Tinkering vs. Making [Samantha Brown]

I had a shift in the IWS on Saturday, January 19th and helped a number of people with their creations:

• A mom with four bracelets [assisted]
• The aforementioned mother’s teenage daughter with a bracelet [assisted]
• Two adolescent sisters with bracelets [completed]
• A young toddler girl with a bracelet (I pulled the embedding tools out for her only) [completed]
• A man with a cord holder carved with his initials [completed]
• A volunteer with an ID holder (which was almost finished but got cut up while unattended) [completed, then destroyed]
• Showed a few adult guests how to add snaps to their projects [assisted]

The space, although never at capacity on the Saturday I reference above, was almost fully occupied the majority of the time. Consequently, I was attending to guests back-to-back. I made connections from the facilitation of the space to the assigned reading, reflections that I believe could be beneficial toward the operation of the space.

Another reflection I have is for Wednesday, January 9th where I completed, along with Nathan (while he was not clocked in), a kid’s full-sized leather wallet. It had two pockets and a snap closure; the wallet was cut, woven, and hammered with dangerous tools. It took a little over two hours to complete because a number of the snaps weren’t closing properly and the wallet underwent a stylistic change. I cut myself on three fingers and bled. The young boy said that “[he wanted] to use the wallet forever” so the end product was clearly worth it.

Several points from the article I’ve taken into consideration include:

• The concept of “agency” and our roles as Sparks
• Tinkering vs. making values, outcome goals, different facilitation strategies for activities and where they fit in those categories
• Skill level and “ongoing complexification”
• Materials and how they are used

Ultimately, my favorite part about the IWS is that it creates unforgettable memories that guests can attach to an item, which they will likely hold onto for a long time because of the effort they put into it. I have a few ideas on strategies to improve the IWS, but unfortunately, conversations I’ve had were treated with remiss (not taken seriously).