Strategic Planning Session
(Online) 2/19/2025 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Leesburg Workday 2/8/2025 9am - 2pm
(If you can't make it on the day, a list of lite duty Volunteer Opportunities is always posted in the Main Room)
Purcellville Workday 3/1/2025 9am - 12pm(There's something for everyone -get those volunteer hours in!)
New Member Orientation(register online)
MS-L 2/11/2025 6:30 - 8:00 pm
MS-L 2/25/2025 6:30 - 8:00 pm
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A Fresh Start to the Year: Embracing Conversation and Collaboration Nedim Ogelman
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Happy New Year! I hope this message finds you warm and well as we kick off another exciting year together. With all the snow and freezing temperatures this past month, it’s been a perfect time to focus on the energy and momentum of Makersmiths—especially with Kidwind teams working on their projects and preparing for their regional competition.
At our January Monthly Members Meeting, we had a productive discussion about making these gatherings more engaging and dynamic. We are going to test out a less structured, more conversational format—one that allows us to focus on the topics that matter most to those in attendance. I’m truly looking forward to trying out this new approach!
As always, we will begin our meetings by welcoming new members and hearing about their interests. This is a valuable part of what we do—ensuring that everyone feels included and has a chance to contribute. After that, officers and stewards who wish to speak will have their time, and then we’ll dive right into open discussion, letting the conversation evolve based on what’s on members’ minds.
I’m excited for the opportunities this shift will bring—more engagement, more meaningful discussion, and more collaboration. Thank you all for your enthusiasm and dedication. Here’s to a year of growth, innovation, and connection at Makersmiths.
I hope to see you and hear from you at the next Members Meeting!
Warmly, Nedim
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Scheduling Committee News Diane Painter, Purcellville Scheduler
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Recently I met with Board of Director, Jim Waldron, who asked me to add a field to the Google form that instructors use to create a new course, event, workshop and add it to our course offerings. The schedulers (Diane Painter for Purcellville and Jennifer Chu from Leesburg) use the information on that form when creating something new. The item that we have added to the form now asks an instructor to indicate the total cost of materials for each participant. It is a required response but with a short answer so if there is no materials cost to a participant, an instructor can say N/A or no cost.
The second item of discussion with Jim was providing instructors with a link to a spreadsheet that he has created in our Google drive that will display courses offered on the day they are teaching. Instructors will look for their particular class and check in folks who arrive in their class. This procedure will help our treasurer keep track of costs and members who completed classes. The schedule committee will work with Jim to decide how to best make that URL available to instructors.
The third item of discussion was about walk-ins. Sometimes we have folks walk into a site and see that a class is going on that they are interested in taking. If there is room for that person to join the class and an instructor is fine to adding another person, instructors need to have the walk-in use the square stripe reader located in each site location to pay the registration fee.
This next step is key. A message must be sent by the instructor to treasurer@makersmiths.org with the name of the walk-in person, date and name of the session and how much was paid. If it is a RED TOOL class, a message to Dean Williamson must be sent, too. Dean keeps track of the red tool classes members take. Questions? Contact James.waldron@earthlink.netText |
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Strategic Planning Meeting Diane Painter
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On January 22, four Board of Director members and eleven other Makersmiths members met at Makersmiths Leesburg to discuss ideas for working on strategic planning for our organization. John Carter, Leesburg site manager, led the meeting. Makersmiths member, Carol Grigg, has a strategic planning background. She suggested that we begin our discussions by considering a clear, short Mission Statement that she introduced for discussion: We are a volunteer organization providing an opportunity space for people to learn, make, collaborate, and inspire.
