To make our Studio 300 stories, news and updates easier to find, we’ve moved this blog to fountaindale.org/studio300.
If you are already a subscriber, you will continue to receive our emails. We encourage you to check out our new home and explore all of our exciting content!
Checkout the new, innovative method to use music samples with your music. No more digging in crates and worrying about copyright. Tracklib is a paid music service that lets you quickly license any song in their catalog for use in your music compositions. No more sample clearance headaches!
It’s the time of year for spooky ghosts, creepy monsters and creative DIYs. The popularity of computerized cutters prompted Studio 300 to add the Silhouette Cameo 3. This cutter can handle card stock, chipboard, fabric and more. Feeling inspired by the season — and sheets of cute card stock — we created a Halloween village. It includes one large mansion, a few little houses, card stock trees, and fences. We also used our 3D printer to add cute pumpkins and scary monsters.
Using the Silhouette, the mansion came from a free project found at Paper Glitter Glue and converted using Adobe Illustrator. If you want to make your own, watch our video with all the steps. Studio 300 has the project files for the houses if you want to cut your own, too. And you can see the finished project in the Studio 300 display case now through Halloween.
Destiny 2 just launched its latest expansion Shadowkeep on October 1, 2019. One week later, here’s my perspective. Having played D1 since its launch, I’m not new to the game. For the past five years, I have played through each and every expansion, the good, bad, and horrid grinds. Destiny 2 is now entering into its third year, and after the split from Activision early this year, fans of the game were very interested to see what Bungie would do specifically with Shadowkeep — its first solo expansion. Bungie’s decision to make Destiny 2 free to play up to Shadowkeep, as well as the cross save functions, was also a decision that would impact playability of this franchise. But is it everything we hoped and dreamed?
On first impression the campaign is not what I expected, though I still found myself engaged from beginning to end. I would have liked a stronger narrative like Forsaken or Taken King but I was not displeased. I do hope that the path we are seeing will bring us to new places and, dare I say?, even encounter new enemies. Bungie has a long history of recycling enemies, maps, and even missions. The stroll through memory lane as you explore the Moon which has now become infested with nightmares is not altogether disappointing. There are definitely some fun activities and challenges you face through the campaign as well as in open world. It is my hope that we do not find ourselves mired on the Moon for too long. Continue reading
Think book club, but with movies instead. And that describes our two newest clubs for film fans. Our next meeting is Tuesday, September 24, where we meet to discuss two films. This month we focus on superheroes, in Classic Reels we will take a look at Superman (1978), the first superhero major motion picture that launched a whole pop culture that has since grown and thrived. Film Club will take a closer look at 
Avengers: Endgame (2019) one of the concluding films of phase 3 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Film Club meets September 24, at 6:30 p.m., to take a close look at Avengers: Endgame (2019) available on Blu-ray, DVD and the Lucky Day Display found in the Fountaindale Library lobby.
Synopsis: The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured their ranks compels the remaining to take one final stand in the grand conclusion to twenty-two films.
The Classic Reels club meets September 24 at 7:30 p.m. to breakdown and discuss the classic movie: Superman (1978), available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Synopsis: As an infant, Superman is sent to earth from the doomed planet Krypton. As he grows up, he learns he has super powers which he must hide from the ordinary mortals around him. But the time comes when Superman’s powers for good are revealed to the world. Superman battles with super-criminal Lex Luthor and his cohorts as they attempt to destroy California by activating the San Andreas fault.
Watch the films on your own, then join us for snacks and a breakdown discussion about the films.
(Both are available in multiple formats with your library card.)
We received this generous note from the Bolingbrook Garden Club and wanted to share it:
“Thanks to the resources at the Maker Lab inside Studio 300, the Bolingbrook Garden Club won the Mayor’s trophy at the September 8, 2019 Pathways Parade. We were able to make custom T-shirts, print pictures used in our display, and craft vinyl lettering for the float. The Garden Club also used Studio 300 meeting rooms for our planning sessions.”
Congratulations to the club’s members on winning their trophy this year and thanks for sharing their winning strategy with us all.
Think book club, but with movies instead. And that describes our two newest clubs for film fans. Our next meeting is Tuesday, August 27 where we meet to discuss two films.
Film Club meets August 27 at 6:30 p.m., to take a close look at Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Early 1970s. Four strangers check in at the El Royale Hotel. The hotel is deserted, staffed by a single desk clerk. Some of the new guests’ reasons for being there are less than innocent and some and are not who they appear to be.
The Classic Reels club meets August 27 at 7:30 p.m. to breakdown and discuss the classic movie: The Italian Job (1969), available on Kanopy and DVD.
Comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by creating a traffic jam.
Watch the films on your own, then join us for snacks and a breakdown discussion about the films.
(Both are available in multiple formats with your library card.)
From the drawing entered by our patrons during the 2019 Ice Cream Social, we selected one lucky winner who took home the grand prize: the Studio 300 3D printed replica of the Saturn V rocket used to take us to the moon. Congratulations to Andersson.
Read about the making of the rocket here.
And our other winner collected her prize of the 3D printed Apollo Lunar Module (LEM), too. Congratulations to Alexa, as well.
Our Tween and Teen patrons made these videos in the the Fountaindale Public Library Studio 300 “Walking on the Moon” visual effects bootcamps. The youths used green screen videography and other digital tools to simulate a moonwalk. Enjoy their efforts in this video.
In a two-part program, our Tween and Teen patrons created original music scores to accompany the ‘A Trip to the Moon‘ movie. In the videos below you can listen to excerpts from their work in Studio 300.
Studio 300 Blog 