Making Problems to Solve

This week my guest is Shawn from Geek Builders. Shawn has been around the online making scene for a while now, sharing projects and co-hosting the Making Geeks podcast for 300 episodes. We chat about his path to becoming an animation art teacher, and learning maker skills from woodworking around the house to digital fabrication. Check out Geek Builders on Instagram and YouTube.

Liz Melchor focuses on exploration and discovery in the creative process, whether it's drawing freeform monkeys or instructing a robot to create something just a little bit unexpected. We discuss the maker community and getting over the need to get perfect in the pursuit of making something new and interesting. Check out Liz's work on Instagram and her web site.

Donovan creates maker content with an emphasis on family and storytelling. We discuss his history of building things, background in filmmaking, and his journey as a geek, a dad, and a DIY content creator. His tagline is "Build a Good Story" and his goal is to inspire people to try to make their own stuff with a story. Check out Donovan's work on Instagram and Youtube.

Aaron Dietzen's Instagram and Substack mailing list have the perfect title, so I re-used it for the show! Aaron is a Sketchup guy by day, and an abstract painter. 3d printer, and all-around maker the rest of the time. We chat about his artistic journey, and his goal of starting a creative conversation about inspiration. Check out Aaron on Instagram and Substack to follow along and join the conversation.

This week is a conversation with STEAM Advocate/Engineer Tamara Robertson and Artist/Designer Rob Ray inspired by the Mad Art Cast, I attempt to bring together art and science, and it leads to an interesting conversation! We end up talking about teaching, design, curiosity and peer-review. Follow Tamara on Instagram and Youtube and check out Rob's web site.

This week I talked to James D'Ambrosio who leapt into the maker community last year with a gas-powered Mac G5 coffee maker, combining things every maker loves, coffee, Apple products, and unnecessary complexity. We discuss his discovery of welding and metal art, along with the evolution of his gas-powered inventions. Check out James on Instagram. Photo credit Mark Adams @markadamspictures

Albert Kleine is well known for sharing the joy of marquetry with his fellow woodworking enthusiasts. We talked about teaching and learning, writing a book, and over the top projects, as well as the art of marquetry. Check out Albert on Instagram.

This time we tackle a couple of listener questions, in our usual rambling style. We might complain a teeny tiny bit about the state of social media, and ponder a bit about what might be a solution. We talk bout how/when credit or compensation is appropriate or possible for inspiration, reference, or remixing of art. As always you can follow Mark and Nick on Instagram! Thanks to Griffin Makes (sorry I forgot your name there Jacob!) and Waffle Beaver (Bryce) for the questions.

This Episode I talked to Cecilia from The Shop Wood Designs. We chatted about her path in woodworking from making things for her home and family to her discovery of power carving! She is making some fun and interesting work. Be sure to check it out on her Instagram. Updated Audio file.

This week my guest is Ahsley Pieper from Shallow Creek Woodcraft. She's a studio furniture designer and maker who combines traditional practices and contemporary design in her work. We chat about using motion in her designs and creating an expressive, playful environment with furniture, and the advantages of learning from books. Check out Ashley's work on Instagram and her web site.