December 2025 Newsletter

Leesburg Workday: 12/13/2025 9am-12pm

Purcellville Workday: 12/06/2025 9am - 12pm

(There's something for everyone -get those volunteer hours in!)

Monthly Membership Meeting

Meetings are the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30 PM. Log to:

http://meet.google.com/ubz-ykxr-kiu

or

Dial-in: (US) +1 304-609-2532

PIN: 114 333 983#

Announcements

President's Message

Diane Bollinger

The last couple months have been very busy for Makersmiths. We had an amazing turnout for our Artisan tour at the beginning of November, so many new faces visited our Purcellville location.

I got to do a pottery wheel demo on Sunday evening though I have only been trying the craft a short time. It was excellent fun. The ceramics department is getting a lot of attention as we get the new Red Tool class going with 8 people cleared through over the weekend. If you are interested in the Red Tool, please contact Glenda or the schedule committee to let us know. The lower building HVAC situation is making some progress and will hopefully make some big steps in the next month.

The Job for a Day event on November 19th was a huge success. We had 8 lovely high school students visit the Leesburg location and learn about running a small business and about using a Makerspace to broaden their crafting and prototyping abilities. Thanks especially to Diane Painter, Kristina Rall, Nickolai Miller, and Jesse Maloney for assisting in the demos and lectures.

As we head into the “Christmas rush” I want to remind everyone to check the calendar for classes and if there are specific red tools or other classes you want to see, please speak up so we can make them happen. If you are unsure who to ask, posting in the slack channel is a great way to find out.

The 2026 Budget has been an intense task taken on by our Treasurer and her team as well as by all the stewards. We will be holding a meeting to confirm the details of the budget in December so they can be approved. 2025 was the first year with individual shop budgets and it has been a learning curve. I'm looking forward to the 2026 budget being more informational and seeing what goals we can hit as a Maker Space.

Thanks from the President! 

In fall 2018, Jennifer Chu and I founded Makersmiths KidWind with three fourth grade boys and one girl. Eight years later, Makersmiths now has 24 registered youth across six teams. All but one team will be coached by Makersmiths members who are new to the program. To prepare the new coaches, Diane Painter held a coaches’ training at Shenandoah University on November 15. Blair Marendt will coach the elementary wind team at MSP on Saturday mornings beginning December 13 from 9 AM to 11 AM in the lower classroom. Tim and Joanna Pearson will coach the middle school wind team at MSP on Saturday afternoons beginning December 13 from 1 PM to 3:30 PM in the lower classroom. Oliver Arend isreturning for a second year to coach the high school wind team in Great Falls, but on occasion, he will bring the team to Makersmiths to use available tools, asthe team plans to compete at the high school level in the Open Category. This means that the design and fabrication of the turbine will be more complex than what the elementary and middle school teams will be running.

Since the theme of the KidWind solar challenge this year is to build a solar
“house”, Carol Grigg volunteered to coach the high school solar teams with Dan Schmidt. Carol lives in a house with solar, and Dan is an architect! The two high school teams will meet at MSL on Sunday afternoons from 1-4 PM in the electronics room. Then the middle school solar team will come into that space from 4 PM-7 PM. Jana Artz and Brian Jo will coach the middle school solar team. Both the high school and middle school teams will have Gary DuFour and Kenneth Parker as helpers when needed. What will I be doing? Most likely, I will be on call to help the coaches, but I will also try something new (at least for me). Jana Bigney and Jennifer Reed are teachers at Lincoln Elementary. I will be working with them and their twenty three third-grade and fourth-grade students, who will formKidWind wind teams for the first time.

All these teams will learn about renewable energies and engage in the engineering process of designing, making, and testing their wind or solar projects to determine how much energy they produce. The end goal is to compete at the Northern Virginia KidWind Challenge, which this year will be held on March 17 at the Potomac Science Center in Woodbridge. If you are new to Makersmiths and want to learn more about what we do in KidWind, please watch the 2024 PBS movie that highlights youth at the Governor’s School near Harrisonburg, VA, and our high school solar, elementary, and middle school wind teams at Makersmiths. You can also visit our Makersmiths KidWind webpage to learn about what we do and why. Questions? Please email me at diane.painter@makersmiths.org

Job for A Day!

