A Global Celebration of Lace: International Tatting Day

In this article:
  • International Tatting Day is a global celebration of creating delicate lace.

  • Festive lace-themed stencils are included for the occasion, and they are free, printable, and easy to use.

  • See inspiration from some of our favorite Doodlers who make breathtaking lace projects, including Eden Saadon, Erica Gray, Patrick Tai, and SHIGO.

Did you know that today, crafters all around the world are celebrating lace?

That’s right! Today is International Tatting Day, and tatting is a very specific type of lace that is made of delicate knots and loops. This artform is enjoyed by countless people across the globe, and has been since the 1700s.

On this day, tatters around the world celebrate their creative hobby. To help you join in on the festivities, we have some stencils just for you, as well as some creative inspiration from some of our favorite Doodlers.

"“When I don’t know what to wear, I wear black lace.”"-Carine Roitfeld, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris Share

Lace Stencils

Cute Lace Collar Stencil
Bring an elegant touch to any shirt or sweater with this fun and easy-to-use stencil!

Erica Gray’s Mesmerizing Mask Tutorial
Costumes aren’t just for halloween! It’s always cosplay season, and you can use designer Erica Gray’s mask stencil to make a unique headpiece for your next event, or use the tutorial as a springboard to create your own design.

Lace Inspiration from 3Doodler Designers

To show you that lace projects have no limits with 3Doodler pens, we have highlighted some awe-inspiring pieces from some of our favorite Doodling designers below.

"I think it’s the responsibility of a designer to try to break rules and barriers.”"-Gianni Versace Share

Eden Saadon’s Lacy Lingerie and Accoutrements
Israeli fashion designer, Eden Saadon, is a pioneer with 3Doodler “lace” wearables. She fell in love with using Black FLEXY plastics for designing her lace collections. You can learn more about Eden here.

Erica Gray’s Lacey Wearables
Australian fashion designer, Erica Gray, created these beautiful lacey pieces with White FLEXY, Gold FLEXY, and the 3Doodler Create+ pen.

Patrick Tai’s Lace of the Future
The visionary fashion of Patrick Tai is truly unique in every way. This dress and cuff bracelet are made entirely of FLEXY, and the composition is a delicate, lacy web of interweaving geometry. You can learn more about Patrick’s creations here.

SHIGO’s Lace Designer Dress
SHIGO, a design team hailing from Hong Kong, created this fashionable lace dress using a 3Doodler pen, Blue Steel PLA and Diamonds & Pearls PLA. To learn more about how they made their dress, you can see their step-by-step process here.

Other Doodlers want to see your lace creations! Share your lacy Doodles with them on social media.

@3Doodler #3Doodler #InternationalTattingDay

Eden Saadon’s Photo Credits
Eden’s Collected Works
Photo Credit: Doron Sieradzki
Photo Credit: Achikam Ben Yosef

Erica Gray’s Photo Credits
Photo 1 and 2:
Designer: #ericagrayartist
Photo 3, 4 and 5:
Photo Credit: Lauren Young Creative, @huxleyschoolofmakeup
HMUA: @makeupbybrooklyn.k
Photo Credit: @gothiczenstudios
Model (Photo 3): @amyejbrowne
Model (Photo 4 and 5): Good Vibes Clare

Patrick Tai Credits
Images courtesy of Patrick Tai

SHIGO Dress Credits
Images courtesy of SHIGO

Join From Anywhere: 3Doodler EDU Webinar Series

Calling all kid inventors, parents, teachers, and creators!

We’re excited to announce our new weekly webinar series, which is completely FREE, and will provide fun, educational, hands-on activities to bring learning to life in 3D.

Maxwell Bogue, 3Doodler’s founder, is excited to host topics designed to encourage young learners to create, build, and explore using three dimensional shapes. This series was created with flexibility in mind — join live or stream it anytime via our YouTube channel. Demonstrations, challenge prompts, and questions will spur learning. Take a look at the full schedule and the quick list of materials you’ll need.

Bonus: You’ll also have a chance to win a Learn From Home Pen Pack during the first webinar!

Schedule

When: Every Wednesday at 1pm EDT
Where: Join on YouTube

What will you create?

