View this email in your browser

Bellingham Makerspace Newsletter

January 2023

Hello from the Makerspace! We have exciting news for you.

Featured in This Issue:

State of the Space
Year in Review 2022
Notable Days in January
New Employee
New Executive Committees
Huge Gift
Grants
Call for Artists
Bellingham Garden City Guild
Circle Skirt Workshop
Intro to Vector Graphics
North West Free Repairs Event
Upcoming Classes

State of the Space
by Jeff Copeland, Board President

I wanted to take a moment to write about our year at the Makerspace. In the interest of getting the important things out of the way first, I’m going to start by talking about our challenges and what help we need from all of you.

Our challenges:
We discovered that our wood shop violates the zoning for the mall and raises red flags for the Fire Marshall. This means our shop – one of the major reasons people join the Makerspace – has been closed for months. While we are working on the problem with the city, progress has been very slow, and there is no guarantee of success.

Ideally, the city would like us to do major structural changes to our space at the mall. Not only is it money we can’t afford – up to $100k in costs – it’s improvements we don’t want to make to space that we don’t own.

In parallel, we are searching for new space. Our options are to find a facility where we can spin off the wood and metal shops, or one where we can relocate the entire space. If we need to relocate entirely, we’ll consider leaving a small retail operation at the mall.

Which brings us to the state of Bellis Fair Mall. As many of you know, the Mall was sold in November. From their publicity material, the new owners view themselves as running community spaces, not retail ones. Their other malls have gyms and libraries and police stations and residential apartments. We don’t know what the new owners will bring, but we are hopeful. Some of the board will be meeting with the new management early in January and we will report back.

My asks of you:
As we start the new year, please keep your eyes out for appropriate spaces into which we can move. We need space that is zoned for industrial use, and we are currently occupying 7000 square feet, but would like more.

We also need someone to take charge of our marketing efforts. While memberships and grants help us keep the lights on and pay the staff, we will need sustaining sponsorships going forward to maintain our health as an organization. Having someone dedicated to seeking out like-minded organizations who can help support our mission will guarantee our future success.

Let’s talk about people first:
When I took over the presidency of the Board, Garth Johnson took over my role as volunteer coordinator. He’s made a better job of it than I did. He introduced the role of “Administrative Member” to have folks responsible for particular areas of our operations. They’re our “go to” coordinators for things functional areas like sewing and woodshop and soft things like community relations and publicity. I won’t take the space to name them all here – that’s worthy of a separate newsletter article.

In 2022, we welcomed Rosa Caldwell, Alicia Allard, and Lisa Lang to the board. Unfortunately, Rupert Ayton resigned his board position due to health issues, meaning we lost his vast knowledge and experience in finance and non-profits.

As you all know, we hired Phoebe Clark early in the year to be our operations manager. In November, we hired Ian Garconnette as our shop manager and he’s hit the ground running. This will allow Jason Davies to concentrate on class development and teaching.

Of course, without the thousands of hours of volunteer work that you all provided this year, as shop hosts, as tool champions, giving tours, mopping the floor, none of what we do would be possible.

Our successes:
We merged with the Bellingham Metal Arts Guild, which brought us new members, new equipment, new teachers, and new classes.
We received grants from both the state of Washington and the Tulalip Tribes. We added classes and events. We had a larger Maker Faire than last year’s in more than double the space.

We are now almost completely recovered from the pandemic. We made special effort to emphasize our retail space during the holiday season. We had triple our normal sales on Black Friday and had high sales numbers on the days we were able to open despite horrible snow and ice in the week before Christmas.

In conclusion:
This wasn’t as brief as I wanted it to be, but there was so much to tell you. And I didn’t cover all the things I really wanted to. We had some tough challenges which still need to be solved. On the other hand, we had some great successes that we can continue to build on. In the meantime, I wish you all a happy, safe new year, and that you finish at least as many projects as you start!

A copy of this article is available online here.

Year in Review 2022
by Alicia Allard, Board Member

As 2022 comes to a close the Bellingham Makerspace Board and Administrative Team has been reflecting on a year of challenges, opportunities, learning, and new connections. This year has been a time of growth and change and we are moving into 2023 with a commitment to focus on sustainability and growth as we continue to create a Makerspace that is responsive to member needs.

