https://giphy.com/embed/K0t5wxlf42d802SG2A
Hooray!! I completed my first-ever mini-workshop and I think it was a great success! I hope everyone now has some new useful tools they can use in their future digital projects. This was such a fun workshop, and I’m so glad I was able to do it. 
(I actually uploaded my advertisement to GIPHY so I could get the animated aspects here 
) UPDATE: Giphy is being MEAN and not letting me embed my gif
I made my own name tag!!! My first and only idea for what I wanted it to look like was an amp because I play bass guitar and amps look cool. I was going to try to add a little bass on it but I thought it looked a little better without it. With my vision in mind, I just had to make it. While I wasn’t unfamiliar with Tinkercad it had been a while since I used it so I reacquainted myself with its weird interface by speedrunning through their tutorials. Once I did that I was able to create the design below.
The hardest part of this whole process was definitely finding a time when the 3D printer was free for my training and actual printing, and I ended up having to come in for both on Sundays. While it was printing I sadly realized too late the name tag was thicker than I thought it would be. So while this is what my actual name tag will look like the official version won’t be ready until the 30th.
I did a mini-workshop! I almost didn’t make a post about it until I saw Angela and Katy’s but here it is now. Last Friday I taught the basics of using CSS in WordPress and gave people some code they can use to edit text and images on their site. I made a website so that people could follow along during my presentation and use it later if they wanted to. I also made a poster which I may have spent a little more time on than I needed to but it looks great and that’s all that matters! I would say it was a successful workshop except for Safari’s weird inspection tool.
For this project, I learned how to 3D print. The last and only time I had ever 3D printed was in seventh grade, so I had no memory of what to do or what software we used. This time, I used Tinkercad in the design process and I designed a name tag for myself. For my name tag, I wanted to make it personalized, and I wanted to incorporate things I like into it. Some things I like are pigs and SpongeBob, so I decided to make the shape of the name tag an outline of a pig and the text style the same type as the one they use in SpongeBob. Overall, I thought Tinkercad was a cool tool, but it was a bit difficult for me since I had no experience using it before. I went through a lot of the tutorials they had on their website, and then I watched two additional videos to help me create my design. One of these videos was about turning 2D images into 3D objects. This was helpful for me because I was able to take a 2D image of a pig and convert it into a 3D pig. I also watched this video about downloading and importing text into Tinkercad. Because of this video, I was able to add my special SpongeBob font into my design. To get the measurements for my name tag, I actually measured some of the other DKC consultants’ name tags! This is my design below:
In order to print my name tag, I made a 3D printer training appointment with the DKC. This was actually my first time booking an appointment on the DKC website and Ally was my consultant. I had briefly done a training at the beginning of the year for 3D printing, but this was a nice refresh. I was able to print a tiny pink dinosaur. I think I’ll give him to my sister. She’ll like that.
I finally printed on April 22nd. At first, my print failed because I cut the layer in the wrong place. My pink pig started to turn white!
I had to start over which was annoying, but it was okay since the print did not take long to do. Here is the final image!!
This was seriously my favorite project yet, although I did also really enjoy the ADC video…
I loved getting to design my own little nametag!
I think TinkerCard was an interesting and easy beginner tool to work with, however, it definitely has its quirks and limitations. I felt very restricted as to what I could actually do with my design until I discovered a tool where I could morph and squish stuff similar to using a pen tool in Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop since I have experience in that. However, I couldn’t add any more points to morph and was stuck to the amount they gave me (I think it was about 5 points.
For anyone who may think I’m talking crazy nonsense, this is what the pen tool looks like in Adobe. You can drag points and curve them to make shapes.
For my name tag, I’m not really sure where I drew inspiration from I just thought of things I like to draw and one of those things is cute little dragons. So I made him sleepy and cute.
This was my original design I drew on Procreate, and then my final 3D design! I wish I added the little arms but it kind of looked weird when I tried to do them in TinkerCard.
Unfortunately, I have not found time to print my nametage yet! But I will update this post when I do.
woo-wee, that was hard!
This was such a fun and channeling project to do! I have never worked in any 3D modeling software or programs. I am an illustrator, I normally work with 2D elements so it being digital AND 3D was crazy. Luckily, Tinkercad is programmed with beginners in mind and became a little easier over time. The largest challenge I had was getting the holes right in my fishes face, the controls can be a little finicky. As I am in the throws of my fish obsession, the choice to have a fish shaped name tag felt the most natural and doable! I hope to make a better looking one in Fall 2024! I can’t wait to see everyone else’s.
I learned some CSS!! I finally changed the accessibility thing that was bothering me on my home page! The text is now black instead of grey, and I also changed the font of my body text so that it’s a little easier to read.
There are so many possibilities!! I love it!! I’m not afraid anymore!!
I saw that Angela posted about the workshop, so I’m hopping on the bandwagon.
I taught a workshop on creating a site icon with Canva. This is what I made during the presentation:
I love the graphics that you can access through Canva. This little guy captured my heart.
It was great to see the wide variety of icons that everyone came up with! You all are so talented and creative.
On Friday, April 12th, I presented my workshop. I chose to do my workshop on designing YouTube banners with Canva. Overall, it went well. Below is the general schedule of my workshop:
One thing I found difficult about the workshop was balancing instructing and giving time for the people to design. I tried my best, but I think as I do more workshops, I will get more comfortable.
Overall, really great! It was crazy to me that it just opens on the browser, it feels like a tool that could be a whole separate application. I used the introduction courses to get familiar with all the controls, and I found that helpful, but I still feel like there are features I don’t know about. That said, I was able to fulfill my creative vision with just a few shapes. Who knew a cylinder could be so versatile?
Figuring out how to add in stops to my print at the right layers was a little tricky, but Trinatee was super helpful during my appointment! We got it figured out and I was able to use four different colors. After the print was done, I realized that the font I chose wasn’t as clear as it looked in Tinkercad, especially the pronouns and job title, probably because they’re so small. There are also some wisps of filament that I’m struggling to remove. I may alter the letters and try again in the future.
Although it was about a month ago now, Saint Patrick’s Day really had me thinking about my ancestry and cultural heritage. Thinking about the Irish got me thinking about Ireland, which got me thinking about Scotland, which got me thinking about the Loch Ness Monster, naturally. I actually have no idea if I’m Scottish, but Nessie captivates me. I believe she’s out there, and I wanted my nametag to reflect this. I also thought she would fit the general dino theme we have going at the DKC.
My nametag, submitted for approval by Edmund and Shannon.