If you have been around the makerspace this year for classes you maybe picked up one of our class catalogues. We publish one each quarter so you can see what classes and workshops are coming up and plan accordingly. 

This time, we decided to add a little more information in the catalogue for you too. You can find info on our upcoming featured artists, plan to attend a pop up makers' market, get info on our premier music and art festival we're hosting in September, and on how to plan a DIY party with us. 

We're excited, moving forward, to add even more valuable information for you in this catalogue. You can pick one up in the shop mid September (Art Beat wiped out our first order of catalogues) or look at it now with this online PDF version. 

This catalogue lists all our scheduled classes and workshops from the beginning of September through the end of November. Sometimes classes are added last minute, and we always add those to our Facebook events and notify our email subscribers. You can join our email list here to make sure you stay up to date and even get an occasional subscribers' only perk. 

We want to make it easier for you to tackle some of our cool projects, so we started with a DIY kit. One of our most popular classes is the soldered glass terrarium class. However, it's only offered about once or twice a quarter. So I thought, why not make it to go? It's the exact same result with only a few changes that make it easier for you to do at home. 

In the class, you learn to cut the glass, clean, tape, and solder it, and you can sign up for that class here. But the kit gives you pre-cut pieces of glass, and a solderless technique to put it together. You may not be learning the stained glass basics like in the class, but you can do this anywhere and still have a great looking addition to your room decor once you're done. 

To finish the look of this project, we include some preserved moss, a live air plant (one of my favorite low maintenance plants), and a few stones. 

Maybe you are wondering what good a membership would do you and what a makerspace can offer. Here are my top 7 reasons you should try a membership today. 

1. You get access to all of our tools and equipment including stations for 3D printing, laser cutting, stained glass and soldering, ceramics, woodworking, jewelry and metal work, textiles and leather, drawing, painting, printing and more. If you can dream it, we can help you make it. 

2. You get discounts on classes and workshops from 5%-20% depending on the membership level you choose. 

3. You don't have to take over your house with messy projects. Use our space and designated storage and work stations. Or get a private studio and keep all your work safe and secure and out of your living room.

4. You can work with others in a creative and collaborative environment instead of working holed up on your own. Full memberships allow you to add family members at a great discounted rate. The more, the merrier. 

5. You save money! When you start working on any project, there's always another tool to buy or a piece of equipment that you wish you could afford. Being a member of our makerspace gives you access to our tools and equipment that cost thousands of dollars so you don't have to waste money investing in tools you'll only use a few times. 

6. You get a little storage space to call your own so you don't have to lug your personal materials back and forth during a project. 

7. And lastly, when you get a membership at MAKE SOUTH BEND, you help support our mission and vision of celebrating makers in the community, creating new ones, and supporting small business. Maybe you'll start a new business from here. 

Learn more about memberships and apply online at www.makesouthbend.com/membership or click the image below.

It's been an exciting whirlwind since we opened on February 17th. We had many friendly faces stop by our shop. We sold lots of chocolate and handcut soaps. We partied with our crowdfunders and volunteers that Friday and then were on the news the next morning. You can see the news story here. 

This week we had an artist mixer with about 30 local creatives, just a meet and greet. I was overwhelmed by the amount of creativity and camaraderie that night. It's refreshing to see that our arts community does want to support each other and collaborate. It'll only get better from here. 

We hosted our very first class, a realistic art class focused on seeing details like an artist in the image of an eye. Here is a photo of some of the work. Michelle Weldy, the instructor, did an excellent and thorough job and will have two more realistic art classes in March. 

Then, of course, we had a lot of fun on our new 3D printer by SeeMeCNC, a local company. As you can see here, it allows you to print some fun detail. And let me assure you that the blemishes in these prints were because of the file design, not the printer. Now, for your enjoyment, some beefy armed art. 

We had one late addition to our space, a gallery. Now you can stop by and view some local art, as well as purchase it. The current exhibit that will run through March is "Marriage of Mathematics and Biology" by Allison Eve and Jonathan Walker. 

It's been about a month of renovating and the changes are extreme. We are just about done with painting and furnishing the space, and we can't wait to share it with you.

We made tables, got desks from our friends at Bendix Coffee and found a great deal of chairs online.

We still have some shelving to put up, but the furniture is all in. We're hoping to have the shop open next week, and classes are being scheduled now. I'm also finishing up the orientation packets for the makerspace memberships. Get excited!

Inventory is rolling in and shelves are being filled with some fine local goods. So far we have stock in from Davis Chocolates, Indiana Oil Co., Brown Dog Soaps, Bendix Coffee, and The FitzGerald Found and Fashioned. We have one more week and at least five more vendors dropping off goods before we open the store.

If you have some great local goods you make or know someone else who does, email submissions to info@makesouthbend.com. We're looking for quality, simple, handcrafted items made in the area.

Wow! That was fun. We had over 20 people be part of our crowdfunding campaign this last month, and we are currently working on getting their rewards packages together. We raised over $2,500 of donations through our campaign just through social media. We got a no interest loan of $10,000 from family, and 1st Source gave us an SBA loan for the rest. So, we are funded and ready to go. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us, believed in us, donated, volunteered to paint or guided us in the business plan. We are incredibly grateful and looking at mid February to open.