This year saw Makerspace increase focus on administration and leadership, with the development of Administrative Volunteer members and recruiting new members for the Board of Directors. We also expanded our community partnerships and class offerings.

Our Administrative Members represent nearly all project areas and are here to provide leadership and administrative support to the organization and staff. This may mean helping with the repair and order of replacement parts for equipment, drafting policies for Board review, or fundraising in the community. Our Administrative Members may also serve on committees and support Makerspace during community events.

The Bellingham Amateur Radio Group was awarded a grant that has allowed them to expand their HAM Radio program, purchase new equipment, and increase recruitment of more licensed members. The Radio Club at Makerspace has expanded their partnerships with the City of Bellingham Parks Department and TAGNW in 2022. These valuable community partnerships have allowed the Makerspace to be part of several Bellingham Parks Department transmitter hunt events in the community, where users of all ages and abilities can learn about short wave radios.

The Makerspace partnership with TAGNW continues to be an opportunity to connect with local students, community members, and makers who are interested in learning about or supporting STEM/STEAM education.

In November we were very excited to announce our merger with the Bellingham Metal Arts Guild. As the year comes to a close we now have a Metal Shop Supervisor, Andreas, and the BMAG has begun hosting classes at Makerspace. We look forward to securing a new and larger industrial shop space where a full metal arts shop can be set up.

Our biggest and most exciting event of the year was the 3rd annual Bellingham Makerfaire, held at Bellis Fair Mall on October 1st. With dozens of local vendors including artisans, STEM education and outreach organizations, and Presenters of all types. The 2022 Bellingham Makerfaire was an opportunity to exchange ideas, network, and buy unique items from local artists and designers.

These are just a few highlights of 2022 at Bellingham Makerspace. We are thankful for our members, volunteers, staff, and leadership teams for your support and contribution to the Makerspace community. Every one of you brings something unique to the Makerspace and we are all richer for it. Looking ahead we will be working on fundraising, building sustainability, locating an industrial shop space, and creating community-focused opportunities to learn, share skills and create.

We invite you to support our quest for a new industrial shop space. Make your tax-deductible donation HERE!

A copy of this article is available online here.

Notable Days in January

Here is a list of special days in January, submitted to help you get your creative juices flowing.

January 2: National Science Fiction Day
January 6: National Technology Day
January 9: National Static Electricity Day
January 16: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 29: National Puzzle Day

New Employee

The Makerspace is delighted to have Ian Garconnette as our new Shop Supervisor. Congratulations to him on this new position! We're excited to have him on our team!

Huge Gift

The Bellingham Makerspace is grateful to Ryan Oord of Ferndale for the gift of a full data center cabinet with enough computing power to see us through the next several years. We’ve already created ticketing infrastructure, a computer lab, and the MakerCraft Minecraft server is now public and run by our young volunteers. We’re looking forward to classes and workshops for art, IT, IOT (internet of things/home automation), and software in robotics and more.

A copy of this article with photos is available online here.

Grants

We are delighted and grateful to announce that Bellingham Makerspace was the recent recipient of two grants - from Working Washington, and from the Tulalip Tribe. These grants will be invaluable in helping us continue to serve our community, especially as we work through finding a solution to reopening our woodshop. Big thanks to the amazing Rupert Ayton for pursuing these grants for us!

Call for Artists

Artists, if you would like to display your art in our Makerspace, contact us so we can schedule a time to display it.

New Executive Committees

The Makerspace is announcing the official formation of two executive committees. The Strategic Planning Committee will be a long-term strategic planning and organizational development committee focused on building the sustainability of the Makerspace. The Industrial Space/Real Estate Committee is a task-oriented committee focused on identifying sustainable funding sources and logistical needs, developing criteria and a plan for locating real-estate lease or purchase options, and documenting the process in alignment with fiscal and grant reporting requirements.

Bellingham Garden City Guild

Kris Keillor has started the Bellingham Garden City Guild to discuss easy automated gardening in the home, hydroponics and other technology. For more information see the website here (under community groups). If you have a group you’d like to start, let us know.

Circle Skirt Workshop

Learn to make your own circle (skater) skirt and sew a zipper. Prerequisite for this class is having taken the beginning sewing class or knowing how to use a sewing machine. This class is Saturday, January 21, from 2:00-3:30pm. Sign up here.

