Every week new creations unfold at the Makerplace that showcase just how inventive the Arlington Heights community can be. From laser etching a glass to knitting a quilt, the Makerplace allows for endless possibilities, and for one local artist, using the Makerplace helped take his artwork to a whole new scale.

Raymond "RK" Liu is a graphic designer and artist whose passion for origami began as a child and evolved over time.

“It’s probably the earliest memory I have with my mother teaching me anything,” Liu said. "I was so obsessed with folding origami...every single night I would go on YouTube, look up a tutorial for something new to make and make it.”

Liu graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in graphic design and in addition to pursuing graphic

“Let the games begin” was on everyone’s mind this past summer as the Summer Olympics took place in Paris, France. For one local fencing coach, the games got their start early at the library’s Makerplace.

Arlington Heights resident R. Grant Carlton is the foil coach for Thundercats Fencing, a combined high school fencing team made up of students from the Libertyville and Vernon Hills high schools. In February 2024, two students from Carlton’s team qualified for the 2024 Junior Olympics and Parafencing North American Cup in Charlotte, North Carolina. But before they could compete in the Junior Olympics, which are the qualifying tournament for the USA Junior World Team, Carlton made sure to stop by the Makerplace.

“What I do is armory, and armory is a collective term for any

Walk the talk. Never has this saying been truer than with Arlington Heights resident Lauralee Reese who over the past two years has earned her way into becoming an experienced and accomplished maker -- one Makerplace class and project at a time.

“I tell everyone about the Makerplace, and my advice is always the same,” said Reese, a devoted Arlington Heights Memorial Library customer for 25-plus years who now is also an avid user of the library’s Makerplace. “Start with an instructional class. Learn more about what you can do and what you like to do."

"Then make a one-on-one appointment afterwards so you can take what you learned and build upon it some more,” continued Reese. “The Makerplace staff is so helpful and knowledgeable…and really patient,” she added with a laugh.

From 3D printers to embroidery machines, the possibilities for creating are endless at the library’s Makerplace. And for one local artist, the Makerplace’s tools and equipment have helped turn abstract ideas into a colorful series of mirrored acrylic art.

Jonathan Pruc is an art teacher at Mundelein High School and has been working as a local artist since he was a student at Elk Grove High School. Even though he first began using the Makerplace’s Epilog Mini 24 Laser Cutter in November 2022, the idea for his mirrored acrylic art began much earlier.

“I’ve always been a figurative artist, but it was COVID and [the] lockdown that kind of changed my artmaking practice. I challenged myself to make a painting every day for a month,” Pruc said. “We were all trapped inside our

Anyone can use the library to create, explore and further develop their passions and interests – just take a look at Garry Guillaume, a nurse at Bella Terra Morton Grove who recently learned he could use the library’s Studio to further pursue his love for music. 

Guillaume is a Haitian American musician. He developed his love for music through his family’s involvement in church while growing up in Haiti. He works long hours as a nurse, but still manages to find time every day to work on his music. 

“My job is sometimes very busy and may be stressful and music is the thing I always use as a therapy to calm me down,” he said. “It’s kind of like I don’t feel complete for the day [unless] I do some music, no matter what the time.” 

“Sometimes as a musician and a composer

Look at the amazing detail in this gorgeous photograph of milkweed created by Arlington Heights visual artist Jeanne Garrett. Jeanne took this photograph, along with a series of other milkweed images, a few years ago, using the photography light box in the library's Studio. Stunning and timeless, the photographs capture in intricate detail the beauty of milkweed in its many stages and were featured in an exhibit this summer at the Tall Grass Arts Gallery in Park Forest where they received an Award of Excellence.

Congratulations, Jeanne! Thank you for sharing your beautiful work with us! To view more of Jeanne's work, visit www.jeannegarrettphotography.com.

What special object or item would you like to photograph? Borrow a photography light box from our Library of Things

“You made this?” These words are music to the ears of Erin Kaiser, a 29-year-old Arlington Heights resident who recently has been on a creative roll at the library’s Makerplace. Kaiser submitted some of her completed projects to our Creator Spotlight—each more fabulous than the next: personalized gift tags, an engraved cutting board, a beautiful slate charcuterie board and topping them all - 20 personalized ID badge lanyards Kaiser made for her colleagues at Riley Elementary School in District 21.

“I took one essentials class last fall, the intro to laser cutting,” said Kaiser. “I wanted to get my feet wet, and the class was really well done. We learned about Adobe Illustrator and how to download images and make them into cut-able files. At the end of the class, I left super

At the library’s Makerplace, anything is possible. All you need is a bit of creativity, something web and graphic designer and Arlington Heights resident Zoe Feast has plenty of.

Feast often creates pattern design work as a hobby and has recently been using the Makerplace to show off her patterns in an entirely new way with art pieces made using recycled wood.

“I came to one of the [Makerplace tours] and I just jumped right in,” Feast said. She quickly began using the Makerplace’s Dremel LC40 laser cutter to etch her pattern designs into wood she collected from her volunteer work at Cuba Marsh Forest Preserve in Deer Park, a part of her life that has even inspired the patterns she creates. She works in habitat restoration to remove invasive and non-native species.

“The

When you visit the library’s Studio you can get creative with video, music, graphic design and more – the possibilities are endless, and local musicians Charlie Crane and Julie Jurgens recently took advantage of the library’s equipment to create and produce a song cycle called Appointed Tasks.

Jurgens is a singer and songwriter who has been “making audiences across the Midwest weep into their beverages with her fearless songs and plaintive voice for over 20 years.” 

In early 2020, after her gig schedule was cleared by Illinois’ stay-at-home order, she began recording many of her previously unreleased compositions in her basement studio. The result was Appointed Tasks, an autobiographical song cycle that “approaches love, loss, trauma, neglect, abuse and perseverance with a

Everyone loves a personalized gift! That’s what Arlington Heights resident Elaine Schreck decided as she set out to handmake some gifts this past December, a tray for her brother and his fiancée with a customized vinyl design of their wedding date and buttons and magnets for family members featuring photos of her newborn, Eddie.

“All of these gifts were a big hit,” said Schreck. “To make the tray, I repurposed and stained a piece of wood and the handles were antiques from some old kitchen cabinets. The only cost was for the vinyl cutout - it cost me a dollar to make at the Makerplace!”

Schreck’s money-saving, gift-making adventure first began when she enrolled in a Makerplace Essentials Class: Vinyl Cutting.

“The class was really good to learn how to use the Cricut