Cardboard Prototyping Masterclass.

Artist Will Alexander and a group of local makers spent the day turning inventions into 3D models. They had to think about how the inventions would actually work and some added mechanisms, moving parts and even a light up LED.

Young people have great ideas about what could change the world and being given the opportunity to make one into a prototype is brilliant. Gary Pickup - Masterclass participant

Johana Hammad a cardboard furniture maker based in Manchester modelled the Unikettle by Kara, 8 also from Manchester. Joanna loved that it was a smart kettle so you could turn it on as you come home. Kara designed it for busy people and Joanna added propellers to the kettle so that it can also bring the tea to you.

The Plant Name and Information Teller designed by Amelia, 7 from Newcastle was realised in 3D by tech creative Jonathan Hartley who runs Tinker Lab in Manchester. Jonathan brought a special tool to cut curves and circle in cardboard. He followed Amelia’s instructions very closely and modeled the cut out on an an iPad mini. He also accurately cut the shapes so that the compression function of the device could work and it worked really well!

Cameron, 8 from Consett’s Dog Machine was a welcome challenge for Gary Pickup a coder who runs Code Club in MadLab, a Manchester makerspace. As someone who normally makes things with computors he enjoyed being physical maker for the day he says “I thought about the pull back mechanism on pinball machines, and K9 from Doctor Who. Imagine a model dog, where you pull the tail, let go and it fires a ball for a real dog to fetch!

Lisa Mather, a STEM ambassador starting a makerspace called Qwirkshop in Manchester prototyped The Foot Iron by Oscar 11 from Halifax. She found an LED and battery and added it to the on off switch really bringing the drawing to life.

Binoculars of the Future

Over 4000 visitors came to MakeFest over the weekend and hundreds of families (and a few big kids!) imagined what they would see through binoculars that can show you the future. We had underwater houses, alien invasions, polluted landscapes, fantastic flying machines and one inventor showed the view out of their spaceship looking back at earth. The workshop was inspired by Dominic Wilcox’s Future and Past Viewing Binoculars which were on display for everyone to get ideas for their own machines. Inventors had to think about what their buttons did and what date they could see, there were danger dials, radars and antennas. One came with a colour picker allowing a choice of rose tinted or green futures.