Then Board of Director Chairman, Jon White, posed an overarching question: Who do we support? Hobbyists, KidWind, STEM, start-ups, community outreach? Board of Director member, Jim Waldron asked: Can we be all things to everyone and everything? Do we want to put an umbrella around a mission statement? Carol Grigg asked all the attendees to think about why Makersmiths exists. She stated, We need to answer that question. Then we can focus on the what and how of our organization. Here are some of the responses about why the attendees to this meeting came to Makersmiths in the first place and why they continue to be members: Carol Grigg: As a retiree, she wanted to find her next chapter and a new community, and fellowship. She has determined that she wants to learn, and what she does not like to learn. John Carter likes to learn new skills. He has returned to teaching again and is enjoying it. Diane Painter: I saw an opportunity to bring making skills initiatives to our youth. I love teaching and mentoring youth and adults as well as learning new making skills myself. Jon White: When I came to Makersmiths, I found a community of interesting people, tools, and equipment that I cannot afford. I came for the tools, and II stayed because of the people. Amy Copley: Human spirit, this is a community teaching people to use their hands and their minds more than the equipment. Robin Schenck: I see it [Makersmiths] as having the space, equipment, and creative community that I need. This is why I came to Makersmiths. Robert Johnson mentioned that when he was in school at the Monroe Center, he had Makersmiths mentors. Now he is gratefully employed by a company that was founded by a Makersmiths member. Diane Bollinger: I joined to use the UV printer, a machine to use that I do not have at home or at work. Now I enjoy teaching others and sharing what I know with others. Dave Painter said defining the why Makersmiths exists is important, but we also need to plan for the future. This is where our members can add to this discussion and help Makersmiths develop a strategic plan. John Carter is developing a survey that will be made available to members in March. Please look for this survey in your email, the newsletter and perhaps on Slack. Let us know what your thoughts are regarding why we exist and offer suggestions for strategic planning. Questions? Contact John Carter at john.carter@makersmiths.org |
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The steward of the Ceramics Studio is planning to host a studio meeting to
go over some topics to help the space run more smoothly. Bo Wernick would
very much like members’ input and insight. Anyone not able to attend in
person is invited to attend online. Please let him know what times work best
for you vial this link. https://doodle.com/group-poll/participate/e3Ex0MQb
Topics will include:
- Heating and cooling, HVAC
- Volume of kiln use per member
- Glaze techniques and materials
- Kiln loading practices
- Space buildout
- New material purchases
He is also looking to cover several topics as we build policies that support
our members and volunteers. - Heating and cooling, HVAC - Volume of kiln
use per member - Glaze techniques and materials - Kiln loading practices -
Space build out - New material purchases.
Questions? Contact Bo Wernick at aerotech106@gmail.com
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Calling Makersmiths Artists
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Our organization is invited again to display our creations at the Purcellville
Town Hall starting in July through September in 2025. As Sally Soles, our
new Marketing Chairperson states, Marketing is messaging. When we
display our creations, we are sending messages about who we are, what we do, and why we create. By doing so, we say to those who visit the Town Hall art gallery, Come join us! I spoke to John Carter at MSL who will be on the lookout for members
creating items that they may want to show at the art gallery in the Town of
Purcellville government building. Jennifer Chu will be on the lookout for
items made in stain glass classes. For our summer show, think about what
we might make in ceramics, blacksmithing, and welding? What can we
create using the fiber laser, 3D printers, CNC mills, leather tools, and
sublimation printing? Anyone up for making a small quilt, crochet or knitted
works of art? For example, wouldn’t something like this look lovely on the
gallery wall?
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In our last showing, they allowed the artists to indicate a sale price if they
were interested in selling their work. Please do not wait until July to submit your artwork! Contact Sally Soles
(state888@gmail.com) or Diane Painter (diane.painter@makersmiths.org)
who will be glad to collect your creations for the summer showing. Let’s
make our next showing even bigger and more spectacular than our fall 2024
showing!
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Creating a Grant Proposal Process for Makersmiths
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Makersmiths needs a Grant Writing Process. The following are points of
discussion:
How to write a grant application, who to contact for information to include
in a grant proposal (Stewards, Treasurer, Board of Directors, President),
who needs to approve applying for a grant, who needs to sign the
application, what kind of application does it need to be (directed or non-
directed), and what happens to any assets (such as equipment) acquired by
the grant funding.
We need any Makersmiths member with grant writing experience to attend
this meeting and help us craft some guidelines. This meeting will be led by
Board of Director James (Jim) Waldron. We will meet in the Green Room at
Makersmiths Purcellville.
Please register at: https://makersmiths.org/event-6057392 Questions? Contact James.waldron@earthlink.net
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Interested in learning Adobe Illustrator? We have upcoming classes as part of a 12-part series! Taught by Diane Bollinger, the dates are as follows: Class 1: Introduction to Adobe Illustrator
Date: Monday Feb 10th, 4pm-5:30pm Class 2: Working with Shapes and Lines
Date: Monday Feb 17th, 4pm-5:30pm Class 3: Understanding Color and Gradients
Date: Monday Feb 24th, 4pm-5:30pm The classes will continue through May, register online! |
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Educational News Diane Painter |
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For the past few years, Makersmiths members volunteer their time and
talents to serve as mentors to youth completing STEM/STEAM projects.
Here are a few highlights from some of the projects that Makersmiths
members are involved in this year.
