Makeville Studio is at 119 8th St. in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn. Part of Makeville’s mission is “ to educate, inspire and empower people to build and fix rather than consume and dispose. We do that by providing affordable access to shop space, the right tools for the job, and small classes led by craftspeople who love to teach.”
WHSAD Guidance Counselor, Deborah Terraferma, provides her thoughts on what the Makeville program has to offer students.
Makeville provides students with a hands on woodworking experience in a studio setting.
Over the course of the 10 weeks students learned the fundamentals of creating a spoon from design, to fabrications and finishing. Students got to use various tools and machinery.
In addition to creating spoons each student team created a tutorial video on one of the stages of the design process. The course culminated with a final design challenge where students had to make a spoon for a specific client.
This was my first time chaperoning the Makeville program. I was impressed how each student was able to able to work independently. Once they came up with their spoon design they were fully immersed in their projects. Even as some student experienced setbacks such as misguiding the band-saw or a spoon handle breaking, they were able come up with a creative alternative to their design or in some cases start over. The culminating design challenge gave the students the experience of working with a client or for a company.
I really enjoyed spending time with the students outside of WHSAD. I was impressed by their creativity and how quickly they caught on. I even got to make a functioning spoon that I can use at home.
WHSAD Senior, Lucero Martinez, wrote the following narrative about her Makeville experience.
The Makeville Woodworking Workshop was a six-week program led by craft people who taught students the basics of woodworking. I had a great time in the Makeville Woodworking Workshop. It was a great experience and I’m really satisfied with the work that I did in the workshop.
I attended the Makeville program last year in my Junior year and attended again in my Senior year. In my first year, I didn’t know anything about woodworking. I wanted to try something new so I decided to join the workshop so I could learn and understand the techniques of woodworking. I learned many skills and used tools that I never used before. For example, I learned how to use a band saw, planer, jointers, carving tools, clamps, and table saws. With those tools, I had to make a stool made out of wood. But of course, I had some difficulties using those tools because it was my first time using them. However, with the help of my instructors, I was able to know some tricks to utilize the tools the right way. When I finished making the stool, I felt so proud of myself. I never imagined myself making something like that, and I was really impressed with the work that I did.
Quispilema and Gloriveht Ortiz use chisels to hollow out their spoons.
As for my second year in the workshop, I already knew the basics of woodworking. When I first entered the building, I was ready to make another object made out of wood. This year, I was able to make spoons. My instructors showed me and my peers different types of spoons that we could create. They showed varieties of spoon designs to help us design our own. Then they taught us how to use the machines and specific tools in order to make the spoons. After my instructors showed me and my peers on how to use the tools to create the spoons, we had to make videos for a tool by explaining what that tool is, the steps on how to use them, the safety rules when using the tool, and how the tool would help us with the process of making our spoons. When we finished making our videos, each group was assigned to design and make a specific spoon.
We were all happy with our spoon designs. I noticed that everyone in the workshop enjoyed being there and were glad to be part of this amazing experience. Thanks to my teacher Ms. Moos, I was able to attend this workshop and learned new skills and techniques.