Hand-Made Cards from the Heart

The UTA Libraries FabLab gave people a heartwarming opportunity to create handmade cards for Valentine's Day on Monday, Feb. 13. 

The FabLab staff took people step-by-step to make a greeting card using a wooden block. Before the workshop, the staff selected the designs and laser-cut them into wood blocks. 

 First, people selected the block of wood they would use as the design for the card. Once the design was selected, ink was applied to the block using a brayer roller. The block was placed into a holder, and paper was placed on top. 

People could run the paper and the holder through a hand-cranked press or apply pressure to the paper using their hands. Once complete, the inked design would be transferred to the paper. 

Krishna Petel, a Construction Engineering Management major, stated she was drawn to the workshop after seeing a post on the library's social media pages. While she had been a student at UTA for several years, Krishna had yet to use the FabLab before Monday night. 

"It is cool how they incorporated multiple elements of the FabLab into this single program. It is nice hearing about that from the student workers," Krishna said. "I got inspiration from one of the student workers for the card design. I also just loved how the colors blended into each other. It is super cute." 

Indigo Passariello, UTA Libraries staff member, stated that this type of event allows people to learn something new and meet new people. She noted that the workshop is not only fun but is taught well by the FabLab staff. Without that help, "I would not know where to begin." 

 For information about future events or workshops in the UTA Libraries FabLab, go to https://libraries.uta.edu or on the Libraries' Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Pages.