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!

    Event: Open Day – Lino Printing & Collograph with Pat

    Saturday 15th February, 12–2pm

    Pat will lead us in a lino printing and collograph workshop. All materials provided.

    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.

    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.

    Event: Open Day – Batik with Iolo & Penny

    Saturday 7th December 2024, 12–2pm

    Penny & Iolo will be hosting a batik open day: please come down and join! Batik is a printmaking technique using hot wax and cold dyes.

    We will have some materials for experimentation but you are welcome to bring your own. The technique works on anything natural, but is best on cottons or silk. White or pale fabric encouraged. No experience necessary and donations to the space welcomed. For further questions please write to @ouroborosgummy or @pennytristram

    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 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

    Event: Open day – seasonal card making

    Saturday 23rd November 2024, 12–2pm

    Pat will lead us in making seasonal cards with stencils and lino prints. All materials provided.

    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