The LCPS Job for the Day event on November 19 at Makersmiths Leesburg involved eight students from various LCPS high schools learning about creating and running a “making” business from Diane Bollinger, Jessee Maloney, and Kristina Rall. Several technologies were demonstrated. The youth also had an opportunity to make a customized keychain with the laser cutter. Jon Sheard helped some youth sew a tiny bag. Nickolai shared his woodworking skills. Diane Painter told the students the story about Colby Samide, who, as a teenager, created and ran Desks for Distance, eventually making over 200 desks for students during COVID. Colby and his dad were Makersmiths members, and they found that other members were willing to help them make the desks, which were given free of charge to students who needed them. Colby was eventually rewarded with $20,000 by Lowes and Ellen DeGeneres for his hard work. When asked why Diane Painter told them the story, their responses were varied, but one was spot on: “To inspire us!”

LCPS holds this Job for a Day event every fall. Please let us know if next year you would like to share your day with students!

What are Members Making?

At both Makersmiths locations, members are busy making all kinds of things. Some folks are also offering tips in the Whatcha_make_today SLACK channel!

Gary DuFour and Ken Webber picked a couple of cherry blanks that Mike DeWan and Ken Fuentecilla processed over a year ago and created bowls with different shapes and grains. 

Greg Carter made a bowl from a two-inch-thick canary wood board, cut in half and opened like a book (i.e. bookmatched).  He then made ring-cuts on the lathe at 45 degrees. After gluing them up, he turned them, sanded them to 240 grit, and applied four coats of tung oil finish. 

Dave Hamrick was busy making cutting boards and then a rifle pen made from Padauk wood. Seems like a mighty nice carrying case for it, too! 

Bev Murdock made cute sneakers for her goddaughter twins. She used just a little fabric paint and digitized cute little emperor penguins and embroidered them as freestanding patches. She claims that penguins are their spirit animal. 

Carol Grigg made a thing-a-ma-jig. At least that is what we will call it. She actually won a free class with Jonathan White at the Makers Market and spent the day in the woodshop, using a laser cutter to engrave it. How ARE you going to use this, Carol? 

On December 13 at 5 PM, Makersmiths will have a MSP-MSL members social in MS-Purcellville’s Green room. We will also have a Secret Santa gift swap. Please bring something you made with materials costing $20 or less. You are also encouraged to bring a refreshment to share. Please fill out the free registration so we know how many plan to attend:

https://makersmiths.org/event-6397995

The event is co-hosted by Diane Painter and Jennifer Chu. How will this gift swap work? Folks coming to this social would pre-make an item (keeping the construction cost under $20). They put their wrapped gifts on a center table and pick a folded piece of paper from a bowl that gives them a selection number. The person with number 1 goes first and chooses a gift and unwraps it. The person has to guess who made it. Person #2 picks a gift, but before unwrapping it, the person will choose to keep it or choose to take person #1's gift. If person #2 does that, then person #1 gets person #2's unwrapped picked gift. When doing so, person #1 unwraps the picked #2 gift and has to guess who made that gift. Now person #3 gets to pick a gift, and before unwrapping it, can choose to swap the picked gift for gift #1 or #2. We keep going like this until all gifts are chosen and swapped.

Questions: Contact

Diane.Painter@makersmiths.org

November Board Report

The Board of Directors met on November 19th (early, due to the Thanksgiving holiday). The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by our Chairman Evin Grano.The consent agenda passed unanimously making Dave Painter, Ian Schue, and Jim Waldron stewards for the CNC Plasma Table, making Meaghen Flynn our new Newsletter Editor, and giving the Purcellville Woodshop steward some extra time to purchase a new Power Miter saw (which has been on backorder for several months).There were 3 items that passed by unanimous Consent in Lieu before the meeting. Glenda was made a Ceramics Shop Steward, the dates for the November and December Board meetings were changed, and Jonathan White and Chris Chatfield were confirmed as new CO2 laser Stewards.The proposed 2026 Budget was presented to the Board. There will be a working session currently scheduled for Friday December 5th at 7pm. The proposed budget will likely be accepted and passed at the December Board meeting. While the budget proposal is conservative, it does provide for the continued maintenance and growth of our facilities. Special thanks to our Treasurer and Nick Leshock for their concerted efforts on the proposed budget.New business included proposals for new shop lighting for the Frame shop and some additions to the Bylaws and Standing Rules. Please see the minutes of the meeting on the Wiki if you want details on these and other new business items.The next Board meeting will be on December 17th (again early to avoid the Christmas holidays), 7pm downstairs at MS-L and by virtual connection.

