Josh Williams
Open House Wrap + New Classes!
Open House Wrap + New Classes!
Makerspace
Josh Williams
Open House Oct. 13th + New Tracks + Last Chance ...
Open House Oct. 13th + New Tracks + Last Chance Wood Carving & Member Projects!!
Makerspace
Josh Williams
Wood carving, sewing maintenance, wood track, ...
Wood carving, sewing maintenance, wood track, laser projects and more!
Makerspace
Josh Williams
NEW Laser Shop Fab Track! Thank you Ella, ...
NEW Laser Shop Fab Track! Thank you Ella, Daniel, and Ben! Clean-up + Pizza & Game Night
Makerspace
Josh Williams
FREE Activities, New Metal Shop Fab Track, ...
FREE Activities, New Metal Shop Fab Track, Clean-up + Pizza & Game Night

Maker Feature: Anke Eichstaedt

Maker Feature: Anke Eichstaedt

Anke began developing her talents for textile design as a seamstress at a dressmaker’s studio in Germany and later on while getting a degree in fashion design. She discovered that while it was nice to have other people construct her designs for her, she missed making things by herself. Anke later moved to the United States, and we’re sure glad she (and Alice the goldendoodle, one of our canine members) ended up in Ann Arbor! Keep reading to find out how she uses the Maker Works textiles area to create beautiful luxury handbags, accessories, and art pieces from high-quality leathers in all colors of the rainbow.

Maker Feature: Elderwood Academy

Maker Feature: Elderwood Academy

Not all of the makers who use our shop have grand aspirations of starting a business, but for those that do, it helps to have a bit of inspiration in the form of a success story. One of the many fabulous startups with origins at Maker Works is Elderwood Academy, a business that began with nothing but a gift idea, access to our ShopBot and Epilog Lasers, and a little bit of traction on the internet. Today, they’re a major supplier of tabletop gaming accessories and have moved into their own production facility. Read on to learn how they got to where they are now!

Maker Feature: Kelly O'Neill

Maker Feature: Kelly O'Neill

Over the next few weeks we’ll be featuring some of the wonderful makers who make our community great. Today we’re highlighting Kelly, a total powerhouse in the metal shop. You might find her making sparks on the plasma cutter, bending sheet metal and rods into gorgeous curves on the slip roller, welding up a storm, or powder coating pieces in a vibrant array of colors. Read on to learn more about how she got to where she is today, and check back next week for another featured maker!

Maker Feature: Lana Krolikowski

Maker Feature: Lana Krolikowski

Over the next few weeks we’ll be featuring some of the wonderful makers who make our community great. First up is Lana Krolikowski, proprietress of Saving Throw Pillows. You can find her using tools all throughout the shop for her own personal projects as well as the textiles area, lasers, and wood shop to create TTRPG-themed accessories to sell. Read on to find out more about her work and her connection to Maker Works, and keep checking back to hear about more of our wonderful members!

Maker Works Open House!

Rainbow image with words Open House October 23rd 2pm - 5pm

Please join us on Sunday, October 23rd anytime between 2pm - 5pm for our Open House celebration of 11 years around the sun!

Stop in for a tour featuring live tool demonstrations! Meet some of our fabulous makers, see their work and hear their stories. Learn about some of our new programs, partnerships, and upcoming accessibility initiatives!

Help us out! We would love to take this opportunity to share the resources of Maker Works to as many groups as possible. Please share and invite a friend, organization, club, company, school, troop, etc. An event on Facebook can be found here.

Thank you!

A New Makerspace, Community Partnerships, and 200,000 + sold units!

The Hawk is the newest makerspace in Farmington Hills. Their open house is on Sat., August 13th from 12pm - 4pm! Read the concentrate article that covers some our collaboration!

Are you trying to make a helpful contribution to our community? Think the resources at Maker Works can help? Check out our new program that reduces the cost of access.

What are we making?

Embroidery Bobbins! Gail recently surpassed 200,000 units sold for her business (GW Stichin' Depot) that she started last year. She’s purchased an upgraded Epilog Laser that is housed in her private studio at Maker Works.

