The Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop | Make something of yourself.

Web Design Week 2

Design a personal web page on paper, then bring it to life using basic web tools and techniques. Explore the founding blocks of web design while experimenting with brand new features and syntax introduced in HTML5 and CSS3. Beginners learn the basics, while returning students hone their skills and learn advanced layout abilities.

Designed for ages 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

12 ' Kayak Part 1

Build a very stable flat water 12' Kudzu type kayak. Build it using a fuselage frame design. Learn to skin the kayak with synthetic fabric and apply a waterproof finish. A recreational kayak perfect for fishing, paddling or photography.

This is a two week course. It will continue the following week (July 2 - July6) The second week's activities will depend on how fast the class moves in the first week. It is likely that we'll be finishing the skinning week 2 and then painting it. We will make a paddle as well.

Please note, ages 12 and up only.

See www.kudzucraft.com for videos and demonstrations of this remarkable craft.

Designed for ages 12, 13, 14, 15 and Adults

Kayak1

3D Design Week 3

Guess who has a new 3D printer? We do!

Learn to use web-based 3D design modeling programs like Tinkercad or 3D Tin to prototype your ideas. Print out your 3D models in plastic with our Makerbot 3D printer. What could be a better way to learn CAD type programs than to have a 3D model printing out in front of you? And just like Tinkercad and 3D Tin, we're a Beta program too so how much you can do and how far you can go is still and unknown.

We do know there will be a materials charge.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

3D-printer

Jewelry

Explore the jewelry traditions of diverse global cultures when you weave bracelets, build necklaces, and sculpt rings from a variety of media. Construct jewelry from plastic, wire, yarn and clay; copper, steel, and perhaps, silver.

Develop your own unique designs to gift and to keep.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

jewelry-2012

12' Kayak Part 2

Build a very stable flat water 12' Kudzu type kayak. Learn to skin the kayak with synthetic fabric and apply a waterproof finish. A recreational kayak perfect for fishing, paddling or photography.

This is a two week course. It will continue the following week (July 2 - July6) The second week's activities will depend on how fast the class moves in the first week. It is likely that we'll be finishing the skinning week 2 and then painting it. We will make a paddle as well.

Please note, ages 12 and up only.

See www.kudzucraft.com for videos and demonstrations of this remarkable craft.

Designed for ages 12, 13, 14, 15 and Adults

Web Design Week 4

Design a personal web page on paper, then bring it to life using basic web tools and techniques. Explore the founding blocks of web design while experimenting with brand new features and syntax introduced in HTML5 and CSS3. Beginners learn the basics, while returning students hone their skills and learn advanced layout abilities.

Designed for ages 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

Electronics Week 5

Learn basic electronics components and skills while creating spy tools. Use resistors, capacitors, diodes, and even microchips to ways to sneak, capture, and listen in. Use your skills to disguise your voice, transmit audio, and even make a hidden trip wire alarm.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

Materials and Techniques

Using Wood, Metal, and Bamboo, design and build projects to learn new techniques. On Monday, build a bench with lid or a tool tote. On Tuesday, take Alexander Calder for your inspiration and make birds and mobiles. On Wednesday, learn the magic of bamboo – make a deer-scare fountain perhaps. On Thursday and Friday, using your favorite material from the week, design and build something of your own.

Designed for ages 12, 13, 14 and 15

Deer-Scare

Aeromodeling Week 5

Build and fly free-flight models, powered by hand, by catapult, by twisted rubber. Beginning to Advanced projects will be tailored to the students level. Traditional designs or your own. With a day trip to the Quinnipiac Intramural Fields for flight trials on Thursday of the week.

Begin as a new aeromodeler or build upon the skills you've acquired during the year in the Whitney Aeromodelers meetings the first and third Friday of every month. Contact Sally with questions about the club. There is a new and very lively group working these days.

With Liam Grace-Flood, Senior Apprentice and Josh Revkin, Flight Artist in Residence. There may be some additional cost for materials depending on the advanced level of a particular student.

Designed for ages 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

Aero-2011-a

3D Design Week 5

Guess who has a new 3D printer? We do!

Learn to use web-based 3D design modeling programs like Tinkercad or 3D Tin to prototype your ideas. Print out your 3D models in plastic with our Makerbot 3D printer. What could be a better way to learn CAD type programs than to have a 3D model printing out in front of you? And just like Tinkercad and 3D Tin, we're a Beta program too so how much you can do and how far you can go is still and unknown.

We do know there will be a materials charge.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

3D printer

Weave It. Sew It.

Martha Burns is an accomplished professional designer/weaver who designs fabrics for the likes of Jack Lenor Larsen in NYC.

She will teach you how to use our EWM-designed looms (pre-built and pre-warped for you) to weave fabric for a bag. Then learn how to make the pattern and sew your project on our Janome sewing machines to fit you.

Embellish it, embroider it, enjoy it. From warp to wear in a week.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

weaving-class

Analog Gamebuilder Week 6

In the tradition of the strategy games Mordheim, Warhammeror Dungeons and Dragons, create a warband of 10 miniatures ans skirmish with other 'bands' to gain wealth, powers, and size. Build the environment, learn strategies, play the game. All levels welcome.

Get a head start and attend the Fantasy Game Night which meets once a month all year long. Email Nathan Brownstein, nmbrown6@gmail.com, for information.

Designed for ages 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

Analog GB summer 2011a

Stop Motion Animation

Using Legos® or action figures, produce a movie using stop motion animation and computer special effects. Of course, you need to know how to tell a story first so you'll learn how to storyboard to plan out your tale.

