November 2026 Newsletter

Leesburg Workday: TBD 9am-2pm

Purcellville Workday: 11/7/2026 8am - 11am

(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 on to:

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

or

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

PIN: 114 333 983#

Want to submit something to the newsletter?

Please email Jen Reese, Newsletter Editor jluporeese@gmail.com

Message from the Board of Directors

James Waldron, Secretary 

Makersmiths Board of Directors met on October 28th both online and in the Leesburg classroom with a full agenda of business. The meeting was called to order by Chair Jonathan at 7:03.

Following Committee Chairperson reports, new business included approval of the purchase of a 3D Scanner, changes to our Bylaws and Standing Rules, approval of a new rotary tool for our CO2 lasers, execution of an accounting agreement, approval of a Conflict of Interest Policy, and determination to purchase a new video system for our facilities.

In addition, the Room and Tool Steward list was reviewed and updated. We now have a single authoritative source for Stewards. The current Standing Rules, Bylaws and Stewards list may be found on the Wiki as soon as they are posted. As always, details of the meeting may be found on the Wiki under Meeting Notes – Board of Directors.

The upcoming schedule of Board meetings was adjusted to account for the November and December Holidays. A Budget working session will be held on November 18th, and the next Board meeting will be moved to December 2nd. The regular end of December Board meeting may be cancelled depending on passage of the 2027 Budget at the December 2nd meeting.

President’s Message

David Lang

October was a busy month, and we have a lot going on.

We have a new wiki thanks to the IT stewards and all the support from our longest serving board member, Brad Hess, who kept the old wiki running for years! Converting the wiki changed the process a bit so if you find a dead link or a missing attachment, just let me know or drop a note in #it-steward on Slack.

The stewards held a meeting at MS-L on October 17th to share what is working and what is not:

Rose: we have a steady influx of new members and new ideas.

Bud: we have a new video system coming that will greatly increase the ability to visualize the space and help stewards monitor status.

Thorn: Cleanup! We have continuing issues with folks not cleaning up after themselves. Keep in mind that those who repeatedly fail to clean up face the possibility of having their red tool qualification suspended or removed by a steward. We are all human and sometimes we forget.

When that happens, please support each other with something as simple as “don’t forget to clean that up.”

Ninety percent of the time that simple reminder is all that we need. In fact, just today I was reminded that I forgot some wood chips as I was cleaning up. That member handled it perfectly by simply switching on the vacuum as we were preparing to leave and reminded me without saying a word!

Remember to store hazardous materials in the hazmat locker as either site.

This month I found two shops openly storing toxic chemicals and flammable liquids on the shelf. Toxic, caustic, or flammable materials need to be in the hazmat locker when not in use. Also, any hazardous material that is not in the original container must be properly labeled.

We now have several tools that require reservations and I think we have a good system. If you have any feedback on the reservation system, let me know.

The November members’ meeting will be in the MS-P upper classroom and online. The speaker will be Jonathan White discussing the plotter and how to make posters.

Be excellent to each other.

Member Meetings Demonstrations

Diane Painter

In September and early October, while scanning SLACK messages, I came across a conversation about knife sharpening.

Christopher Meid started the conversation by asking about a knife-sharpening class. Several members responded with what they think is a good way to sharpen knives.  Squirrl, Ken Fuentecilla, Dave Painter, Lyle Reger, and others each offered different suggestions.

With October’s member meeting coming up, I thought, “Why not have members who know how to sharpen knives come and demonstrate their knife sharpening techniques?”

Ken, Dave, and Lyle arrived at the October 7 members meeting at MSL armed with their knives and sharpening tools.

At my last count, I counted 18 people in the main room at MSL for the members meeting. Most members gathered around the knife-sharpening station to see three distinct ways to sharpen knives.

Ken demonstrated the Japanese Samurai-Jack-Sharpening technique. Dave demonstrated how he uses his Tormek knife sharpener, which he also uses to sharpen chisels when making guitars. Lyle showed how to use his Worksharp Ken Onion Knife and Tool set.

Since this gathering was so successful, the next members meeting will by in Makersmiths-Purcellville’s Green Room where Jon White will demonstrate how to use our new PLOTTER.

