Maker Voices: Aaron Bruce Bantung
This past quarter in EDUC 211A has shown me how, time and time again, the process of creating is important to me. Before coming to Stanford, I didn’t make it a priority to express myself creatively that much, as I would dabble in something for a while until it became difficult to progress. Since my junior year, I’ve been more intentional about taking classes focusing on different creative endeavors, allowing me to deeply understand these topics in a structured format. In the past two years, I’ve taken Introduction to Music Production, Introduction to Photography, and a silversmithing arts intensive. The arts intensive class first introduced me to the PRL, although we were only using hand tools to make our designs. I felt like a kid again in those classes, without any preconceived notions for what I should be making and just freely making what I wanted to. While my music production class proved to be more difficult than initially anticipated, with it being difficult to generate and build upon musical ideas, the photography class on the other hand really empowered me to capture photos throughout different parts of my life, applying it to wherever I could. Despite this, the end result of these creative endeavors was an intangible product, which is why I turned to this class during Spring quarter, hoping to capture that same curiosity as my arts intensive class.
Going into my final quarter at Stanford, I knew I wanted to create something in any shape or form, something tangible that I can come away from this quarter knowing I made this. While I at first considered other classes, the opportunity to use all the different kinds of equipment at the Makery was perfect. I knew I wanted to learn how to 3D print from the start, especially because I had always been putting off sending 3D print files to the Tech Desk for printing. Being able to 3D print so much taught me not just the physical process, but also the design aspects I needed to consider for 3D printing. When I tried to utilize CAD on my own, I realized I was way over my head even in moving things around in the interface, but it was still a great learning experience for the basic functions of CAD. For my next project, I knew I wanted to learn about the laser cutter to make an acrylic panel for my PC. I had seen so many cool iterations of panels, even ones for sale, so I figured I would’ve been able to do it myself. In retrospect, I severely underestimated the amount of labor in both designing (and learning Illustrator) from scratch and also working with an acrylic sheet that ended up being very flimsy and warped. Ultimately, I feel like it gave me even more of an appreciation for the seller I found online, for making his designs not only look great but function really well too.
One aspect I didn’t really consider when making and eventually using the things I made was the social community in making. There would always be people willing to offer advice on certain techniques, which I always appreciated. On top of that, I was just really glad when my prints were appreciated by others. One of my main projects this quarter was an organizer set for Catan, and being able to play with others made me really happy that it could be put to use and that people really enjoyed the utility and color coordination of the organizer. The class experience has made me want to have a 3D printer of my own. The opportunity to just make something on the fly has never been more appealing to me, and printing something small to fix stuff around my home would be perfect. I think part of the reason why I feel so strongly about getting my own 3D printer is because it feels so rare to find spaces like the Makery or the PRL outside of academic institutions. Looking around my hometown and around where I’ll be next year, I struggled to find open, public makerspaces which is kind of disappointing to me especially with how great and full of creative life they are. These spaces feel kind of limited to academic areas or cities with enough financial capital, so developing these makerspaces with lower cost equipment in even more places should be a greater priority. Without my own maker spaces to go to, I hope to slowly build my own, allowing me the space to create freely and without hesitation.
