Making
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Lantern Making Event
To celebrate the Lunar New Year, the STA team participated in the AASA Lunar New Year event by hosting a lantern‑making activity and creating table decorations on Saturday, February 14. Ideation This project was inspired by the Lunar New Year, where lanterns are popular symbols of hope and the bright future of the new year. The lantern design is also sustainable and easy to make, making it perfect for a quick booth activity. Preparation The STA team prepared some materials in advance for the event. Because the workshop required a large number of premade lanterns, the team used both the Cricut and the laser cutter to pre-make some of the…
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Laser Cut Ornament Making
To wrap up the Fall 2025 semester, the STA team hosted a DIY ornament-making workshop at the Hatchery (Raether Library, Level 1). At this workshop, attendees were able to drop in and customize their own ornaments using the laser cutter, which is regularly available to the Trinity community via appointment (see below for details). With the help of available templates, students could easily personalize their designs by adding their own names, their friends’ names, or emoji decorations. After designing their ornaments, students were guided through using the machine by an instructional technologist. We had a great turnout, with about 20 students dropping in throughout the event. Not only did students get the chance to surprise their friends and family with creative holiday gifts, but they were also introduced to the…
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Tinkercad
Tinkercad is a free, web-based computer-aided design (CAD) platform that is simple to learn and use. It features a block-based design system where users can modify shapes by either combining them (additive design) or cutting away parts (subtractive design). This makes it a flexible and beginner-friendly tool for those new to 3D design. Pros of TinkerCad Cons of TinkerCad How to get started The Tinkercad website offers tutorials and step-by-step lessons, starting from the basics.
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Quick Guide to using Fusion 360
Fusion 360 is a 3D CAD/CAM design software and a part of the Autodesk suite. With a Trinity College e-mail address, you can obtain a free education license that provides access to Fusion 360. To activate your education license, go to Autodesk Fusion for Education webpage, and follow the instructions. You will typically be able to verify your student status once you verify your Trinity e-mail. Pros of Fusion 360: Cons of Funsion 360: Tutorials:
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Making Cricut Stickers
Cricut is a free, easy to use software to use for creating 2D designs for a variety of purposes; at the STA desk, we offer vinyl stickers/labels, buttons/pins, paper/card cutouts, and more. Here are some of the projects we’ve done with the Cricut machine in the past! Creating a project in Cricut is easy, and we’re here to help with every step. Here, we’ll outline a quick sticker project you can follow along with. At our desk, we offer printed vinyl stickers that you can design yourself (more on that later). We recommend filling an entire sheet before printing. Our sheets are 8.5in x 11in (21.6cm x 27.9cm) with a…