This machine will make posters and other large printouts (such as patterns) and much more. The meeting will be held at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, November 3.

If you cannot make the meeting in person, follow the link to attend virtually: meet.google.com/ubz-ykxr-kiu

Dial-in: (US) +1 304-609-2532
PIN: 114 333 983#f

News from the 3D Steward
Bryan Daniels

A recent update to Bambu Studio has made it so that when you try to load a custom .3mf files the program will throw up this error. You're good to click ok and continue as normal.

This error is happening because Bambu Studio is checking the 3mf file for profile information that is usually saved to the file when it is uploaded to Makersworld or had previously been worked on/saved within Bambu Studio itself. This error and lack of profile information will not affect your print.

Marketing Committee News

Alexandra Graves, Committee Chair

The Red Tag Sale was Productive

On October 10, businesses in the Town of Purcellville organized a Red Tag Sale. Think of this sidewalk sale as part rummage sale and part promoting the businesses.

Makersmiths had a booth at the Montessori School on Main Street. We had a full contingent of volunteers working our table. We sold small items such as crochet and sewing patterns, material and foam, door hinges and handles, and larger items such as a Silhouette cutting machine.

A few of our ceramics folks also donated items they made to help us raise money for our organization. At MSP, Dave Painter and others waited for visitors to wander down to the space to see machines that we have for sale. We sold a lathe and a slab roller that day.

All together, we took in around $850. Thank you to all who arranged the event, worked the event and met the public that day to tell them all about Makersmiths.

The Purcellville Artisan Tour: November 7 and 8

On November 7 and 8, Makersmiths Purcellville is on the Purcellville Artian Tour as STOP 2.

We are expecting lots of visitors both days from 11am to 5PM.

There are nine Makersmiths artists who will be exhibiting their work in the lower classroom that weekend to share their work with the public.  There will be a few ceramics items for sale where proceeds will go to Makersmiths.

We are also looking for tour GUIDES that day. Last year we had over 200+ visitors to MSP over the two days. We need tour guides to help run tours of the lower and upper buildings so our artists can focus on their work.

Here is a link to sign up as a volunteer. Thank you in advance for signing up. We need volunteers.

https://forms.gle/CRygZUUaXtuAbAh57

Clarke County Economic Development Tour

Diane Painter

Twice a year, Clarke County Economic Development folks tour businesses in Clarke County.

This fall, one of the members heard from her brother who owns a gas station in Purcellville about Makersmiths and urged the group to visit our nonprofit business.

Michelle Ridings, Director of Economic Development & Tourism for Clarke County, contacted me to schedule a tour of Makersmiths Purcellville. Nine people came for a morning tour on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Dave Painter led most of the discussions about how our nonprofit maker space operates, how we received equipment donations, and how we run on a volunteer basis. One gentleman took two brochures, one to keep and one for his adult son he thinks might join to do welding. The other visitors remarked about how varied our tool offerings are and I kept saying,

“You need to see what we have in Leesburg!”

Hopefully some of the group members will visit Leesburg for a Thursday Open House. Dave and I want to extend a huge thanks to Melinda Gretsinger and Lucille Wechsler who were in the ceramics studio when we took the group down to the lower building. These two ladies enthusiastically shared their member stories with our visitors.

One of the visitors remarked as we walked back up the hill to the main building, “This is more than a maker space. It is a community!”

Education News
Job for a Day - Wednesday, November 18
Diane Painter

For the second year in a row, Makersmiths will host LCPS high school grade ten and eleven students for an afternoon of career discovery on November 18 from 1-4 pm. This year’s event will be held at Makersmiths Purcellville.

Job for a Day connects students with local businesses and organizations for meaningful, real-world career exploration. Hosts give students a glimpse into their industry through job shadowing, workplace tours, conversations with professionals, and other hands-on experiences.

Students coming to our facility will first meet in the lower building classroom where they will learn about our ceramics and glass-cutting initiatives and talk with two members who will share how they market their items. Then they will tour the lower building to learn about the frame shop, fiber laser and laser cutter machines and blacksmithing.

