Eli Whitney Museum

Valentine's Day is an occasion to ask, can I make and exchange something that is truly me? We have wooden hearts, Sculpey, paper, wire, wheels, magnets, motors and some ideas to get you started (robots, love bugs, treasure boxes…)Bring your imagination. Make gifts for your friends and family – or to amuse yourself. Make a few or many in this open ended workshop.

It's the day before Valentine's Day and you've yet to find the perfect gift. What better way to please yourself and the one you love to please than to make a unique pair of earrings or cuff-links as a gift?

Making means mastering many methods.

A brush is but one of the tools a painter uses. We'll look at artists flicking, smearing, sculpting, dripping and rolling paint. Learn the name and purpose of each technique. Then practice each method.

Develop your own computer game using MIT's Scratch, a programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art – and share your creations with others around the world. In the process of designing and programming Scratch projects, young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

Making blends old and new ways of doing things.

You may well have a printer in your house that can reproduce any image you send it. Not so long ago, the tools for printing required artful hands and patience. We will look at artists carving, stamping, rubbing and rolling images.

The torque and speed of motors are more easily learned by touch than by numbers. Just as the rhythms of dance are best learned by moving and not by reading notes on a page.

Small motors just go: one speed, one direction, one shape (round and round). In this workshop, get control.