One of the things I spend a lot of time thinking about is the sort of principles one should adopt in a MakerSpace. And one of those critical principles is this one:
Principle #2: 2D makes 3D
What does that mean? It means that a student or an adult should take a 2-dimensional material, such as paper or fabric or plywood or sheet metal, and turn it into a 3-dimensional object. (I watched a video of Adam Savage making a box using a metal brake recently, and it was inspiring to see a box made so easily. [see about 6:33 and following]).
It’s better if that object has a fold or a bend or a twist in in, or has some sort of functional purpose — but just folding or bending or shaping a piece of paper in a deliberate or conscious way can turn a flat thing into a product. Sometimes it’s a box, sometimes it’s a house-shape, sometimes it’s a bag, sometimes it’s a yarn-winder. Sometimes it’s a question of folding or stacking pieces, sometimes it’s bending them.
What does that look like?
How do we know when a student’s efforts at working Principle #2 have succeeded? How do we know when our own efforts have succeeded?
How do we succeed if we don’t have a metal brake in the workshop (or a hundred bucks of leather for each and every student to make their own Chewbacca bandolier??).
It’s worth remembering the cheapness and versatility of that key material:
Paper
Paper is enormously versatile. I think I got a sense of that with the Paper Roller Coasters people, and the work of Rob Ives. You can do amazing things with paper. But pop-up cards have tremendous versatility as a way of teaching the basics of 2D to 3D thinking. In these few cards, you can see one that turns into an easel, several that turn into steps, and several that turn into folded panels. There’s even a Japanese envelope-letter: write on one side of the paper, and then fold it, and it becomes its own envelope.
What are the benefits of working with paper first, before working with metal or leather or cloth? First it’s a lot cheaper. A sheet of paper starts at around a penny a square foot (though it can get more expensive), while fabric starts at around a penny a square inch. Paper is the place to teach conservation of materials, 2d to 3d, and the principles of cutting and measuring carefully. This is where the work begins. This — and drawing.
If you have to equip a MakerSpace, and you only have a $100 budget for the year, start with a lot of paper in a lot of weights, and invest in cutting and folding tools like Xacto knives, rulers, and bone folders. You can download all the origami and pop-up card designs you could possibly want from the Internet. Measure, cut, fold — make templates ,and cutting and folding diagrams, and set up production lines. Teach the industrial revolution, Hallmark card-style, and reinvigorate letter-writing culture at the same time.
(While you’re at it, teach students to make the Platonic and Archimedean solids — geometry learning should go along with Maker learning. That’s practically standard).
Remember: No matter what you build, it’ll be a beginning. And everything you teach about folding, cutting, bending and scoring will ultimately be useful when you do get around to having a metal brake.