Making for the Holidays in December
and Other Fun Things to Do at Makersmiths

Looking for things to do with holiday guests and family members home for the
holidays? Here are classes and events waiting for you to register:

December 7 from 1 PM-3:30PM at MSP: WWP-T105: Wooden Snowflake Workshop https://makersmiths.org/event-6425130

December 7 from 1 PM-6 PM at MSP: SGP-T101: Holiday Stained Glass Suncatchers
https://makersmiths.org/event-6463282

December 9 from 6:30 PM- 8PM at MSL: MSL-R100: New Member Orientation
https://makersmiths.org/event-6456603

December 10 from 6PM to 9PM at MSL: SWL-G000: Sewing Social

https://makersmiths.org/event-6189503 

December 11 from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM at MSL: WTL-T101: Pen Turning
https://makersmiths.org/event-6450052

December 13 from 1:30-3:00 PM at MSP: ACP-T105: Holiday Gift Soap Making Workshop
https://makersmiths.org/event-6387809

December 13 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM at MSP: MSP-G000: Secret Santa Gift Swap Social Members only: https://makersmiths.org/event-6397995

December 14 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at MSP: BSP-T104: Forged Jingle Bells
https://makersmiths.org/event-6429989

December 16 from 11:00 AM-2:00 PM at MSL: WTL-T104: Turn a Seam Ripper
https://makersmiths.org/event-6455567

December 18 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at MSL: ELL-G100: Electronics, AI, & Cloud Night https://makersmiths.org/event-6416929

December 22 from 6:30 PM- 8PM at MSL: MSL-R100: New Member Orientation
https://makersmiths.org/event-6456610

Red Tool Classes are an important step in your Maker journey!

MS-L

December 8 BNL-R100: BN2-20 Print Vinyl Stickers Red Tool

December 9 WTL-R100: Wood Lathe Red Tool

December 9 3DL-R100: FDM 3D Printing Basic (Bambu) Red Tool

December 15 DSL-R100: Sublimation Printer Red Tool

MS-P

December 11 WWP-R100: Woodworking Basics Red Tool

December 14 WWP-R200: Woodworking Advanced Red Tool

December 17 MWP-R100: Metal-working Basics Red Tool

Makersmiths runs on volunteers!

Consider teaching a class or holding a workshop! check out the #class_planning_and_requests channel on Slack and join a meeting to get some help with your idea!

Tool Authorization Groups

Dean Williamson

Makersmiths has lots of cool and useful tools, machines, and equipment.  Many of them require training or authorization before you can use the equipment.  The training can be as simple as an orientation, to a more formal “red tool” class, to demonstrating proficiency to the tool steward. Such mandatory training helps ensure that all users understand how to use the equipment properly and safely, thus helping to keep the equipment running smoothly and minimize maintenance downtime as well as ensuring the safety of our members.

Below is a link to the list of tools which require training and authorization from a Steward. Please contact the steward for more information about each tool. This list is not exhaustive of the tools available at Makersmiths and is updated regularly as we get new equipment or as needed:

By clicking above, you can view the most current list posted on the Makersmiths wiki. Consider checking it out, you might discover a new tool that you didn’t realize Makersmiths had.

Makersmith Board Officers

Board Name/Officer | Position | Term

Brad Hess | Board Member | 2022 - 2025

Bo Wernick | Board Member| 2024 - 2027

Scott Silvers | Board Member | 2023 - 2026

Evin Grano | Board Member/Chairperson | 2023 - 2026

Jennifer Chu | Board Member | 2024 - 2027

Diane Bollinger | President | 2025 - 2026

Mary Waldron | Treasurer | 2025 - 2026

Jim Waldron | Board Member/Secretary | 2025 - 2026

Mike Brady | Webmaster | 2025

Rob Donahue | IT Steward | 2025

Did You Know...

You can find the newsletters from the last several years archived on our website?

Makersmiths also has a Blog, Instagram, and YouTube!

The Newsletter could always use some new blood - share your projects, pitch some article ideas, tell us about something cool you've seen in your Maker travels!

Makersmiths Leesburg: 106 Royal St SW, Leesburg, VA 20175

Makersmiths Purcellville: 785 S. 20th St, Purcellville, VA 20132