Children's Own Media Museum: HarbourKIDS (Oct 6-8, 2012)

About

Children's Own Museum is a mobile, charitable organization that provides play-based learning experiences for kids.

In October, the Children's Own Media Museum was set up at Harbourfront Centre featuring a series of interactive exhibits inspired by the concepts and ideas of Marshall McLuhan.

Kids and parents learned about how 3D printing works, saw it in action, and got to take home a 3D printed moustache ring as a souvenir.

To prepare, I 3D printed 218 moustache rings in advance, and then made at least 300 more during the event!

Photos

Ladies Learning Code: Fundraiser (Sep 9, 2012)

About

Ladies Learning Code is an organization that teaches programming and other technical skills in a beginner-friendly way. In September, they held a fundraising party to co-incide with the opening of their new space at CSI Annex.

There were a ton of 3D printers at the party! I bought my usual assortment of 3D printed goodies (as well as the rarely seen full-size sword!) and my Vectrex.

Maker Kids: Curiosity Rover Mars Party (Aug 5, 2012)

About

Maker Kids, a local makerspace for kids, put on a kids program full of science-y goodness during Toronto's Live Curiosity Landing Party at Hotel Ocho.

I 3D printed a pile of rockets for the kids, and between driving rovers & building egg drop Mars landers they learned how 3D printing works. :)

Later that week, I visited Maker Kids and wrote about their space on Ponoko.

Photos

Ladies Learning Code: 3D Modelling and Printing Workshop (July 14, 2012)

About

Ladies Learning Code is an organization that teaches programming and other technical skills in a beginner-friendly way. In July, they held a workshop at the TIFF Bell Lightbox to teach basic 3D modelling and 3D printing.

In the first half of the workshop, participants learned to use Autodesk Meshmixer by customizing pendants and magnets from a starting template.

The finished designs were then taken into the next room to be 3D printed, where I and others from the 3D printing community printed them on the spot. We also taught how 3D printing works, and showed off previously-made objects.

Photos

TIFF Kids International Film Festival: digiPlaySpace (Apr 10-22, 2012)

About

The digiPlaySpace was an area of the TIFF Kids International Film Festival, set up to showcase interactive art and technology.

For nearly two weeks, I demonstrated 3D printing to school groups and families using a Thing-o-Matic borrowed from the Critical Making Lab.

Breakfast Television filmed a short segment on the first day, in the very early hours of the morning during an invite-only preview.

Photos

Videos

"Model" short film (Mar 5, 2012)

About

In early March, my MakerBot had a small role in Dylan Reibling's short film Model. It was a lot of fun being on set as a "3D Printer/Wrangler" for the day. :)

Model premiered at TIFF 2012 (woo!), and for now I can share some set photos and the official trailer.

Photos

Videos

Daily Planet (Feb 20, 2012)

About

In mid-February, the crew of Discovery Channel's Daily Planet came to Site 3 and filmed a series of segments for their Garage Gurus Week.

I brought my MakerBot to the shop and gave Ziya a brief overview of 3D printing, and showed some of the things that one can make.

Videos

TIFF Nexus: Women in Film, Games & New Media (Dec 9, 2011)

About

The Women in Film, Games, and New Media Day was a conference that took place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox as part of the TIFF Nexus series of events.

Quoting from the event website:

(the conference is) a jam-packed day of awesome; exploring and showcasing market opportunities presented by diverse voices from the film, gaming and digital media landscapes

I brought my MakerBot to the event and gave a talk during the Intro to DIY Making workshop. Later, I had the 3D printer up and running during the reception at the end of the day.

Photos

TIFF Nexus: Locative Media Innovation Day (Oct 28, 2011)

About

The Locative Media Innocation Day was a conference that took place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox as part of the TIFF Nexus series of events.

Quoting from the event website,

(the conference) will explore emerging themes and practices in locative and mobile media as well as showcase the results of the TIFF Nexus Peripherals Initiative creative jam

I brought my MakerBot to the event, and spoke a bit during Autodesk's Digital to Physical: Technology at your (Creative) Service workshop. Later, I demoed 3D printing at the end of the workshop and throughout the reception and technology demo later in the evening.

Tech News Today episode #349 (Oct 13, 2011)

About

Tech News Today is a daily tech news show on the TWiT network.

In episode 349, my video response about 3D printing was played during the viewer feedback segment.

Videos

SoonCon 2011 (Sep 30-Oct 1, 2011)

About

In 2011, the third annual SoonCon was hosted at Site 3 and the TIFF Bell Lightbox by Site 3.

SoonCon is an annual gathering of Southern Ontario hackerspaces and makerspaces, meant to facilitate friendship and cooperation between the various groups.

I gave a lightning talk on the first day, and spoke about the my adventures in 3D printing up to that point.

Photos

Toronto Mini Maker Faire 2011 (May 7-8, 2011)

About

In 2011, Toronto's first Mini Maker Faire was hosted at Evergreen Brick Works by the Treehouse Group, Site 3, and EfstonScience.

Mini Maker Faires are smaller, independent offshoots of the official Maker Faire events. From the event website:

Toronto Mini Maker Faire is the ultimate celebration of making, crafting, DIY-ing, tinkering, hacking and sharing. It’s a weekend where makers of all kinds will show off their projects and hold how-to workshops, with hands-on activities for all ages. Exhibits on display will include robots, laser cutting, letterpress printing, a 3D print gallery and kinetic sculptures.

I had a table set up with my personal MakerBot, and demonstrated 3D printing to all sort of families and individuals. Kids received whistles as they printed throughout the weekend, and earlybirds got to take home one of the hundred mustache rings that I'd made ahead of time.

This is actually where I first met members of Ontario's various hackerspaces & makerspaces, and got involved with Site 3.

Look for Mini Maker Faire to return in 2013!

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Videos