DMS Black Smith Days

      When I walked into the large garage of the Makerspace, I was prepared for an interesting experience, and I have not been disappointed.
      From the pounding of metal on metal, to the screech of grinding machinery, I could tell that this place was 100% hands on. The garage was full of tools and machines that I had never seen before, including a car that had been completely gutted out and was in the process of being converted into an electric car. I also saw a small forge, which glowed red-orange with heat.
      After taking in the scene, I introduced myself to the instructor, John Haskins. He seemed like a very cool, laid back kind of guy, and I immediately found myself asking questions about how things worked. “How hot does the forge get?” I asked. “This one gets to about 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit,” he answered. Wow! I thought, that’s really hot!
      Jesse, a newbie here at the Makerspace, was pounding away at a metal rod, flattening the edges. I observed his process, and noticed how he would frequently place the metal inside the forge to heat it up, which I guessed made it more malleable and easier to work with. Then he would place the glowing metal in water to cool. He repeated this process. Pound, heat, cool, repeat.
      I took pictures and asked questions while all the action was happening around me. I noticed a small, metal flower lying on a table. I asked John how he had made it, and he told me that he had spent less then an hour shaping the petals and twisting a short rod which was the stem. I was impressed at how little time it took to make something so pretty.
      I also noticed a beautiful metal maple leaf, and wondered how it was made. I found out that it was shaped by multiple chasing tools, and the decorative leaf was an example of repoussé. Someone nearby was making a their own chasing tools (you can even make your own tools here?!).
      John continued to answer all my questions and assist others. I felt very comfortable and interested in what was going on. I had heard of Blacksmithing before, but I had never been interested until I actually saw it being done in real life. I even had the inclination to pick up a hammer and try it myself! All I accomplished was a few dents in a scrap of metal, but I am sure I could improve with practice.
      Not only does the Makerspace provide tools, materials, and instruction, they also provide a comfortable lounge area and a pantry full of drinks and snacks! So you could pound away at your own creation of metal, and if you got tired, you could simply take a break and crash on a comfortable sofa with a coke and a poptart. Sounds good to me, I thought.
      Without a doubt, the Makerspace is an ideal place for learning the basics of Blacksmithing. Its also the ideal place to go any day of the week if you’re looking for a fun, educational, hands on experience. The people are friendly, and you’re free to create anything out of metal that your heart desires.
-Written and Photographed by Kaela Lawrence

You can see more of Kaela’s photographs from that day here on our Flickr account. As always we welcome and encourage people to come check us out every Thursday at 7 pm for our regular weekly get together. This is a great time to find out what we are all about.

Currently we have reoccurring events during the week. They are as follows:
Every Tuesday Evening is the Robotic Night Out (RBNO) starting at 7 pm
Every Wednesday evening is the Electronics Night starting at 7pm
Every 1st and 3rd Monday of the month is the Artist Night Out (ANO) starting at 7pm
Periodically there are classes on Blender (see our calendar for dates) and Software Freedom.

Dale Dougherty founder of Make Magazine and Maker Faire, and a partner in O’Reilly Media stopped by Dallas Makerspace last Wednesday to checkout our space and tell us about his vision of the future of Making. Dale was in Texas testifying at a court hearing in Tyler, Texas regarding Eolas Technologies and the over reaching patents they were trying to enforce. Luckily the 8 member jury in the east Texas Tyler court  struck down the patent claim that Eolas invented the “Interactive Web”. Several DMS members shared a steak dinner with Dale, while he answered lots of questions.

Marcin Jakubowski is known for his Open Source Ecology project and, in particular, the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS). The goal of GVCS is to create a set of 50 open source machines with which we can reboot civilization in a way that minimizes scarcity and planned obsolescence, reducing the cause of many of society’s ills. It’s an ambitious goal and to get there, the OSE needs a lot of help from both individuals and hackerspaces. Marcin recently stopped by Dallas Makerspace to discuss how we can contribute to the OSE and GVCS. We shared pizza and beer while talking about how to make the world a better place. We’ve started a Dallas Makerspace OSE Project page where you can follow our plans as they evolve. We hope to post a video of Marcin’s visit on the page soon as well.

Since 2005 the annual Art Conspiracy art auction has raised over $110,000 for local nonprofit arts groups like Musical Angels, Resolana, St. Anthony’s School and others. Several Dallas Makerspace members participated in the 2011 ArtCon auction in November. Steve Reeves and Haley Moore were selected as artists and each contributed a piece to the auction. Steve Rainwater served as a volunteer (and photographed the artist’s work day, the art, and the auction). Greg Needel contributed the use of his giant spin-art machine, which you may have seen at our recent open house. The spin-art machine was used by Haley in the creation of her piece, a mixed media creation that also utilized laser cut, heat formed plastic. Steve Reeves piece was a collage created from a series of photographic images on polaroid film. Both pieces did very well in the auction. In 2010, a Dallas Makerspace team participated in the ArtCon SEED auction by building an art clock that attracted one of the highest prices in the auction.

