The top picks of 2023 from our Maker staff. You'll find inspiring guides to sewing, open-source wonders, and tales of the supernatural. From garment construction to the eerie unknown, these selections fueled our creativity and left a lasting impact in our MakerSpace.
Brian:
How to Sew Clothes by Amelia Greenhall
Learn about garment construction with this beginner-friendly guide. Simple patterns and clear visuals demystify the process.
Hackspace Magazine from Raspberry Pi Press
Make, build, hack, create. Get your monthly dose of open-source inspiration, tutorials, and projects. Available on Libby.
Engineer Shane Wighton tackles ambitious inventions, sharing his joy of engineering and learning on YouTube (he also shares his failures which is refreshing).
Lydia:
Inside by Bo Burnham
Released in 2021, this album was written and recorded during the peak of COVID lockdown. A lot of these tracks have been on repeat for me since then, but I revisited the whole album this year multiple times. The almost nihilistic humor is truly timeless.
Figma is a free web-based vector design software. As someone who came from CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator, I have been impressed with the features and tools it has. A great option for anyone looking for a versatile vector design software.
Notion is an online organization and planning tool that is totally customizable. I started using Notion this year and have been completely obsessed with it. It’s great to have all my spreadsheets in one place and to have a way to keep all my projects in order. I also use it is to track my reading which has been a lot of fun.
Thomas:
A series of short stories about a shadowy organization’s fight to defend humanity from an enemy you can’t remember. How do you save the world when you can’t even know you’re at war? Maybe you don’t...
Blender 4 for absolute beginners
A series of videos to make free 3D modeling software Blender more approachable for beginners. A must-watch for anybody interested in creating 3D printables, landscapes, art or animation!
Snap Judgment Presents: Spooked : NPR
Few people know that, but “the supernatural” is kind of a big deal in my family – at least I suppose more than for most! “Spooked” scratches the itch of listening to family tales whispered in the middle of the night, when the lights are low and reason takes a break.
Grace:
Cats in Hats by Sara Thomas
Cats! in Hats! made with knitting or crochet! I have yet to make anything in this book, but I plan to and I'm excited about it (hopefully my cat is equally excited when I try to put it on him).
This is Why by Paramore
I have been listening to this album non-stop since its release. I have loved the band Paramore for years and this long awaited album is fantastic.
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Reading comics is fun but making them is even more fun! This book does a fantastic job detailing the history of comics and explaining how comics work as a medium.
Charles:
The Lego Story by Jens Andersen
I have been loving the trend within Lego to release high detail sets geared more towards adults based on various pop culture themes, and found this history of the company to be a fascinating look at the family behind the iconic toys.
Minecraft Bite-Sized Builds series by Thomas McBrien
I know Minecraft has been popular for a while now, but I somehow missed the boat in 2009 when it released and had never really looked into it. Now that my son is getting a little older and was hearing about Minecraft from all his friends at school, this series of easy builds has given us a way to connect over the game and work together on making something cool to add to our world.
How to Win at Chess by Levy Rozman
Tying in again with the theme of playing games with my son, this year he got interested in learning to play chess, so I designed a Minecraft chess set on Tinkercad (bonus resource if you haven't used it yet), 3d printed it, and we sat down to learn. As fun as it has been, I quickly realized I am not great at strategy, so I was excited when this book came out and I could really dig in to some tips on getting started with the deeper game of chess.