April 1: Explore the Seasons
What you’ll need: 3Doodler pen, 3Doodler filaments, Lesson plan, 4x sticks from outside, paper, pencil

April 8: Building Bridges & Learning 3D Structure
What you’ll need: 3Doodler pen, 3Doodler filaments, printed stencil

April 15: Creativity Shines with Upcycled Inventions!
What you’ll need: 3Doodler pen, 3Doodler filaments, Lesson plan, upcycling items (paperclips, egg cartons, cardboard, etc.)

April 22: Bring the Outdoors In & Get Doodling!
What you’ll need: 3Doodler pen, 3Doodler filaments, Lesson plan, 4-6 leaves from outside

April 29: Lifting Stories off of the Page!
What you’ll need: 3Doodler Start pen, 3Doodler Start filaments, Lesson plan, printed stencil

May 6: Abstract Concepts Realized in 3D!
What you’ll need: 3Doodler pen, 3Doodler filaments, printed stencil, balled up paper to use with catapult

Spread the word about our new 3Doodler EDU webinar series and share what you’re learning with us on social media. Tag Us: @3Doodler, #3Doodler, #3DoodlerEDU!

Posted in EDU

STEAM Education: An Overview from an Expert

Written By Brittany Ballou, K-5 STEAM Teacher, Grange Hall Elementary

Students using the 3Doodler Start Students using the 3Doodler Start

STEAM is an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math, but what exactly does it mean? How can you integrate it seamlessly into your classroom? How will it enrich your students’ learning? In order to have the biggest impact on your students’ education, you want to truly understand all of the ins and outs of STEAM education.

When teaching STEAM you are not focusing on isolated subjects, but rather combining knowledge from all areas as students complete design challenges. When presented with a design challenge, students move through the engineering design cycle (ask, imagine, plan, create, improve, and share) to tackle the problem at hand. This approach allows teachers to be facilitators of learning as students take ownership of the content through project-based learning.

Through the engineering design cycle, students learn by researching the topic, trial and error during the building process, and discussion with teammates. Peer collaboration is a large part of STEAM education because students learn together as they brainstorm ideas and analyze their design through the testing phase.

The problems or challenges that you present to students should not have one right answer, but instead allow students to create a variety of solutions. The teacher is not prescribing a set path and correct solution, but rather allowing the creativity of the students to shine through. This method helps students learn how to approach problems in an organized and effective way – learnings which can set them apart in their future careers.

Bb 3D drawing: Note with 3D pen & paper clip

STEAM education enriches students’ lives because it provides an opportunity for them to apply their knowledge through real-world application. Students love to ask the question, “when am I ever going to use this in real life?” This is your opportunity to expose them to actual problems that involve the application of skills they are learning in the classroom.

While doing this, you can take the opportunity to inform them of the various career paths available to them. If students are never exposed to career paths, such as being an architect, software developer, or medical engineer that utilizes 3D-printing, then they will never have an opportunity to see what they could be when they grow up.

The goal of STEAM education is to create both analytical and creative thinkers. We want students to be able to think outside the box, collaborate with their peers, overcome obstacles, and apply their learning to benefit society. You too can do all of this in your own classroom! Below you will find lesson criteria to help you start implementing STEAM challenges with your own students, as well as tips to help you along the way.

Lesson Criteria
  • Introduce the topic to students.

  • Find literature that goes with the topic. This is optional, but I love finding a new book to read to students. We discuss story elements and link science and/or math curriculum to the storyline with the STEAM challenge that is given.

  • Discuss background knowledge of the topic. This is where you unpack the standards you want students to review before giving them the STEAM challenge.

  • Present the STEAM design challenge to students so that they can relate it to things they already know, and feel connected to the problem.

  • Give students time to create a plan. Their plan should have a picture and be labeled with the materials they need to build.

  • You can provide a set amount of student materials to add the concept of limited resources to the lesson, or let them choose any materials they want.

  • Provide time for students to build, test, and improve their plan. This step can take as much time as, or more than, the previous work thus far.

  • Have students share their designs.

Tips:

STEAM education is not meant to be an “extra” thing to check off your to-do list. Instead, it should help you teach the assigned curriculum in an integrated way, accomplishing several class goals in one project. You should start by unpacking your curriculum standards. I find it helpful to start with science because it naturally lends itself to hands-on projects, but any area can be a starting point.

