Join us at upcoming events and workshops:

Mark Your Calendar Now For Next Month's First Friday Building Party, April 2: "Glass" with guest artist Margo McCreary


Margo will show you how to make your very own glass beads and you will be able to explore other melted sand projects.

Bring your creativity and your friends! Feel free to just show up. No pre-registration required. No experience necessary. Still just $10 at the door. Food and beverage included.

See you there -- Leonardo's Basement, 4301 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis, 55409.
Map Look for the entrance on 43rd Street, near the alley; under Anodyne Coffeehouse.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As a lot of you know, Studio Bricolage loves to make stuff and show others how things are made but we've realized that not everyone is a maker / builder. We also found out that there are a lot of people who love to learn without getting their hands dirty. So we will respond to offer those with our new

FIELD TRIP Series

Similar to the MIXOLOGY series we will offer experiences that you can't find any other place. The MIXOLOGY classes came about because a Studio Bricolage attendee wanted to learn more about making cocktails. Turns out he wasn't the ONLY one!

For example, a handful of people want to go on field trips - just like when you were in grade school. We've kicked around a few ideas for one-day trips to places like:
     -  a surgical theater
     -  the UPS depot
     -  Pearson Candies factory
     -  water jet cutting facility
     -  glass blowing studio
     -  large recycling center
     -  police forensics lab
     -  gun range
     -  bee apiary
     -  windmill tour
     -  engine rebuilding at the airport
     -  the downtown incinerator
     -  operating a bulldozer or backhoe
     -  observing an industrial kitchen in action

You get the idea. Studio Bricolage will happily arrange experiences that you can't find at any other place (that's our charter, by the way). We plan to have a hands-on element at most field trip sites. Let us know what you think about the ideas mentioned above. Do you know of an obscure or ultra-fascinating place that people would like to see? Do you have an idea for something that you'd like to learn about or build? Tell us about it! Check back later to find out where we are going!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In mid-January we held a Lamp Making workshop to let folks who were enticed at the Lamp Making First Friday to come and play around with some other ideas. For two nights, bricoleurs ripped apart old lamps and re-purposed them into magical light-emitting devices. It was a lot of fun to explore! See below...




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
let's get small, real small: microscopic projects
THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 5 FROM 7-10pm

We'll show you how to write your name on a grain of rice at this month's First Friday Building Party . Make a miniature diorama, create photo and video micrographs on a USB microscope, design small art on big balloons, laser impossibly small things with the laser engraver and more!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The MIXOLOGY series was a great success. Take a look below at the MIXOLOGY 3 festivities and read Randy Hanson's well-written account of the day called Summit Sips. We couldn't have written it better! It is an ongoing collection of musings about recipes, techniques, tools and other cocktail-related topics.

.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take a look at the photos from the 3rd annual Ice Sculpture Party held at Griggs Park in St. Paul. Wow, what a turn out with lots to do.




-------x
-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x
HEY! Check out these great animated Gifs (simple stop-animation movies) made at the Gif It Up! class held on February 9th.
-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First Friday Building Parties

On the first Friday evening of the month, Studio Bricolage offers creative and adventurous adults the chance to try different activities. One month it could be a project related to electricity, another month weird and wacky contraptions. As always, you can expect an endless supply of building materials and the necessary tools and building advice to help you build a project to take home.

Bring your creativity -- and your friends!
Feel free to just show up. No pre-registration required. No experience necessary.

Still Just $10 at the Door -- Food & Beverage Included
Leonardo's Basement, 4301 Nicollet Avenue (under Anodyne)
Map

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Your Calendar Now for Upcoming First Friday Events:

  • April 2 Glass with guest artist Margo McCreary Margo will show you how to make your very own glass beads and you will be able to explore other melted sand projects.
  • May 7 WATER
    Fountains, aquariums and more.
  • June 4 & 5 Kites, Planes, Balloons & Rockets
    Build any or all of these flying ideas on Friday night and launch them the following Saturday afternoon.
  • July 2 Pyrotechnics!
    Delayed from last fall, but not forgotten. Explosive fun.
See what the Star Tribune has to say about Studio Bricolage.

Join the Studio Bricolage Facebook Fan Page and be the first to hear about events and classes/workshops!

Classes and Workshops
Check back soon - we are planning classes right now to warm you up during the cold months ahead.
Past Events

Mixology: The Art & Science of Drink - Three Part Series - Hosted by Bradstreet Craftshouse.