In the upper building, students will be met by Dave Painter who will explain to the students how our nonprofit business operates and will offer a tour of the upper building.

They will also meet Makersmiths member, Tom Watson, who is the founder and CEO of TheraBulb, a company that manufactures lab-certified near-infrared incandescent light bulbs. Another member, Blair Marendt, will also be there to explain how he is partnering with Tom to design and build a prototype item that Tom will market through his company. 

As Loudoun County Public Schools state, “Business and community partners play such an important role in helping students connect what they are learning in school to the possibilities waiting for them beyond the classroom.” 

Thank you to those Makersmiths members who will participate in the Job for a Day at Makersmiths. It is greatly appreciated by the school system, students and our community that you are willing to invest your time, expertise, and interest in the future workforce of Loudoun County.

Creating Fall Decorations

Diane Painter

People often ask me for website recommendations to get templates and ideas for making craft items at different times of the year. One of my favorite sites is curated by Jenny Maker. Jenny provides free templates and SVGs and other file formats for a variety of things you will want to make. Through the fall, you can find CANVA, cutting machines files, sublimation projects and much more. Take a look at https://jennifermaker.com/tag/nature-inspired/. There are six pages of projects at that website location, just waiting for you to make something.

News from Makersmiths Purcellville
Dave Painter

On a recent afternoon at Makersmiths Purcellville when I opened the door to the Green Room, I could hear water running full blast somewhere.  It turns out the hose on the back of the building sprung a leak. It has obviously been running for a while as the driveway behind the building is soaked. I turned the hose bib off inside the building and would like to leave it off now for the winter.

When I entered the woodshop, I noticed someone had backed the tension off the big bandsaw so completely that the blade was off the lower wheel. The blade (which was brand new) was toast. I cannot image what folks are trying to do with this saw, but I removed it from availability. This is why a big band saw recertification class is now mandatory for those who have taken the red tool advanced woodworking classes at Makersmiths Purcellville.

If you have not taken Advanced Red Tool Wood Shop in Purcellville, then you MAY NOT use the Grizzly 24" band saw, period.

If you have taken the advanced class, then you must take this additional class to be allowed to use the saw. There is no charge for the recertification class, and I will offer it multiple times over the next few weeks.

You do need to register for the class so we can keep track of who is authorized to use the saw, and again there is no charge for the class, but you MAY NOT USE THE GRIZZLY BANDSAW until you have been re-certified.

News from Makersmiths Leesburg
John Carter

As these holiday seasons hit us smack dab in the face and oddly all over, as Site Steward, I cordially invite you to please tighten up.

Before you leave your favorite shop or equipment, mute your earbuds, look around. Ask the following:

• Is there a noise that you need to attend to?
• Are there ..leftovers?
• You know what you need to do.

News you can use:

• This is a community space.
• Led by volunteers.
• Maintained by volunteers.
• Cleaned by volunteers.
• You are a Volunteer. What will you volunteer to do?

Physical Computing Class

Jeff Irland

In October, I finished teaching my second class here at Makersmiths, "ELL-W105: Physical Computing for Beginners" .

Eight students each completed a capstone project: building a simple autonomous robot.

The pictures, taken at the final class, show that robot and the students hard at work. At the end of the class, the students took their robots home to keep.

I also gave them a GitHub site with all the build instructions and software for the robot.

These are the same instructions we used in class, so if a robot breaks, the student can rebuild it.

Most important to me, I closed the course with some encouragement: the students now have the skills and documentation to refine and expand their robots.

That was one of my main objectives — to show them it's possible to take one of the millions of electronics projects on the internet and build it themselves. It won't always be easy, but they now have the basic skills to make the attempt, and I've offered to help whenever they need it.

I did fall short on one objective: providing enough class time to calibrate and tune the robot. The GitHub site includes instructions so students can do it themselves, but it can be challenging. So, I promised a follow-on class to finish these tasks and take our little robot a step further.

This class will also be open to new students.

In the follow-on class, we'll:

·       complete the calibration and tuning

·       eliminate the wiring mess by moving to a perfboard

·       solve some engineering problems (battery power, finer resolution of object detection)

·       create an algorithm whose mission is to have the robot autonomously escape any enclosed space

·       students construct an enclosed space with obstacles and test their algorithms

I'm targeting the follow-on class to start January.

