The Tinkering Workshop Book

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Are you interested in getting started making and tinkering with mechanisms, automata and more at home using everyday materials? We are super excited to share that “The Tinkering Workshop”, the new book by Ryan Jenkins, the course designer and lead facilitator for the Automata Tinkering Global Workshop series, is now available to purchase on our website. 

This book offers a plethora of tips for getting started playing with science, art and technology using things that you probably already have around the house like cardboard, clothespins and wire. There are twenty open-ended projects perfect for families at home, students in a classroom or tinkerers in a makerspace. The themes include light & shadow, electrical circuits, wind & water and balance. For each one of these topics there are new and unexpected connections with the real world. 

Let’s take a sneak-peek look at one of the projects that builds on the shared work of Cabaret artists and educators. The activity guide for ‘Cardboard Crank Sliders’ builds on a project developed by Ryoko Matsumoto and the Exploratorium Tinkering Studio group. During the pandemic, Ryan developed new ideas around how to make a version of this project using only the materials that can be found around the house. This prompt led to a version with a cardboard base and simple paper characters. In online and in-person workshops Ryan and the facilitation team honed simple ways of asking questions or encouraging next steps that made it into the book as helpful tips on the project spread. Some of the suggestions include: 

“Things might not work as expected. You may have to bend and re-bend wires, adjust the placement and angles of the wires, and closely observe the motions of your machine.” 

“Experiment with adding multiple characters to your automata! How can you bend the wire so they all move in different directions?”

“What happens if the limiter hole is bigger or smaller? Try making the limiter higher or lower and see what happens. Consider adding an extra limiter so it moves smoother.”

“If you connect your character to the moving elements with wire, springs, or other bouncy materials, you can create more interesting movement.”

For the Cardboard Crank Slider project, the wonderful Cabaret Mechanical Theatre artist Keith Newstead gets a shout out for his playful use of recycled materials. All of Keith’s projects displayed a sense of fun and whimsy which can inspire lots of new creations. 

The Tinkering Workshop book can help kids, parents and educators get ideas for building their own automata and also make connections to other topics along the way like sound machines, electrical circuits, wind powered mechanisms and more. Each one of the materials explorations and activity prompts builds on practices of asking questions, prototyping, troubleshooting and taking part in a larger conversation with other makers, all ideas that should be familiar to all automata makers. Check out the book and join Ryan at the Mechanical Making Space in Hastings for a really fun hands-on workshop, book signing and discussion as part of the UK book tour on Saturday March 8th. 

Book your free ticket to the Linkage Party here.

Buy The Tinkering Workshop here.

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