Now we are on to stocking the store, getting classes lined up with instructors and furnishing the space with tools and equipment for members to use.

As we get started as a creative coworking space that offers classes and has a gift shop, the list of things we need grows. We will be purchasing whatever we can with money from our crowdfunding campaign, but donations of these goods help just as much.

Below I tried to break down what we needed into categories. If you would like to help by donating an in kind gift, I can set you up with the same perks our fiscal sponsors get. We need all the help we can get. If you have any of these items to donate, please email us at info@makesouthbend.com with details. Thanks.

Renovations: 2 pendant lamps, 12 wall mount light fixtures, replacement flourescent lights, 10 gallons or more primer, 10 gallons or more white or nuetral paint, paint rollers, brushes, painting tape and drop cloths, scrapers, shop vac, broom and dust pan, garbage bins, cleaning supplies, mop, rags, bucket

Furniture: sturdy 4 ft. round or rectangle tables, metal folding or stacking chairs, counter tops, shelving, check out counter, stools

Ceramics area: sturdy tables, drying shelves, large or small kiln, throwing wheel, modeling tools, brushes and glazes, cleaning buckets, sponges

Metal working: work bench, bench pin, saw frame, anvil, hammers, metal stamps, disc cutter, carving wax, tumbler, glass bowls or beakers, tweezers, files, polishing cloths, hand tools, Dremel drill and polishing tools, steel grinder, crucible, craft oven, butane torch, soldering gun, solder, soldering station with gravel

Textiles: sewing machines, iron, ironing board, cutting mat, cutting tools, pins, needles, embroidery hoops, rulers, scrap fabric and thread or yarn

Printing: 20x24 screen frames, exposure light, wash out sink with hose, squeegees, scrapers, brayers, emulsion, remover, screen fabric, inks, lino or rubber blocks, tape, cutting tools, hinge presses, drying shelves and tables 

Laser and die cutting: desktop computers, silhouette or cricut machines, laser cutter, software, materials for cutting like acrylic, wood, paper, vinyl, cardstock

 

Plants: air plants, moss, sand, rocks, soil, activated charcoal, watering cans, misters, spray bottles, pots, spoons, funnels

Jewelry making: bead mats, pliers and wire cutters, bead reamer, cup bezel, wire, necklace chain, string, lace, beads, clasps

 

Painting: brushes, rag cloths, easels, utility sink, cups or water jars, paint, canvas, oil paints and supplies, cleaning soaps

Drawing: light table, rulers, sharpeners, pens, pencils, markers, erasers, tracing paper

Digital: scanner, copier, desktop computer, camera, 3D printer

Wood working: compound miter saw, circular saw, hand saw, sanders, files,   drills, screw drivers, measuring tape, T square, lathe, widdling and carving tools, scrap wood, hardware, nails, staple gun, staples

Candle making: stove, sink, melting pot, form, measuring cups, funnel or pouring cups, wax, wicks, scented oils

Leather working: cutting tools, cutting mats, leahter stamps, hammers, punches, setting tools, finish, rivets, snaps, waxed thread, stitching awl, awl, leather needles, scrap leather

 

Glasswork: butane torch, jewelry kiln, glass cutter, etching tools, glass rods or tiles, leading, flux, solder, stained glass materials, enamel powder

A month ago this idea was only shared through a few conversations with other artist friends. It's quickly grown since my holiday show craziness has ended. We have found a space to rent, created our website, Facebook page, and mailing list, gained a lot of support, started our business accounts, filed as an operating business, and found that this town is just as excited as I am to have another creative space. I still have to stock the store, buy equipment, get insurance, put together our class schedule and draw up a ton of papers. On top of that, the wonderful space we got needs a little help to look good.

You can see, there's lots to do. But I'm hoping with some work days with friends and community members and some crowd funding, we'll have the space ready to shop, take classes and use for coworking by February. It may seem audacious, but I know we can do it.

To help us get started, please donate to and share our crowd funding campaign with everyone you know. Thanks, and we hope to have some wonderful updates for you soon.

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, artists and many individals who work for themselves may find it's a lot lonelier than expected. Especially when it comes to creative types, we're terribly misunderstood and can get tired of going it alone, even us introverts.

When I quit teaching to work for myself, the one thing I missed the most was my coworkers. They were my team, my family. We were in the trenches together and supported one another. If I needed help or wanted to share something funny from my class, I had a group who could help or laugh along with me.

I started making art in my basement and spent my days with my husband and my dog. It was nice, sure. But I soon wanted to get out of the house and see the world and other people. It was also hard to find the right people. I love my family and friends who were there and tried to help, but I really needed to find others who could give me advice, share stories or tricks, and understand what I was going through to make it on my own.

There was a lot of advice and encouragement from Instagram artists, podcasts and blogs from other entrepreneurs. I still wanted to find people around South Bend who were doing what they loved and doing it well. Also I wanted to know where all the women were and all the artists. Artists and makers are entrepreneurs too, and I wanted to connect with more of them. I wanted to have coworkers again.

Having a coworking environment for artists and makers will hopefully provide the support and encouragement necessary to get more artists and makers doing more of what they love. From finding the right shows to do, shops to sell in, tools to use, techniques to learn, and sharing inspiration, we hope MAKE SOUTH BEND will change what it's like to be an artist in this community by making it better.