Among the exhibits and exhibitors scheduled at the Library are a 3D printer demonstration, Arduino kits and Raspberry Pi, a jeweler, an artist who uses pressed flowers to make her art, a seamstress who uses up-cycled materials, a painter who paints mandala art and one who paints gourds. There will be special children’s activities in the Story Time Room including beading, origami and edible chocolate modeling clay. It’s all free.
Doug Baldwin, Emerging Technologies Librarian at Piscataway Public Library, will provide a hands-on demonstration of a Makerbot 3D printer, as well as free software you can use to start working with 3D models. He will also give visitors a look at the Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized computer, and give attendees an opportunity to use Arduino kits to build all types of electrical circuits.
Local artists will also be demonstrating their crafts, and many will have hands-on projects for visitors to complete and take home. Rebecca Baranowski will use her sewing machine to up-cycle clothing and fabric scraps. She’ll display clothing, doll hats, fascinators and pins that she has made. Brigid Glynn-Young will have a display showing the origin and history of Mandalas. She will demonstrate her process of creating Mandala, the stages of a piece, and the tools and supplies she uses. There will be Mandala templates for visitors to practice making their own Mandala art. Michelle Marigliano and Lorenzo DiAndrea will display samples of Lorenzo’s Saori weaving. Participants will be given time to weave on a pre-warped Saori loom. Beth Murphy will demonstrate and describe the process of pressing botanicals to best preserve their color and beauty. She will have a variety of different presses and a supply of already pressed flowers for people to work with to make their own cards or bookmarks to take home. Andrea Skerratt, who makes jewelry and metal objects using silver, copper, brass, gold and semi-precious gems, will demonstrate how she uses hand tools to create silver jewelry. Mark Thompson will demonstrate how to dry gourds and then cut, carve, burn, sand, paint, dye and apply various dried flowers to make decorative and useful bowls, vases and birdhouses. Tiny bottle gourds will be available for visitors to decorate and take home. The library's on-going Saturday Crafters will meet in the Small Meeting Room at 3:00 pm and answer questions about their group.
There will be other activities as well. Angela Ferraro-Fanning will conduct a demonstration of Photoshop on the library’s iMac from 12:00 to 1:00 pm. From 1:00 to 2:00 pm, she will be available to answer questions. Library staffers Sarah Gillis will direct visitors in a hands-on craft creating a paper circuit using copper tape and LED lights, and Laura Shabazz will demonstrate how, with black-out poetry, one can combine a love of word finds and lists to reveal one’s inner artistic poet.
Maker activities for children will start at 10:30 am with a special Saturday Story Time for families. This drop-in program will run until 12:30 pm and include stories and Maker crafts. Older children (Grades 4 to 12) will enjoy Maker activities from 1:00 to 4:00 pm such as beading, origami, edible chocolate modeling clay and creating a refrigerator magnet.
There is no charge to attend Maker Day, and no sign-up is needed. For further information, call the Library at 908-766-0118.
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