Pieter Hintjens, of Brussels, Belgium, is the latest visiting hacker to spend some time at Dallas Makerspace. Pieter has stopped by for some of our regular weekly meetings and also gave a talk at our Software Freedom Day event back in September. In addition to being involved with the local hackerspace in Brussels, Pieter is also a well-known opponent of software patents. He defines a patent as “A medieval economic tool by which politicians attempt to stimulate trade and wealth by banning innovation and competition in crucial areas of technology” He’s also a free software developer known for his work on the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) and the ZeroMQ intelligent transport layer. Pieter is also a drummer and we hope to talk him into giving a drumming demo next time he passes through Dallas.

This would not have been possible without the support of the DMS membership. Each and every person has put their time, labor, and advice into the building of this organization and the reward was well worth the effort. Our success was also possible because of the wonderful support of the Dallas Personal Robotics Group (DPRG), from whom the DMS was birthed. They graciously acted as our umbrella, seeding us with several of their own members and nurturing us as we grew to the point we could stand on our own.

We invite everyone out to celebrate with us this November 5th starting at Noon. This year’s Open House promises to be bigger and better than last year with wonderful DIY projects for guests to partake in, door prizes, wonderful demo’s by several of the talented members who make up the DMS along with several third party talks from organizations such as the North Texas Electric Auto Association. There will be food, robots, laser cutters, darkroom fun, and plenty of energetic and passionate people to meet and share ideas with. This event is open to all ages. For more information on time and place check out our wiki. Dallas Makerspace will also be present for a joint event with the DPRG at Tanner Electronics in Carrollton this Saturday from noon to 2pm.

Crafter, artist, and long time member of the Dallas Makerspace, Haley is a skilled and creative person who has inspired me in many ways. She is always working on something fascinating and brings a level of dedication and detail to her projects that really sets them apart from others. Recently Haley completed a laptop bag, entirely from scratch, for the Desert Bus for Hope charity event that she’s been supporting for some time now. I asked her about the process of creating this amazing work of art and just how much time went into it from conception to completion.

Q: What event/project was this bag created for?
A: I made this bag for an awesome charity event called Desert Bus for Hope. Every year they hold an online telethon to raise money for Child’s Play, and one of the events is an auction of handmade items. I contributed some pieces last year that had tags made with the Makerspace’s laser cutter, and almost immediately after the auction I had the idea to use the laser to make something amazingly intricate for this year.

Q: How did you come up with your idea? What inspired it?
A: I’ve wanted to make something incorporating the design of the famous mask from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for a long time. Since Desert Bus is a video game themed charity event, it seemed like the perfect occasion to try it for. I made a purse last year, and I thought a laptop bag would have more appeal for both genders, and hopefully raise more money for the event.

Q: What were the materials and tools you used to create the bag?
A: The front design is made of about a hundred pieces of synthetic felt and fleece in 16 different colors, which were cut on the Makerspace’s laser and hand-stitched together. I created a composition of blocks of color in Inkscape, using original game art as a template.

The pieces fit together like a puzzle. The accuracy of the laser cutter made the planning on this very, very easy.

The pattern for the bag was also designed in Inkscape and printed out on 8.5x11s that were then glued together. I’ve never used this technique before, but I loved it. I’ll probably end up doing that again in other projects. The bag is made from cotton, felt, fleece, and heavyweight interfacing, and it has separate padded pockets for a large laptop (around 14″) and also for a netbook or an iPad.

[The entire process took over 50 hours to complete]

Q: Do you have any tips for others who might want to try their hand at a project like this?
A: Lasering felt is easy and cheap, but sewing it together takes time. Plan ahead. Also, I originally used matching thread with the felt, but I quickly found that this was distracting in the areas where colors met. Go with invisible thread.

Q: What is your favorite part of the bag?
A: The eyes blow me away. The eyes on the original game art have a lovely smooth fade on them, but discrete pieces of felt would never really capture that, so I opted to make a halftone pattern. The result is striking. I’m also a big fan of the forced shadows on the spikes.

Q: Where can people read more about this project and its progression?
A: You can see all sorts of progress photos at my blog, But, How?, and for information on bidding at the auction, you can go to www.desertbus.org.

Being able to witness the birth and completion of this project has been quiet the experience. I can’t wait to see what else comes from the mind of this talented Maker. You can view more pictures of the bag in the DMS Flickr group. As well Haley will be doing a Sew By Numbers demo at our upcoming Open House and we encourage everyone to come out and enjoy the company of other brilliant and passion driven people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP9KMdhN5CY

The doors open at 1pm Saturday, November 5th and will stay open until we’re too tired to talk (probably around midnight). As we confirm projects, activities and classes we will be updating the 2011 Open House page on our wiki, so keep checking back.