25th October, 2019

Continuing with our RRR ( Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle) philosophy in the Cre8 Lab, it is fitting that our last workshop for 2019 is the repurposing of plastic bottles.

The intention is to use the plastic bottles as a base for a fairy house with windows and doors. The clear plastic acts as the glass for the house and when you add some fairy lights inside, the house comes alive for the Christmas season.

This is a big project for the students, and involves the students first mapping out their vision of the fairy house then completing the structure or “bones” of the house with wire, silver foil and hot glue. Then they start to add air dry clay to the structure, making sure to cut out enough windows and doors to show the fairy lighting inside.

The third stage of the process is by far the most enjoyable, when the students get to paint and decorate their fairy house using acrylic paints and bits and bobs that we have in our Cre8 Lab collection.

Below are a few pictures of their progress so far. I will keep updating this post during the next few weeks.

17th October 2019

It is week 2 of term 4 and the 3Doodler Pen Art workshop is gaining momentum. What started off as just a few students learning the art of 3D pens has now turned into a full workshop with new students coming along every day.

Because we have a number of these pens, I have been able to accommodate their creative minds and encourage as many students as possible to take the time and learn how to use the 3Doodler with its intricacies and limitations.

Each student starts off thinking the pen is “just too hard!” but the ones that have persisted have been pleasantly surprised with their creations. Of course we have had some students that can get the knack “right off the bat” also.

Now that they have started to have success, I would love to bring the pens out again before the end of term and give them some more complex designs to complete.

Check out the presentation below to see the workshops that we have available in the Cre8 Lab for Term 4.

6th August, 2019

Rolling on to week three and the students have started working on the final workshop for this term, being the Laser Printing on Material workshop. The first step was to design something that would fit onto an A4 sheet of paper, working on their devices, the students had to decide what they wanted to print, if they wanted to add wording or other images to their design and also if they wanted to print for a pillow cover or a wall hanging. Most of the students went for the wall hanging.

Printing on material has a few stages, firstly you have to iron the material onto a sheet of freezer paper, cut this to exactly A4 size making sure to be precise with no stray threads, and then for extra precaution I instructed the students to use sticky tape to seal the edges of the A4 sheet. They then printed their design in colour from the outside tray of our library printer. We used poplin or calico material.

After printing the design the students started on attaching the print to coloured material using embroidery cotton, and of course putting their individual touches to their projects.

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6th August, 2019

During week two of this term, the Cre8 Lab students were fully engaged in creating their Luminaries.  The original idea was to use wax paper to iron leaves and dried flowers into two sheets and then create a box, using hot glue and wooden skewers.  Unfortunately we could not find wax paper at a reasonable price locally, so we reverted to using iron on vilene to get a similar effect.   The students and I experienced a learning curve when it came to what type of flower/leaves were suitable for sandwiching between the sheets of vilene, we learnt very quickly that ‘less is best’.   Colourful washi tape was also used to attach the sheets together before giving the luminaries some structure with wooden skewers.

The last step of the project was to add light. We added a battery tea light which changed colour and this  gave an ever changing glow to highlight the designs on the Luminaires.

28th June, 2019

During the last week of school, students from Year 9 History were lucky enough to utilise our Library 3D printer and also the new 3Doodler pens during class. Because their unit was Indian history, the students were asked to find an artefact or something relating to the subject in Thingiverse. Then they downloaded the .stl file and manipulated the object, changing the size and in some cases transforming a hollow object into a solid object, using Microsoft 3D builder.

Because the students were so speedy with this task, we had time to spare, so I introduced them to the new 3Doodler pens that have just arrived in our library. The students were very excited to use their creative talents and create some fantastic objects. It did take a bit of time to get the hang of the pens, but those students that persevered were rewarded. Some students set a goal to create the Eiffel Tower, which was a great first effort.

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31st May, 2019

Fun Fact: The foundational Japanese version of stab binding is called Yotsume Toji, which roughly translates to “four holes.” This is also the basic Chinese version, while the Korean standard has five holes (a more favourable number in Korean culture). All styles were practiced during the Edo period in Japan and the Qing Dynasty in China.

During weeks 4 and 5 of this term, the Cre8 Lab students were working on their Japanese journals.  We had two workshops over the two weeks, and 24 students completed their journals.  It was fantastic to see each student create their individual piece.  A little bit of concentration was needed to stitch the journals together, but they all got there in the end.

Have a look at the process pictures below, and the beautiful finished product.

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15th May 2019

During the third week of term, year sevens were busy in the Cre8 Lab creating the Pop-Up Box Cards for Mother’s Day.  Now that Mother’s Day has passed,  I am able to post all the delightful box cards that were made during this exciting week.

The students were very keen to make the cards, enjoying all the flowers and butterflies that were made using our  Sizzix Big Shot Machine.