During the planning for the science fashion show, I found myself feeling a bit behind. I am not typically great at outreach and that was a huge part of this project. I really got to put my skills to work in planning out the actual layout and small details of the event. Troubleshooting some last-minute tech issues, organizing the scene, and handing out little complementary trinkets that I made to the audience and participants is how I allowed my skills to shine.
During the planning for this event, I got to learn a lot about different campus resources and maker spaces. The Invention Studio at GT has so many different machines and tools needed for making just about anything you can set your mind to. It is also run almost entirely by mechanical engineering students!
I learned how to use the laser cutter/engraver while I was there. I used this to make some complimentary devil charms for attendees of the fashion show. These charms were originally meant to be decorations that go on people’s glasses of champagne.
It really wasn’t all that complicated to do. All I did was find a vector image that I liked on Canva, edit it a bit in Adobe Illustrator, place it on a flash drive, and take it up to the invention studio. I learned how to use the software needed to use the laser cutter and it was really fun! I won’t get into all the technical details here, so let’s move on to showing you what I actually made.
We started with an acrylic prototype, made from leftover scraps from the invention studio, first to ensure the desired size and parameters for the laser.
Then, we tweaked a few things to ensure that our final product on our red acrylic would be perfect.
Here’s the final product from start to finish!