When you first start using STEAM challenges in your classroom, start small. Give students a time limit to complete the challenge (about 30 – 45 minutes). After students become comfortable with the engineering design cycle, you can complete more in-depth STEAM challenges that require multiple class periods to complete. For example, as you complete a unit of study in science, students can be simultaneously working on a STEAM project to apply and demonstrate their learning.

Not every STEAM project is going to work. Students are going to fail, and that’s ok! Your students will learn more by failing than they will by succeeding. Make sure they have some time to analyze what went wrong. They should always apply what they learn in one challenge and use it in future challenges.

What are your thoughts on STEAM education?

Our EDU community would love to hear about it! Share your thoughts with them on Twitter. @3Doodler #3Doodler

Be sure to follow Brittany Ballou on Twitter.

Giving… In 3D

What is 3D Giving Day, you ask?

3D Giving Day was an event designed to share iconic picture books with people who can’t experience them through visual means.

Thanks to 3D Printing, 3Doodler pens, and other maker space tools, 3D Giving Day participants made these stories tactile, in some cases for the first time ever. The finished products were then donated to libraries, hospitals, preschools, or other individuals so they could experience beloved images in a whole new way.

We are excited to share the success of 3D Giving Day with you, and we have compiled some of our favorite examples below.

A group of teens at the Library Station in Springfield, Missouri created a tactile version of Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear. Once completed, Library Station Youth Services Manager, Phyllis Davis, read the finished version aloud to blind and visually impaired preschoolers at Shining Stars Early Childhood Center. The kids interacted with the 3D prints through touch, providing further context to the visuals most of us take for granted. The local NBC station was also there to cover the reading.

“We’re helping other people so they can have the same feeling that we have when we read the books,” said San Gabriel, CA sixth grader, Krystal Osorio. “But instead of reading they are going to feel with their hands.”

3Doodler co-founder Maxwell Bogue attended the 3D Giving Day celebration at Massapequa-Ames High School, leading students through favorites like Where The Wild Things Are, Elephant and Piggie, and more.

3Doodler ambassador Naomi Harm put together a 3D Giving Day lesson plan for Coffee for the Brain’s 25 Days of Making. One week later, she brought the 3D Giving Day concept to more than 1,000 attendees at the SLATE Conference in Wisconsin Dells, WI.

Want to see more about 3D Giving Day?

Check out the links below in the footer, and in the spirit of sharing, please post them on social media! @3Doodler #3Doodler

Posted in EDU

St. Patrick’s Day Lesson and Memory Game

Do you want your next lesson to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

If so, this is just for you!

Middle school teacher, Ellen Peterson, has put together an exciting lesson plan and memory game to bring some festive fun to your classroom this St. Patrick’s Day. Not only will it teach your students about the science behind 4-leaf clovers, but it will also bring some focused-fun to this festive holiday.

Teacher Tip: Have students use the hot tip of the 3Doodler Create+ to clean messy edges and smooth out rough corners on their Doodles.

Teachers can follow along to the easy step-by-step instructions and print off the lesson resources for the game, which include the Shamrock Memory Game cards, a score sheet for the students, and 3-leaf and 4-leaf clover stencils.

Teacher Tip: Did you know that you can laminate our stencils so they can be used over and over again? Feel free to print the stencils and laminate them before class. Laminated sheets will work with both the 3Doodler Start pens and the 3Doodler Create+ pens.
It’s Not as Simple as Mendel Said: A Lesson in Shamrock Genetics
Time Required: One 60-minute session
Skill Level: Beginner
Recommended Grades: 6th to 8th

In this activity, students will review the science behind 4-leaf clovers. Individual students will doodle a 3-leaf or a 4-leaf clover based on their final score in the Shamrock Memory Game, which will be played after a review of lesson materials.

Teacher Tip: We have about 100 lesson plans available for free on our website! Each lesson includes step-by-step instructions to accomplish the learning objectives. All of our lessons are written by teachers, for teachers, and they include Common Core, NGSS, CSTA and ISTE educational standards.

Once the lesson plan is complete, you can use the Doodled clovers to decorate the classroom for the occasion!

Other teachers want to see what you’re doing in your classroom for St. Patrick’s Day! Share your classroom happenings with them on Twitter, and be sure to follow Ellen Peterson.

Tag Us: @3Doodler, #3Doodler, #3DoodlerEDU
Close-up: 3D pen art cake with sticks design

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