Logo banner showing a sunglasses-wearing skeleton holding a laptop in one hand and a ball of yarn and knitting needle in the other. The logo contains the text: For anyone curious about vaguely DH-adjacent crafting+making, ZERO experience required

Scheduled #DHMakes Methodz Talks

Upcoming events

✨🧶✨Alisa K. Beer on hand spinning

  • Date: January 16, 2025
  • Time: 2:30pm-3pm Eastern
  • Registration required: register here before day of talk
  • Zoom event taught by Alisa K. Beer on hand spinning! Thanks to Katina Rogers for facilitating.

✨📚✨#DHMakes Book Club Zoom on crafting+activism, with Claudia Berger

Graphic showing part of the cover of "Let's move the needle: an activism handbook for artsists, crafts, creatives, and makers" by Shannon Downey. The graphic also says "#DHmakes Book Club, Tuesday Jan. 21 at 3-3:45pm ET. Join us for a discussion of (and maybe activities from) "Let's Move the Needle" by Shannon Downey." A pink circle adds the text "Build community and make change!"

✨👖✨TBA on sashiko (visible mending)

  • Date: TBA, in Spring 2025
  • Time: TBA
  • Registration info will be added here.
  • Zoom event taught by (TBA) on sashiko (a visible mending technique). If you’ve any experience (including beginner) and would be willing to co-teach or even just briefly show your work, please let Amanda know (visconti@virginia.edu; doesn’t need to be fancy! seeing what beginners can achieve is useful too).

Recent events

✨🧦✨Sam Blickhan on speedweve for mending socks

  • Date: 10/15/2024
  • Time: 3-3:30pm ET
  • Zoom event already happened! Zine version, based on Sam’s talk+slides, zine-ified by Amanda. Slides!
  • Zoom event taught by Sam Blickhan on speedweve for mending socks.

✨📚✨Claudia Berger on zine-making

  • Date: 10/31/2024
  • Time: 3-3:30pm ET
  • Zoom event already happened! Zine capturing the event, cited tools/zines/links etc. will be posted here and on social media using #DHmakes when it’s ready (probably a couple weeks after the talk).
  • Zoom event taught by Claudia Berger on zine-making.

✨🪡✨Alex Wingate on English paper piecing

  • Date: 11/14/2024
  • Time: 2:30-3pm ET
  • Zoom event already happened! Slides! Zine capturing the event will be posted here and on social media using #DHmakes when it’s ready (probably a couple weeks after the talk).
  • Zoom event taught by Alex Wingate on English paper piecing.

About /#DHMakes Methodz Talks

Monthlyish 30min informal, low-effort way to help folks discover methods that might interest them & how to dip their toes in. Email Visconti [at] Virginia.edu if you’d like to teach and/or help organize/moderate a talk, and I can add you to a GDoc to help match up prospective teachers and organizers-moderators (I’m at my capacity limit for organizing with these first 3 talks, but it would rock if others want to make more happen!)

Each Zoom event is 30min:

  1. One informal 10-20min talk:
    • about 1 specific craft/make/art method (e.g. crochet, woodcarving, resin), and
    • aimed at “what is this method, why might I want to try it, how would I get started?” (not a tutorial attendees follow, given coordinating supplies is hard)
  2. Optional 10-20min after talk for questions, working on/sharing your own crafty/makey things

Talks focus on

Discussing or demoing 1 method (not multiple; not expecting audience to have supplies to follow along). Up to teacher, but could cover:

  • Why are you interested/excited about this method? Why might others dig trying it?
  • What’s challenging about the method, e.g. when starting out? Advice, encouragement?
  • Any related personal projects (at any stage of completion) to share?
  • Recommend tutorials, other example projects
  • Supplies you’d need to try the method more inexpensively

Why “MethodZ”?

I’ll try taking notes during the talks, to turn into miniZine drafts to credit & be approved by the speaker. Could share these online & in public spaces like my Scholars’ Lab zine rack (UVA).

What is “#DHmakes”?

#DHmakes is loosely folks in digital humanities/libraries/academia/learning-work who craft/make (including as non-job hobby), open to anyone interested. We use the #DHmakes hashtag to share our in-progress make/craft work, ask questions, cheer each other on, and collaborate (e.g. on conference sessions, craft projects, writing). A couple of us blogged more about #DHmakes—what it is, why it’s cool, how to get involved.

Check out the Bluesky #DHmakes feed. If you aren’t on Bluesky, check out Amanda’s friendly Bluesky quickstart & detailed guides which are updated regularly and especially aimed at folks in academic, GLAM, DH, and related knowledge work. And let Amanda know if you join so they can follow you!

(Keeping the spirit of the DH 2024 #DHmakes mini-conference going! Thanks to Claudia Berger for leading #DHmakes mini-conference facilitation, + to co-conspirators Anne Ladyem McDivitt, Gabby Evergreen, Jacque Wernimont, Jojo Karlin, Quinn Dombrowski! And thanks to participants, too.)