Today Matt and I hosted our Introduction to Wood Burning and Image Transfer class at Hoboken MakerBar. We had four students show up and everyone created something worth being proud of.

(Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/MakerBar/events/158182262/?a=ra1_vl&_af_eid=158182262&_af=event)

Here are some pictures from the class:

Image transfer methods were discussed, including ironing on of laserjet printed line or color art. Those who were more creatively inclined drew freehand on their boards with pencil to create their art, and it was humbling how great the results came out. I remember my first wood burning with an old soldering iron with a destroyed tip.

It was fascinating to host such an art-focused class at a typically tech-central place, and see nerds and artists alike hang out and make stuff. I also got some good ideas for new classes. There is an interest for a cutting board class, a re-boot of the framing class, and a stained glass making class, which Matt and I will look into. Also there was interest expressed in an embedding/casting class.

My hope is that more classes like this can build a wood working and art special interest crowd. I also want the tech-savvy folks to come out to the artistic classes and the artistic folks to come out to the techie classes. We can get a lot out of using the other sides of our brains where we exercise the other side which we consider to be the lesser developed set of our skills, and often can approach things in a totally unique way.

At the end of the day, it was a lot of fun, and I am glad that I can expose people to something that has become a fun hobby of mine, and to see them embrace it and make such great things!