloth material! All we have to do is plug in what we want, either on the machine, or onto illustrator and then upload that to the machine. We then can choose different fonts and font sizes, and different thread colors. Honestly, I have never learned how to actually sew or use a sewing machine so they actually let me thread the machine, it was surprisingly pretty easily! It was really fun to watch the machine maneuver and how they made each mark.
I think this space is a really nice asset to have at our University. Being a future art teacher, It's nice to be able to have a space where we can learn how to use each machine (for free too, woohoo!!). It would be awesome if we could have these in future elementary schools and high schools so that students are able to work with them early on!
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