Yesterday was the Wayne County Maker Faire. This is an event where people get together and show off what they can make – from knitting to robots, wordworking to drones – and all kinds of things in between.
I got up at 6, loaded up my car, and was at Wayne College by 7:15. Unloaded the car, got everything set up, and was ready to go half an hour early.
Which was good, because people started showing up at 9:30. And from then until 5:03 pm, I folded paper and taught people – mostly kids – how to fold things as well.
We did cubes, triangular shapes, and cranes – lots of cranes.
It was a steady stream, usually 2-3 kids at a time, all day long.
Jim stopped by and brought me a drink shortly after we officially started. And my folks came up for a visit and brought me a sub which I ate while I was folding. I unfortunately didn’t have much time to visit with them – the kids were relentless in the nicest way possible. Dad did give me a quick break to run to the restroom and then it was back to it.
I was wrapping up a crane with a couple kids at 5 and there was one little girl waiting to fold something too. So, because I had to pack up and go, I gave her the crane I’d been working on as a sort of consolation. She was cool with that.
With the car loaded up, I headed out and I met up with some friends for dinner and games. Then, shower and bed.
I was exhausted.
Not just physically tired from a day’s worth of activity, but mentally tired. Each piece I do, no matter how well practiced, takes a sliver of concentration. When I’m showing someone else, especially a novice, that takes more attention. Showing multiple people of different skill levels takes far more to track where everyone is and how much intervention is needed. This is especially true with very little kids – they want to do the whole thing, but there is some degree of precision needed or the folds don’t work
And then multiply that by the number of different projects going at once. Several times, I had a couple kids working on cranes, two others building cubes, and a little girl that hung out at my booth that wanted to make an 18 piece wreath.
Human beings can’t really multi-task, but we can switch tasks really quickly – and I think I hit my limits on that one.
I’m still worn out today and might actually take a nap in a bit here. Not sure I want to tackle an event like this again… and yet…
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There’s a moment, right at end of folding a crane, when it suddenly looks like a bird. All along, it’s just paper with a bunch of folds that don’t mean anything and suddenly – crane.
The last step is the hardest. You grip the crane from the front and the tail and pull straight apart. It takes some effort – just the right amount of effort. Not enough, and nothing happens. Too much, and the paper will tear.
But when it works, the bird will take that first tentative flap of its wings. And from there, the wings will flap with ease.
And in that moment, when everyone’s attention is focused on the crane, there is delight. Eyes get wide, smiles get huge, and there is simple wonder.
For a kid to see that transformation and to have a hand in turning a piece of paper into something… well, magical…
That’s pretty awesome.