Drop me an email if you're interested (jeff.irland@verizon.net)

Even if you didn't participate in the first class. If needed, I'll do a catchup class so you can create a fully assembled robot ready for the class.

Now, you might think all this is a lot of work (true) and a diversion from my stated goals back in February and April (not entirely true). What I'm really hoping for is to establish a robotics working group here at Makersmiths. Brian Jo has already expressed interest and has recently instructed a related course, ELL-W104: Fundamentals of Engineering for Youth .

I have some ideas on how to introduce advanced robotics topics to all our members, including our youngest. Over time, we will advance to learn the professional-grade ROS 2 platform and develop an intuitive understanding of topics like robotic localization and navigation, deep neural networks, reinforcement learning, and using LLMs with robotics. We'll be pursuing serious robotics skills, so there's plenty here to stretch experienced adult members too.

Join Us

Consider this the opening volley of my robotics manifesto. I intend to develop a series of classes that build real robotics competency here at Makersmiths, covering everything from CAD tools for physical design, to electronics for control, to AI-assisted development.

I'm looking for students and adults to help breathe life into this initiative. In particular, I'd welcome:

·       Learners of middle school age to adults who want to build robots

·       Mentors with experience in electronics, programming, 3D printing, or CAD

·       Helpers who can assist during class sessions

If you're interested, contact me at jeff.irland on Slack. Let's build something together.

Whatcha - Making?

Charles Huet

3D printed this for my daughter who is into photography

CarolG 

Thanks much to Lyle for coaching me up so I could protect myself from my tools with sheaths.

Greg Carter 

Getting ready for All Hallows Eve.

Ken Fuentecilla  

"A knight's move may be tricky, but a wise mind knows when to dance."

Hand carved spalted tamarind knight on an Indian laurel base for my next chess tournament.

Robin Hudspeth Schenck 

3D printed new operation game pieces.  

3D printed Luigi’s buttons, earrings, and a necklace pendant. Also altered the overalls at MSL

Nick Leshock 

Who knew you can carve a turkey with the plasma cutter

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!

Monthly Open Houses

Every Tuesday In Purcellville from 6pm-8pm

785 South 20th Street Purcellville, VA 20132

Every Thursday In Leesburg from 6pm-8pm

106 South Royal Street SW Leesburg, VA 20175

MS-L

Nov 9 SWL-R100: Embroidery Machine Redtool

Nov 10 SWL-R100: Embroidery Machine Redtool

Nov 14 WTL-T102: Tea Candle Woodburning

Nov 17 WTL-R100: Wood Lathe Redtool

Nov 18 MSL-M000: Budget Working Session

Nov 19 WTL-T101: Pen Turning

Nov 24 WTL-T200: Advanced Pen Finishing

MS-P

Nov 4 FRP-R100: Frame Shop Red Tool Recertification

Nov 6 WWP-T105: Wooden Snowflake Workshop

Nov 7 MSP-G000: The 2026 Artisan Tour Stop #2

Nov 8 MSP-G000: The 2026 Artisan Tour Stop #2

Nov 11 MWP-R100: Metal Working Basics Red Tool

Nov 12 WWP-R100: Woodworking Basics Red Tool

Nov 15 WWP-R200: Woodworking Advanced Red Tool

Makersmith Board Officers

Board Name/Officer | Position | Term

Brad Hess | Board Member, Vice Chair | 2025 - 2028

Bo Wernick | Board Member| 2024 - 2027

Evin Grano | Board Member/Chairperson | 2024 - 2027

Jennifer Chu | Board Member | 2024 - 2027

Jon White | Board Member, Chairperson | 2026 - 2029

Rob Donahue | Board Member | 2026 - 2029

Mary Waldron | Treasurer | 2025 - 2026

Jim Waldron | Board Member/Secretary | 2025 - 2028

Mike Brady | Web Admin | 2026

Rob Donahue | IT Steward | 2026

David Lang | President | 2026 - 2027

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