*This post is part of Free for All’s “Making Magic” series, which will focus on Kelley’s exploration of the opportunities in the library’s Creativity Lab.

Take a minute and think about the most meaningful gifts you’ve ever received or given. If you were to list them my guess is that few, if any, of those gifts came from a store. Often, the meaningful gifts are the things that are passed on from loved ones and trusted to our keeping, shared activities, or the things that someone took the time to make for you. Being as this is a Making Magic post, I’d like to take some time to focus on that third option.

If you’re struggling with holiday gift ideas, you can’t go wrong with a homemade present, and thanks to the library’s Creativity Lab, you have more tools and options at your disposal than ever before! Why not 3D print your brother a custom case for his phone, laser cut your mom a new keychain etched with a photo of the two of you, or use the recording studio to write and record a song for someone special? If those ideas don’t appeal, just visit the Lab and I’m sure you’ll find the inspiration you need to create that perfect gift.

The other wonderful thing about handmade gifts is that they make the giver feel pretty good too. When I make something for someone, I find that I spend a lot of time thinking about them during the process, and who doesn’t feel good when they spend time thinking of the people they care about? So this year, why not put a little extra love into your giving? If you’re looking for ideas, here are some great books to get you started.

Hip to Stitch by Melinda A. Barta
Barta presents 20 contemporary embroidery projects with illustrated step-by-step instructions. Unique projects include a guitar pick case,  and a stitch embellished skirt. Great projects for both beginning and advanced embroiderers.

Food, Gift, Love by Maggie Battista
From preserves to pantry items to baked goods, Battista presents over 100 food gift ideas to make and share. When you’re done cooking, make sure to get creative with your packaging. The Creativity Lab has plenty of yarn and ribbons just waiting to be put to use.

Firefly’s Step-by-Step Encyclopedia of Needlecraft
Whether you’re looking for projects, step-by-step instrctions, or just some really beautiful illustrations of needlework, this is a great resource for beginning and advanced needlecrafters. Whether you’re interested in making knit, croched, embroidered, quilted, appliquéd, or sewn gifts, this is a book rich with ideas to get you started.

The Workbench Guide to Jewelry Techniques by Anastsia Young
Jewelry makes a wonderful gift, and you’re in luck because we have jewelry making kits in the Creativity Lab. Check out this guide by jeweler and artist Anastasia Young to gain a comprehensive understanding of jewelry techniques. Lapidary Journal says this “well illustrated book is a must-have volume for anyone interested in making jewelry using the traditional and modern methods.”

*This post is part of Free for All’s “Making Magic” series, which will focus on Kelley’s exploration of the opportunities in the library’s Creativity Lab.

Every time I hear Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah it slowly moves through me like a wave building, cresting, breaking, and then retreating to leave behind an inner landscape that is a little bit different than the one that was there before the song played. It’s one of those songs that makes it feel good to feel sad, a song of longing, of loss and of love, but most of all, at least to me, it feels like a prayer. The interesting thing is that if you asked me about the lyrics, I would tell you that I’ve never paid close enough attention to tell you exactly what they are or what they mean, but I don’t need those things to know exactly what feelings Cohen wanted to evoke when he composed the song. The magic of music is it’s power to make us feel without needing to fully understand why. A song is a catharsis of sound.

Earlier this month, Leonard Cohen passed away, but he is immortalized by his music. From Saturday Night Live to the Shrek soundtrack, Hallelujah alone has been covered by numerous artists, my favorite being this version by Jeff Buckley:

2016 has been a big year of loss in the music world. I mentioned Leonard Cohen already, but David Bowie, Sharon Jones, Leon Russell, John Berry of the Beastie Boys, and Prince were among this year’s noteworthy passings as well. This is starting to sound like a downer of a post, but it’s not. All of these musicians live on in their music, and there will always be new musicians entering the field to make their exciting contributions to this ever growing and changing art that touches so many of us. You could be one of them.

If you are someone who likes to make music, whether it be original songs or covers of the work of someone you admire, the library has everything you need from books about the music business to a sound recording studio equipped with resources like Pro Tools, a professional quality microphone and a selection of instruments just waiting to be played. The best part is, if you don’t already know how to use the sound recording equipment, the Creativity Lab offers classes so that you can learn. For free! The next one is coming up on December 17th, so if you’ve been thinking about recording your first album, or even just experimenting a bit with sound, now is your chance.

The following are some books from our collection to provide inspiration and help you get started:

33 Revolutions Per Minute : A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day by Dorian Lynskey
Not happy with the way things are going in the world or your corner of it? Write a protest song! For inspiration, check out this title where music critic Dorian Lynskey provides an overview of seventy years of protest music.

Learn to Speak Music: A Guide to Creating, Performing, & Promoting Your Songs by John Crossingham
Our teen room offers this great book that explores music from all angles. You’ll learn about songwriting, promotion, the importance of a good practice space, and more.

The Big Payback : The History of the Business of Hip-Hop by Dan Charnas
Are you a hip-hop fan? Why not take some time to explore this 40-year history of rap? Rolling Stone’s 4-star review calls this one, “a classic of music business dirt-digging as well as a kind of pulp epic.”

