Author: Cassian

Machspace winter festivities update

Good evening! I have two important things to announce.

The sad one first: tomorrow’s Winter Party open day (Saturday 21st December, 2-4pm) as listed on our calendar will no longer be going ahead due to director unavailability.

However, we hope this makes up for it: there are now abundant Christmassy snacks and some spiced berry cordial on the coffee table, and you are very welcome to help yourself!

Tasty food and drink

    That’s dark chocolate mint sticks, tiffin, chocolate macaroons, chocolate coins, and three different brands of mince pies (two gluten and dairy free, one luxury). 🤩

    Machspace will continue to be open to members with key fobs 24/7 over the Christmas period, so if you want to do a bit of last-minute laser-cutting for presents there’s still time.

    Happy holidays everyone, from all of us at Machspace!

    Open event: laser cutter refresher drop-in

    Saturday 4th January 2025, 2-4pm

    Note that it’s not the usual 12-2pm!

    So you’ve been trained on the laser cutter, but you can’t quite remember what your trainer said about [vitally important detail], this open session is for you. Anyone can come in and see the laser cutter in action, have a cup of tea, do a bit of [comfy portable craft] – but there will be a fairly confident-ish laser cutter enthusiast on hand to answer your questions.

    As it’s an open day, Machspace will be open to the public, and we invite you to read our open day rules before attending. It’s pay-as-you-feel, so anyone can attend regardless of income, and donations are very welcome. There will also be pay-as-you-feel refreshments.

    See the Facebook event.

    Streamlining the application/induction process

    When we first opened Machspace our plan was to email each applicant to arrange an induction for them. We immediately had so many applicants that this was impractical, so we started sending weekly reminders out to everyone on the application list, on the assumption that this would get us through the backlog and we could soon start sending individual invitations. This never happened – we’ve been inducting 1-2 people per week as and when they get in touch with us, and we’ve still had 20+ applicants pending induction pretty much for the entire year since we opened!

    So, in an attempt to smooth this process out and make it easier for the volunteer(s) managing this system, we’ve changed it up in two big ways:

    1. When you apply for membership, it is your responsibility to contact us to arrange your induction. You’ll get an email copy of your application, which will contain information about how to book an induction. You will no longer receive weekly reminder emails inviting you to book.
    2. After 6 months, if you’ve not come to an induction, your application will be deleted for GDPR/data security reasons. We will email you to let you know we are doing this, and that email will contain a link to the application form in case you would like to reapply.

    Hopefully that all makes sense! If you have any concerns or questions you can email us: hello@machspace.org

    Thanks everyone! 🙂

    — Cassian

    Membership fee consultation

    As many of you will remember from your inductions, our epic grant from the Social Value Forum Development Fund concludes in March 2025. We currently have £400 coming in per month as donations, and our projections suggest that by March we might have around £600 of the necessary £1,000 per month we’ll need to stay afloat. This means that in April 2025, if we don’t manage to secure further funding, we will probably have to introduce a compulsory membership fee.

    This could affect Machspace in quite unpredictable ways, so we’re running this consultation for one month to try and build a picture of what might happen in April. Any information you can give us is anonymous, will remain private, and is really valuable for helping us to prepare and adapt; our goal is to keep membership accessible to as many people as possible.

    The consultation is open until 11:59pm on 17th November 2024.

    It’s open to anyone who lives in/near Machynlleth, and all Machspace members and enjoyers. If you know any local makers or craftspeople please do share a survey link with them, because it’s also really helpful to hear from people outside of our bubble of regulars.

    Thank you, everyone!

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Darllenwch yr ymgynghoriad hwn yn Gymraeg 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Read this consultation in English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

    Community consultation open event and survey

    Saturday 31st August 2024, 12-1pm

    At Machspace we are soon to be applying for funding so that we can employ some staff to keep Machspace running.

    For this, we need to gather some updated data about the need for the space in Machynlleth from members and non-members who live in the local area. If you appreciate Machspace and would like to see it continue, please take 10 minutes to fill out this Makerspace survey.

    It will be super supportive for us! Thanks so much. The survey will close on September 1st.

    Facebook event: click here

    Event: Open day, cut up poetry workshop

    Saturday 21st September 2024, 2-4pm (note different time!)

    Ruth will guide us in cut-up approach to poetry – cutting up some text and rearranging it into poetry.

    As it’s an open day, Machspace will be open to the public, and we invite you to read our open day rules before attending. It’s pay-as-you-feel, so anyone can attend regardless of income, and donations are very welcome. There will also be pay-as-you-feel refreshments.

    See you there! 🙂

    Facebook event: Click here

    Event: Open day, theme lino-printing

    Saturday 7th September 2024, 12-2pm

    Saturday 5th October 2024, 12-2pm

    This open day will be led by Pat, who has experience with a similar community workshop focused on printing. She’ll teach us how to cut a design into a section of lino, and then print it onto paper.

    As it’s an open day, Machspace will be open to the public, and we invite you to read our open day rules before attending.

    We look forward to seeing you there! 🙂

    Facebook event: Click here

    Event: Open day, introduction to macramé

    Saturday 17th August 2024, 12-2pm

    Pat will demonstrate the basic macramé knots, and then teach tree macramé and butterfly macramé to make wall hangings. We’ll provide the string, but bring a stick, 30cm dowel or hoop for your design to hang from.

    As it’s an open day, Machspace will be open to the public, and we invite you to read our open day rules before attending. It’s pay-as-you-feel, so anyone can attend regardless of income, and donations are very welcome. There will also be pay-as-you-feel refreshments.

    See you there! 🙂

    Facebook event: Click here

    Would you like to volunteer at Machspace?

    Market day support (one-off or ongoing)

    The most time-sensitive one at the top! This Wednesday, 10am-2pm, Penny is running a Machspace market stall outside the workshop – more details below. She would love some company, for this and maybe future Wednesdays. If you’re helping out you can also sell your own arts and crafts for 30% commission. If you’re interested, email us: hello@machspace.org

    Woodworking (ongoing)

    Managing the woodworking area is a responsibility and a pretty big job, so we are reaching out to see if anyone would like to co-manage alongside Matt. Here’s the job description.

    If you like woodworking and sharing your skills, if you can be committed in the longer term, and if you work well as part of a small team, we would love to hear from you. Click here to email us about it.

    Open days (ongoing)

    Twice a month, for two hours each time, we open Machspace to the general public. It’s a chance for members to socialise, and for curious people to see what we’re about without having to sign up for membership. Sometimes there’s an arty or crafty theme to draw people in.

    We need a volunteer to run our open days. We estimate about 2 hours per week, looking something like this:

    • Hosting two 2-hour open days per month: taking care of Machspace, welcoming new people, enabling refreshments, answering questions, helping people apply for membership;
    • Recruiting enthusiastic people to share their arts and crafts skills with open day attendees;
    • If they’re needed, researching and buying supplies for themed open days.

    If you like meeting people, you’re confident communicating in person and online, and you work well under your own initiative, would you like to give this a try? If so, drop us a line.

    Painting (one-off)

    Tanya will be painting the wall behind the sofa in Machspace on the weekend of 24th/25th August, and volunteer assistance is very much appreciated! If you’re interested, please RSVP: hello@machspace.org