A few months ago, one of Studio Bricolage’s members suggested that we create a class about the history and preparation of cocktails. So, we approached the experts at Bradstreet Craftshouse and voila, this exciting series of classes was born.

 Fox 9 News' MA Rosko visited before the first workshop... take a look at the feature video

Check out all the fun here from the first MIXOLOGY class.

And check back for future class offerings.


FIRST FRIDAY 7-10 PM DECEMBER 4
Holiday Party & Gift Making

It was a great evening of making fun food and gifts. From spin-art crepes, laser etching Rice Krispie bars bricoleurs created custom cookie cutters & heat-driven turbines. Check out the excitement here!

Do you like this whipped-cream powered rocket ship? Do you want to make a video like this? Hey, we're offering a class to teach you just that.

November 6  Performance Sculpture: Kinetic Art was the theme with guest artist Tim Fort who taught us how to build chain-reaction wonders that explode, collapse and amaze. We also dove into the world of slow moving motors and wind powered devices. There's even the world's first wax-powered clock. Here are more videos and photos than you can shake a sculpture at. Tim's website is at: http://www.lunatim.com/kinart/kinetic.shtml












October 2 LAMPS! We had a blast making all kinds of lamps and with a impromptu photo studio we bring you these pictures.
















August 15 1st Annual Canoe Float Parade

A flotilla of creatively fashioned "floats," built upon canoes, navigated the seas of Lake of the Isles.There was an incredible procession of inspired constructions, including a huge galleon, human-powered paddleboat, a tiger in its native habitat, a 40-foot tower with surprises, a rocket ship, and the grand sculpture "Bohemoth!" See all the action here.


Thanks to Schafer Richardson Real Estate for donating machine shop space for building.

July 19th Lake Calhoun Shark!!

On Sunday intrepid Bricoleurs braved the icy waters of Lake Calhoun trying desperately to escape the gnashing jaws of a 160'- long shark!

Frightened onlookers marveled at the fin and enjoyed the incredibly loud "Jaws" theme music.

To see more shark photos bite here.







June 5 "NO PRESSURE, AIR PRESSURE"

We built a giant, round air hockey game, used compressed air to blow up thin rubber goods and explored pneumatic tool use. We also created incredible paintings by blowing paint through straw and we made blow guns and shot targets.Photos of the windy night !



May 1 LAWN ART We created spectacular lawn art, including wind turbines, chimes, mobiles, Tibetan flags, bird feeders and totems.
Look at the pictures from the lawn







April 3 PAPER BUILDING
In April, local artists Margaret Pezalla and Westy Copeland as well as other Makers showed how to make beautiful paper art. We made paper automata, built mathematical structures, cut with the laser, weaved beautiful paterns, created amazing colorful surfaces and "sewed" kraft paper suit jackets, vests and hats.  It was an amazing "flatland" evening. Look at this Slideshow of amazing paper work.


March 14   Make:Day at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Studio Bricolage had a fantastic presence with the Paint Pendulum and the Dryer Orchestra. The folks at Make:TV partnering with the Science Museum kicked off what is hoped to be an annual event. Take a look at a slide show.


March 6  Second Annual Rube Goldberg Machine Building Event  Take a look at the slideshow, and check back to see this years video. 
Take a look at last years video of the First Annual Rube Goldberg video.
February 8   First annual Ice Sculpture Potluck at Lake of the Isles
Thanks for coming!
It was held on the East side of Lake of the Isles by the ice skating rink
People made and played with ice and brought it to sculpt with. It was free and it was fun! We have instructions for making ice here.
January 2   High Voltage an evening in 20,000 volts! 
- Building Jacobs Ladders
- Lighting up wood and drawing with electricity!
- Making Fluorescent Sculptures
"Uber Tuber"  Making fries fly!
A crew from TPT's new television show MAKE:television filmed the amazing spud into french fries invention. Watch the video.

Take a look at all of our past events

Want to help?

We're using this website to organize our programs and schedule events and classes/workshops.

In addition to resources, blogs, building instructions and a calendar, this is the place to propose classes or offer to teach one. 

Call us at 612-824-4394 if:

  • You'd like to learn how to do something (solder, make clothes or jewelry, work with wood, build electronic circuits, craft junk sculptures or anything else)
  • You’d like to teach a small group of people a skill or how to build a project.