It seems like the Making Movement is all but losing momentum, thanks in part to Millennials like us. According to The Maker Mindset by Dale Dougherty, making is seen as something personal and intimately intrinsic in nature. I would have to agree on this point very much. Week 2 was spent learning Cura, downloading models, and making our first prints. I was really excited that we were able to learn to use the printers so quick; after all, that is what we took this course for, right?

We started class off that day by breaking up into the teams, which we would be in for the rest of the semester, so we could get acquainted. Our first assignment was to look over “Making Websites” such as Thingiverse, YouMagine, and Instructables just to name a few. Our task was to decide what the websites function was, and what field or interest group it best served.

The most difficult part of class that day for me was ironically what was probably supposed to be the easiest: the task of finding something to print. Now, you have to know a little something about me first, in order to appreciate my dilemma fully. I’m a very indecisive person and I am a very thick headed individual. While it took people at most ten minutes, took me easily a half hour. However, I finally settled on something to print. It was a Hollow Celtic Skull.

Honestly, I can say that I have spent many hours outside of this class looking at things we could make, getting inspiration from other people, and just letting my mind wander and come up with its’ own ideas. Hey – it’s better that than spending countless hours wasting time on Facebook, at least I’m being productive. The things that really caught my eye are below.

• V29 Safety Whistle
  I was looking at the Thingiverse featured categories one day and came across a listing for a contest. I believe it was something for “the loudest thing you can make”. Anyway the V29 was the winner. It clocks in at about 118 decibels, which is extremely loud. It looks like a pretty solid design, so I don’t think I would change much, however – I would make the key ring a little bigger.
• Paste Pusher Animals
  This should probably fall under the category of “Things I Never Thought I Needed”. I’m not going to lie – I stumbled across these after looking through some of the other posts. Truth be told, I never even saw these before… apparently you can buy a similar product in the store. From a functionality POV, the only thing I can see that would need to be fixed is maybe an enlarged grip for the elderly. From a design POV, I would want to create one that’s shaped like a turtle, because I love turtles!
• Customizable Flat Duct Tape Reel
  Again, this falls under the category of things I never knew I needed. This is an ingenious way to carry around a roll of duct tape. As a wheelchair athlete, we are always using tape and carry around several rolls of it; this compacts all of it with a simple design. I would definitely want to make this design wide enough to accommodate at least two rolls of tape; this is quite simply so that I have less things to lose.
• iPhone 6/6s and Apple Watch Stand
  This is an amazing thing we have right here! I lose stuff all of the time, so any way I can cut down on clutter is a great thing. In my mind this takes care of two problems: cutting down on clutter and keeping things organized. Fair warning: This wasn’t the original design. The one thing that I would have changed is the dimensions of the phone slot so I could keep my case on it. Someone remixed the original and did just that.