Here Come the Regulars : How to Run a Record Label on a Shoestring Budget by Ian Anderson
If you’re interested in starting your own record label, you’ll find everything you need to do it on the cheap here. Covering topics from fundraising to saying no to your friends, this book is a great choice if you’re looking for a DIY spin on the music business.

*This post is part of Free for All’s “Making Magic” series, which will focus on Kelley’s exploration of the opportunities in the library’s Creativity Lab.

“The hardest thing about writing is applying your butt to a chair.” That’s the advice that my college creative writing professor gave us as freshman and, although it sounds like an easily dismissed oversimplification, I find that it holds true for most creative pursuits. Whether you paint, write poetry, work with clay, embroider, or compose music, it’s all too easy to tell yourself that you’ll work on your project later, when you have more time or when there are fewer distractions at home.

Recently, I’ve been reading a book called The Invitation by Oriah, and in the chapter about commitment she tells us that when you think about it, there are really very few things that actually have to be done. Do you have to feed your children? Yes. Do you really need to dust your house? It could probably wait. I’m here to tell you that there will never be more time and that there will always be new distractions to replace the old ones, so go put your butt in that chair.

When I want to focus on a project, it usually goes better when I bring myself to a space designed for that purpose, but many of us don’t have such a space available to us at home and that’s why the library’s Creativity Lab is so important. In the Making Magic posts I’ve talked a lot about the equipment, classes, and stuff that the Lab has to offer, but I haven’t talked about what in my opinion is the most important thing about the Lab, and that’s the Creativity Lab as a creative space.

Housed way down in the Main Library’s lower level, visiting the Creativity Lab can feel like you’ve entered another place entirely. It’s a space where 3-D printers gently buzz while sewing machines thrum along their seams, and everyone knows that it’s OK to get a little sawdust or some vinyl scraps on the floor. Yes, there is plenty of mess in the Lab, but from that mess comes magic.

Open Labs occur on a regular schedule to accommodate makers who want to work on independent projects, and when makers are perched on chairs and stools throughout the room working on projects that vary from custom 3-D printer designs to robots to patchwork quilts, there is a silent hum of energy to the space. Even when you don’t know exactly what other makers are working on, there is a sense of excitement, a sense that something important is happening, a sense of wonder, and one of the terrific things about being surrounded by wonder is that it often inspires you in your own work.

The Creativity Lab gives you the space you need to focus and work independently, but at the same time there is a sense of creative community. Everyone there is inventive, imaginative, or visionary and when a group of people with those attributes comes to work side by side, it’s a powerful thing. These are people who make stuff happen, who bring their imaginings to life. These are all people like you, who come to the Lab looking for a space where they can lose track of time while they do something they love.

Sounds perfect, right? So, your task today is to stop reading this post, and go apply your butt to a chair. You’ll be amazed at what you can create when you give yourself the time, and find the right space, to let your mind run free.

If you want to learn more about Open Labs and their hours, check out the Creativity Lab’s calendar of events.

*This post is part of Free for All’s “Making Magic” series, which will focus on Kelley’s exploration of the opportunities in the library’s Creativity Lab.

Having a rich inner world is a gift. Kids are great at imagining and, as adults, if we give ourselves a moment to wonder without limits, we can be pretty good at it too. We can conjure characters we’d like to meet (or hope we never do), wish for things that haven’t been invented yet, and picture ourselves in fantastic situations that will never happen but would be lovely or exciting if they did. In one of my previous posts I mentioned that it was unlikely that I would ever sprout fairy wings and develop an ability to fly, and while that’s entirely true, what if I were able to make it look like I did? What if I could create an image that made it look like I had wings and was flying through the sky? Or one where I was in a cave fighting a fire breathing dragon? What if there were a way to make our dreams come alive if only for a moment frozen in time?

This summer, I had the privilege of being a part of the Creativity Lab’s two-week Maker Academy program where teens came together to create their own photo comics. Our imaginative team developed their own fantasy and superhero characters, learned costuming skills to outfit themselves as those characters, worked in groups to write stories that featured their characters, and finally took photographs of each scene that they then edited for the photo comic. The result was Four Ways to Save the World: Or, Cliched Title of a Collection of Cliched Stories, some panels of which you’ll see illustrating this post.

When the teens came up with their characters and stories, although the stories would need to be photo illustrated for the comic, there were no limits to their settings. Thanks to some Photoshop instruction and the Creativity Lab’s new green screen, teens were able to photograph themselves in action shots, and then swap out the green backgrounds for public domain images they found online. When photographs are taken in front of a single color background, Photoshop makes it easy to select everything in that single color to be removed and replaced with something else.

In some cases, in addition to swapped backgrounds, participants even used Photoshop’s painting tools to turn themselves fully into their characters.

Pretty cool, right? What’s even cooler is that if you’re a registered maker in the Creativity Lab, you can bring your “what ifs” to life too!

All Creativity Lab computers have Photoshop installed on them, and the green screen is available for use anytime during Open Labs. Don’t know how to use Photoshop? No problem! The Creativity Lab offers periodic Photoshop classes (see the complete events calendar for a list of upcoming classes), and during Open Labs the Programming Librarian is available to help out with basic instruction for specific tasks.

Now, I’m going to ask you to do yourself a favor: Give yourself some time to wonder without limits. Then, come down to visit the library so that we can help you bring the things you dream up to life.