What a difference a year makes! I thought it might be interesting to post some shots I took just over a year ago (Apr 14) and some that I have taken today. Ok, they're not from the same angles, but I think you'll get the idea. Basically we've fitted a pottery studio and woodworking workshop into one space with room to spare for other activities such as jewellery making, printing, art, electronics, etc.
One year, lots of graft, donations and help from the Lancaster University UnLtd grant has made a huge difference.
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Apologies for the long delay between posts; I tend to use our Facebook group by default and forget that I should post here first! Anyway we have been busy, honest ;o) Finally, on Monday we took delivery of a planer/thicknesser, mortiser, router table and table saw that Paul has lent on a long term basis. Consequently LuneLab is looking a bit chaotic at the moment as we try to move things around to create space for all this new equipment.
If that wasn't enough, I picked up a second-hand MIG welder at a reasonable price. No idea how to use it, but the YouTube clips make it look easy. Open STudioLast Saturday, Halton Mill held an Open Studio and Craft Fair. A small group of us hung out, drank mulled apple juice & wine and chatted to the various people who came through into LuneLab. Once things calmed down a little, we came upon the idea of building our own jewellery bench out of some used wood, and hey-presto, the top was made! I finished the legs off yesterday, so it is now ready for testing and tweaking; over to you Christine & Carole... Other newsSome good news - we have now changed the pricing so that we just ask for a minimum monthly fee of £10 per adult!! Have a look at our Membership page to find out how to join. Many thanks to Mike @ PCRecycler in Blackpool, who has donated 4 XP computers - though I've not had time to set them up yet. Mike also holds the Blackpool Makerspace & Linux User Group from his office. We are still waiting for the kiln to be wired-in; our electrician is a busy man, but hopefully he'll get there soon. Once it has power we can test it and if necessary get it serviced. I am also hoping to make a start on fitting the sinks in the next 2-3 weeks. They still need a fair bit of cleaning, but they are lovely large belfast sinks that will make cleaning up that little bit easier. The last bit of news is that David is setting up his Hegner HDB 200XL wood lathe. It is better and newer than our present one, and saves us needing to buy a chuck & centres. Luke. Ian and Claire organised a trip to Hacman in Manchester yesterday, so we tagged along too, though the kids got bored pretty quickly! Thanks for the warm welcome we received.
It was great to see the space and layout and chat to those there. They have a larger space (~800 sq.ft vs 600 sq. ft) which is split into four areas (kitchen, private storage, clean room, messy room), so quite different to our single space. The most noticeable difference is the huge amount of shelving and storage they have; there are boxes everywhere, all labelled. Maybe a good target for us? They also have a mechanism for removing unwanted stuff; basically items are placed in the three week box, the next week in the two week box, then onto the one week box, then recycled/thrown away. We don't have that problem just yet, but I can see it will become necessary at some stage. Hacman have far more members than we do, though they have been running for longer. Interestingly, their membership shot up once they moved to a minimum donation of £10 p/m, rather than the previous set £25 p/m. They now run at a small surplus. Something for the LuneLab committee to consider... Carole has been setting up the pottery area and got round to testing the potter's wheel today. A very successful first test and that was from a standing position! I've now affixed the seat, so it should be even easier. If you want a go, then come along to our Open Day this Saturday 2-5pm; though maybe not in your best clothes. We've also just been given these two sewing machines. The "newer" one is apparently about 30 years old, so how old is the Singer? Anyway, we'll give them a test and make sure they work, but they should be fine for simple work.
Oh, and did I mention there is an Open Day on Saturday 2-5pm? Hope to see you there ;o) Luke. We are having an Open Day on Saturday 18th October 2pm-5pm, so if you are interested in joining, want to know more or are just plain curious then pop over and have a look around and a chat.
Halton Mill held a "Make Do & Mend" event at the Mill on Saturday, so whilst Elizabeth busily created a "Mad Hatter" dress for a forthcoming party, I set about building a stand for our lathe. We had plenty of wood left over from the builders, so the only costs were a few screws, electricity and plenty of effort.
It is probably somewhat over-engineered, but this lathe is REALLY HEAVY so I didn't want to take any chances! The next question is "where to put it?", hmm.. Luke Microsoft are offering a free Intel Galileo board if you sign-up to here. Not sure how long it will last but I suggest get in quick!!
Luke Well, the photo says it all..we're ready to accept some money from you, and OK, it is more than £1.
At the recent membership meeting we agreed that in order to pay for some basics, such as insurance, we would ask people to pay for the first three months at a reduced rate of £30 + £5 key deposit. We'll still be very much setting up the workshop, systems and processes but you would be have access to the space. Other news:
Luke. It was great to see everyone from the Lancaster Craft Collective Hook Up here last night - I didn't count, but it must have been close to 20 people. Our thanks go to Lucy for organising it. Hopefully everyone enjoyed having a look around the Mill and a quick tour of cohousing. It was a bit too dark to take a photo at the time, so here's a quick photo of the aftermath. NB. I managed to get some super-cheap ex-college, stacking tables from Preston, so we have something to sit around now! Christine, Maeve and I also met yesterday to discuss the layout of the room. We're thinking that a worktop along the wall underneath the windows would be good, along with loads of storage. We also decided that fitting lights and electrics sockets is now a priority - along with getting some money flowing in !
Luke. |