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Tuscarora High School’s Aerospace II Class Project
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Mr. Kurt O’Connor is the instructor at Tuscarora High School’s Aerospace II
class. Six students in this class are doing a project with NASA. The project
involves CubeSats, small satellites that can be flown to the ISS and ejected
from the space station using a robotic arm. They can have various uses and
are made in several sizes. Because they are operating in the vacuum of
space, the more power a satellite uses, the more heat that can build up
inside the electronics. This is a problem in all satellites. Removing the heat
prevents the processing chip from being damaged and the battery from
rupturing through the many cycles it will go through. Temperatures in
space can be +250 degrees Fahrenheit in the sun to -250 degrees
Fahrenheit in the shade. Without air, there isn’t any convective cooling, and
the only conduction is to the shell of the satellite. This leaves only radiation
to remove the heat from the satellite. The team’s objective is to keep the
temperature of the cube in that range.
The team is making a prototype of their CubeSat satellite using 3mm
aluminum metal sheets with the help of Makersmiths since they do not have
the facilities to cut and bend the metal. This is where Makersmiths comes
in.
Jim Waldron and Dave Painter are teaching and mentoring the students with
machining and welding of the aluminum case, fabrication of the radiators,
and constructing plumbing. So far, all the students learned to solder and a
few learned TIG welding. They expect their project to be finished sometime
in March.
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KidWind Solar teams sponsored by Makersmiths are busy planning and
constructing structures that must fit in a 1-meter cube. They can only use
solar panels that are 6V or less and produce less than 1.1A. Teams may
combine solar panels in series or parallel, but they may not produce more
than 12V at 2.2 amps in any configuration. They may use any load such as
LEDs, motors, capacitors and incandescent bulbs. They may also integrate
microcontrollers into their solar devices and may be externally powered
using a battery, but judges at KidWind challenges will be more impressed if
they are powered by just the sun and solar panels.
To simulate the sun, at a KidWind challenge the solar projects will be placed under an artificial lighting bank of 80-100W light bulbs positioned 1-meter directly above the solar project they are judging. This sparked our Makersmiths KidWind solar teams’ attention. Both our middle school solar teams came together to build their own solar rig so they can test out their projects when built. Coach Allen Hamblin’s adult son, Cole, is an apprentice at Beckstrom Electric. Cole volunteered to work with both teams to wire their own lighting bank.
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Throughout February into March, all our middle and high school solar
teams will be busy building their structures following the 2025 KidWind
Solar guidelines. They will be creating a Solar Home structure that
considers the environment, the inhabitants, and its functional and aesthetic
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KidWind Wind Turbine Projects
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Makersmiths members are also coaching one elementary and two middle
School KidWind wind turbine teams. Two years ago, Makersmiths won a
Google grant that helped fund a wind tunnel. As our youth design and
create wind turbine blades that will be used on 4-foot high turbine stand
equipped with a Nacelle that contains a generator and hub, they will
determine how much energy their turbines produce using direct-drive set-
up while in the wind tunnel. They will also add gears to their turbines to
determine in what ways energy production changes when they are using
gear-driven set-ups.
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All seven Makersmiths solar and wind teams will go to the Western
Winchester Regional Challenge (formally known as the Northern VA
Regional Challenge). This challenge will be an all-day event held March 14
at Shenandoah University. Top winning teams will go on to the Virginia
State KidWind Challenge on April 12. Top winning teams from the state
challenge will be invited to KidWind Worlds that will be held in Phoenix, AZ
beginning May 16 through May 21.
Want to learn more about KidWind that has our youth exploring clean energy? Visit https://kidwind.org.
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Red Tool Classes are an important step in your Maker journey!
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MS-L
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MS-L BN2-20 CO2 Red Tool Print Vinyl Stickers 2/7/2025 4:00pm - 7:00pm
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MS-L PLL-RB0 CO2 Red Tool Laser Basic 2/15/2025 3:00pm - 5:00pm
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MS-L BN2-20 Red Tool Print Vinyl Stickers 2/21/2025 4:00pm - 7:00pm
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MS-L BN20 Red Tool Advanced Additional Media 2/21/2025 7:00pm - 9:00pm
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MS-L CO2 Red Tool Laser Advanced 2/21/2025 7:00pm - 9:00pm
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MS-P
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MS-P WML-RB0 Red Tool Woodworking 2/12/2025 6:00pm - 9:00pm
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MS-P WMP-RB0 Red Tool Woodworking Basics 2/13/2025 6:30pm - 9:00pm |
MS-P MMP-RB0 Red Tool Metalworking Basics 2/19/2025 6:00pm - 8:30pm |
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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!
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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: |
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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. |
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Makersmith Board Officers |
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Did You Know...
You can find the newsletters from the last several years archived on our website? |
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!
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Makersmiths Leesburg: 106 Royal St SW, Leesburg, VA 20175 Makersmiths Purcellville: 785 S. 20th St, Purcellville, VA 20132 |
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