Intro to Vector Graphics

Learn to use free vector graphics software Inkscape to create art or cutting files for laser, CNC and vinyl cutter. Please bring your own laptop and mouse to class and ensure you have downloaded Inkscape onto it before the class. If you can't bring a laptop, let instructor Jason Davies know ahead of time so we can deploy a Makerspace computer for you to use. If you'd like a 50% scholarship discount (no questions asked), email jason@bellinghammakerspace.org for a coupon code. This class is Thursday, January 19, from 6:00-7:30pm. Sign up here.

North West Free Repairs Event

Bring in any broken item that you can comfortably carry. If we can, NW Free Repairs will fix it for FREE! This event is Sunday, January 15, from 1:00-3:00pm. The Bellingham Makerspace is proud to host the NW Free Repair group on the 2nd and 3rd Sunday of each month!

Who we are

We are a group of volunteers who are dedicated to conserving the earth’s resources and decreasing the burden on our overtaxed landfill areas by repairing and rehabilitating broken household items that would otherwise be discarded.

What we do

For any broken or non-functioning item that you can comfortably carry in, we will evaluate it and determine if it can be repaired. Owners must be present and participate during the repair of their items. We will teach you how!! Minors must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

What does it cost

We provide the evaluation and repair services for free. We also supply some basic parts and materials, but if unique repair parts are required (e.g., new motors, circuit boards, wiring harnesses, etc.) then you must purchase them – that is your only cost. Most of our successful repairs require no new parts. You determine if any cost to you is reasonable before we begin the actual repair. Once you obtain the needed parts the repair process is completed in a subsequent repair session.

What we repair

We fix small appliances, kitchen items, tools, electrical items, kids’ toys, bicycles – basically anything you can carry into our sessions other than the restricted items below. While we can’t fix everything, we do have an excellent record of successful repairs. And, what we absolutely cannot fix, we will help you recycle. We cannot store any items for you. We only work within our meeting area — no house calls. NOTE: A few of our volunteers do “handy man” work for pay that is independent of our free repair meetings. Please inquire through the contact tab at the top of this web page.

Restricted Items that we don’t accept for repair 

Anything containing gasoline or petroleum products
Items that are leaking fluids
Grimy, dirty, or hazardous items
Items having noxious or excessive odors
Anything that cannot be easily carried e.g., no major appliances, motor vehicles, etc.
Any items from a commercial business
Any item that is not appropriate in a public setting

Help Us Help You

One of the dilemmas that we sometimes encounter is being handed a large box of parts with a request that we help reassemble the item. Household items are often easier to take apart than they are to put back together so if you have limited experience in performing repairs, please wait and let us first disassemble the item with you. The sequence of parts during reassembly is usually critical and without first seeing how it came apart, it is difficult or impossible to correctly put it back together. If your curiosity has already led you to dismantle the item, at least be doubly sure that you bring all of the parts that you removed and transport any very small parts in a closed container to make sure that they do not become lost. Lastly bring any owner’s manuals with you especially those with “exploded” views of internal parts.

Upcoming Classes

You can view a list of upcoming classes at the Makerspace by clicking here.

Intro to Vector Graphics: Jan 5, 19 - 6pm
Makerspace Craft Time (free): Jan 7, 14, 21, 28 - 2pm
Intro to Sewing: Jan 7 - 2pm
North West Free Repair Event: Jan 8, 15 - 1pm
Project Night (free): Jan 9, 23, 30 - 5:30pm
Intro to the Laser Cutter: Jan 11, 25 - 6pm
Intro to the Vinyl Cutter: Jan 12, 26 - 6pm
Makerspace Volunteer Meeting (free): Jan 14 - 1pm
3D Printing for Kids: Jan 15, 29 - 3pm
Intro to Screen Printing: Jan 18, 5:30pm
Arduino Meetup (free): Jan 20 - 6pm
Circle Skirt Workshop: Jan 21 - 2pm
Intro to 3D Printing: Jan 22 - 3pm
The Co-op Factory Meetup (free): Jan 26 - 6pm
Cosplay Meetup (free): Jan 28 - 3pm

This is a newsletter from the Bellingham Makerspace, brought to you in part by Grizzly Tools, inc.

Donate