On July 31, the Fab Lab du Jardin invited residents to its headquarters in Campbell’s Bay for a hands-on, creative workshop using high-end innovative technology.

The event served as an opportunity for . . .

locals to craft their own personalized keychains using specialized computer software, birch wood and the Fab Lab’s big, powerful laser-cutter located in the tool shed outside the main building.

With Fab Lab experts Gregory Beard and Daniel Lepine-Généreux on hand to answer any questions or solve any issues, participants were well-guided all the way through the process of materializing their artistic visions.

To make the keychain, participants started out by choosing a specific design, a logo or a word that they wanted engraved on their customized keychains. Designs were mostly picked from Google Images.

Once the design was selected, they followed-up by uploading their respective graphics onto a creative software called Inkscape to decide what they wanted their keychain to look like.

After narrowing down the design specifics, the next step was to upload the picture to another software called LightBurn where they determined which part of the wood they wanted the laser-cutter to engrave, as well as how deep and at which speed they wanted it to move.

Then participants chose the thickness of wood they wanted their keychain to be at (an eighth of an inch or a quarter inch) before heading out to the shed to operate the laser-cutting machine.

After connecting the laptop to the large apparatus outside and uploading the final design onto it, participants pushed a series of buttons on the machine, before watching the hot laser gracefully cut through the sheet of plywood and do its work.

In a matter of minutes, the product was done and ready for sanding. After sanding off the burnt parts of the wood, participants finished off their projects by inserting a small metal ring through the tiny hole designed on Inkscape.

At the end of the day, all participants had their own custom keychain to take home and use.

According to Beard, the event allows locals to discover the Fab Lab’s variety of manufacturing technology, as they are able to get a feel for their almost limitless potential for creativity despite how simple the technology is to use. Plus, it is all available for free in the Pontiac.

“[The goal] is to see how accessible it is,” he said. “You still have to put a little effort into it. Just to kind of get used to it, to understand functions and understand how the software works. But once you start using it, it’s a quick learning curve.”

For Beard, the Fab Lab’s engineering wonders can be very beneficial to the community in a variety of ways. Most notably, it provides the freedom to undertake creative projects independently with a relative sense of ease.

“You get to work on your own projects,” he said. “You don’t have to rely on other people to make certain things.”

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