Use our new cameras and our IMacs to make 30 second epics. For all levels of experience.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

Gulp

Electronics Week 7

Explore a different side of the electronics world. Experiment with flexible wires, heat triggered switches, and movable circuits. Use digital tools and microchips to bring the analog to life.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

Sculpture: Totems

Totem poles for Northwest Coast Indians provided a means of communicating their stories, myths and legends. They are an arrangement of symbols that convey meaning. Students will build their own totem pole, using wood, clay and found objects; it is a first step in the lifelong process of making meaning out of objects. Students can make a personal totem or a cultural totem.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

totem-example-1

Fiber Studio

Experiment with fiber techniques to unleash your inner designer. Build a Kumihimo stand to make Japanese braids, learn dyeing and wet felting, and find out what corking is when you make leg or arm warmers. Experiment with exotic fibers from around the world: camel from the steppes of Asia, alpaca from South America, wool from the British Isles…Sew cooler than cool pincusions who look like alien friends.
And what's a yarn bomb? Come find out.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

Elephant-hat

Adirondack Chair Wk 8

An introduction to furniture design and construction in a traditional style that invites lively invention. Construct a chair for your room or porch. Add to your collection. Adults welcome.

Designed for ages 12, 13, 14, 15 and Adults

Adirondack-Chair-Bfly

Aeromodeling Week 8

Build and fly free-flight models, powered by hand, by catapult, by twisted rubber. Beginning to Advanced projects will be tailored to the students level. Traditional designs or your own. With a day trip to the Quinnipiac Intramural Fields for flight trials on Thursday of the week.

Begin as a new aeromodeler or build upon the skills you've acquired during the year in the Whitney Aeromodelers meetings the first and third Friday of every month. Contact Sally with questions about the club. There is a new and very lively group working these days.

With Liam Grace-Flood, Senior Apprentice and Josh Revkin, Flight Artist in Residence. There may be some additional cost for materials depending on the advanced level of a particular student.

Designed for ages 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

Aero-2011-

Programming: from Alice to Greenfoot.

Dive into programming through Alice, an educational program developed at Carnegie Mellon University. Use the Java programming language to learn the basic concepts behind computer science in graphical scenarios. Experienced students can go further and experiment with Greenfoot, an advanced development environment.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

alice3

Paper Arts

Learn to love paper. It's not just 8.5 x 11. It's an art form from the very beginning to the final product. Learn to make paper with materials you'd never think could become paper. Use paper to build structures: cut it, fold it, tear it, paint it, dye it...

Then ask, what is a book? And what is an Artist's Book? On a Wednesday visit to Dexterity Press, learn about letterpress and then give it a try yourself. Kerri and Jeff Mueller will guide you on their Vandercook press. Then you will build a flag book with Kerri which you'll bring back to the Museum and populate with the samples you worked on all week. It's a book design you wont forget and one which will just make you want to learn other constructions. You'll get to use our own little tabletop card letterpress now that you know how to do it.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

Paper-Arts-letterpress-flag

Analog Gamebuilder Week 9

In the tradition of the strategy games Mordheim, Warhammeror Dungeons and Dragons, create a warband of 10 miniatures ans skirmish with other 'bands' to gain wealth, powers, and size. Build the environment, learn strategies, play the game. All levels welcome.

Get a head start and attend the Fantasy Game Night which meets once a month all year long. Email Nathan Brownstein, nmbrown6@gmail.com, for information.

Designed for ages 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

Analog GB summer 2011a

Arduino anyone?

An arduino is an open-source single-board microcontroller designed to make the process of using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible. In short, you learn basic programming language and write commands to the arduino (microprocessor). These commands are used to direct a small robot car to move in various directions to create artwork that you've designed with the commands.

Each day, students (you'll work in pairs) will be able to design, program to create and then take home drawings that their robot car has drawn for them. Or teach your robot to write your name in cursive.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

Arduinobot

Deconstruct Reconstruct

Ever wonder how Hermoine's magical bag was made? Why not make a magical bag and belts or jewelry of your own using materials from favorite old clothes or sweaters that just can't survive another season as they once were. Imagine how your old Blankey would like traveling to school in it's new incarnation.

Designed for ages 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

bag1

Madin Marimba

John Madin is an inventor, musician and teacher. His 1 and 1/2 octave Marimba is both simple to build, beautiful and clarion voiced. Construct a 1 and 1/2 octave instrument with a box resonator. Tune the maple keys with a digital pitch gauge and chisels. The week combines woodworking, finishing, constructing beathers, tuning and…playing. Jon has written songs especially for this instrument. If time allows, build some of his wacky instruments. Experience music from a whole new perspective.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

Madin-Marimba

Madin Echo Cello

John Madin is an inventor, musician and teacher. His Echo Cello is both simple to build and mellifluous. Its fingering is keyed allowing a beginner with no string or music training to join our string ensemble in a week. the week combines woodworking, metal work, finishing, tuning…and playing. John has written songs especially for this instrument. If time allows, construct some of John's wacky instruments. Experience music from a whole new perspective.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14

Madin-Echo-Cello

Video Voyager

Shoot your own movie using a Flip® Video camera and edit it using IMovie on our computer lab IMacs. Learn to storyboard first. Then shoot your video at home and bring it in the next day to edit. Add sound effects, special effects etc. This must be how George Lucas began his Star Wars sagas. But not with digital cameras.

Designed for ages 11, 12, 13 and 14