This was an exciting week for me in this class. It was my first time at the Fab Lab in Urbana, and I was intrigued as soon as I entered the building. I had no idea the FabLab existed and all of the interesting things you can make there. As I was lasering my box I was talking with Clinton about the opportunities available at the FabLab. He was telling me how they hold workshops and teach people of all ages to make different things. He also showed me how you can laser glasses, such as beer mugs, wine glasses, and mason jars to name a few. I thought this was really cool, and definitely something I would do on my own time in the FabLab.

This week, I was in the group that made the box. Clinton was a great teacher and was extremely patient with all of us. We first started by making the dimensions of the box. We then made the top of the sides of our box flat by removing the teeth and inserting a straight line. After we made the correct dimensions and removed the top of our box, we were allowed to put any silhouette we wanted on the sides and bottom of the box. I decided to put silhouettes of things that make me happy, so I included a coffee mug, a home to represent my family, the sun to represent sunny days outside, and books since I love to read.

After we were done placing our images onto the sides of the box, we made sure the lines were red so they would be cut, and that the lines were the correct size. Once everything was in place, we saved our projects to a flash drive and began lasering our boxes.

It was fun watching my box come to life right before my eyes. I did not know it only took around 7 minutes to complete the job. I was not able to assemble my box, but I was happy with how everything came out. I can’t wait to see the finished product when we return to the FabLab next week and do some embroidering!