Group Activity Make & Takes

Looking for a unique activity for your company, organization, group date night or birthday? Our guided Make & Take workshops range from birdhouses to building your own CNC. Or let us setup our 40 ft Great Maker Race at your location! Take a peak here and contact us for group pricing.

Below are three that anyone can join!

Spend the day with us building your own CNC Router on Saturday, August 20th at 10am. Bring a friend and build one together!

Discover the joy of computer controlled plasma on Saturday, August 27th at 10:30am and build your own Plasma Cut Sign.

Join us on Sunday, August 28th at 2pm for a relaxing afternoon assembling your own beautiful Kumiko Panel. Anyone can join!

Nifty Neighbors - Go deep with your learning

Southeast Michigan is rich with resources when it comes to making. We like to highlight those resources every time we can. Let us know your favorite!

WCC runs both introductory and in-depth welding programs with fantastic instructors that build award winning welders!

The Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute offers courses ranging from weekend excursions to year long deep dives! GI Bill Eligible!

South East Michigan Woodworkers is a wonderful online (and occasionally in person) community of knowledge, tools, and projects.

How Are We Doing?

Each month we aim to introduce more people to the shop, teach more classes, and support more members. Below are some numbers representing where we're at this month (actual/goal). Follow the links to find how you can help!

Support Your Community of Makers!

CORP. SPONSORS

Be a visible steward of a community of small businesses and makers!

CORP. MEMBERS

Augment your business or students' abilities, or offer an amazing staff perk.

DONATIONS

Your generous offer helps the shop stay accessible and affordable!

Makers in the Shop!

First person to email excutivedirector@maker-works.com with where this sign is at MW gets a free month : )

Seeing, learning, and sharing with people is by far one of the most valuable things you’ll experience at a makerspace. We tend to highlight the fancy projects (as you’ll see below), but our classes, instructors, and many of our members are here to help you get started regardless of how much you know.

Erika Cross Studio produces amazing handmade furniture and objects with attention to the tiniest details. One of their latest pieces is getting a last minute shine before being properly photographed and introduced to the world later this week!

Woody runs his company Lockewood Goods using a variety of tools throughout the wood and metal shop, though much of the final work that really makes his products shine hidden away in his studio space. His most recent product is a Kneeling Chair (pictured), involving a collaboration with fellow maker Anke of Elophina to get the leatherwork just right.

You’ll find Little Lake Technology working on their latest products in our electronics studio. They prototyped an initial board using our PCB Engraver before sending it off to a traditional board house. Pictured is one of the first runs of their Tiny Switchy, fresh out of the reflow oven. This device helps adapt electronic toys (and more) to be more accessible. Read more about it at this article in “Closing The Gap”, an organization that promotes Assistive Technology.

Shop Improvements!

The last few months we’ve seen a lot of physical changes around the shop. Earlier this year we converted some of the low utilization areas into studio spaces. That’s fully realized and now provides dedicated space to a few of the growing businesses like Gail of GW Stitchin Depot that are here every day.

A few weeks ago we had a massive clean-up of the front common room , conference room, and woodshop areas. Spring cleaning! Not exciting, but much needed (and still ongoing).

Last week Lindsay, Eric, and Hunter started to clear out, clean up, and put on a fresh coat of paint in our ‘conference room’ (We need a new name). As <fingers crossed> COVID continues to evolve into less and less of an issue, we plan on inviting more groups to run more workshops, demos, and talks. If you have a need for a space to do something that’s associated with making, let us know!

What we’re really excited about with this space is our upcoming Make & Takes. These are providing some great opportunities to dip your fingers into what happens here every day, with no tool experience required. Last weekend we introduced our Kumiko Panel workshop, we had a blast!

Next month we’re offering our new Bird House Make & Take, a second run of our Kumiko Make & Take, and we’ll be introducing a Most-Excellent-And-Up-Until-Now-Secret CNC Make & Take : )!

Makers in the Shop!

Last month Fusion of Iron and Earth put together a giant new piece! This is Kelly O’Neill, who designs, fabricates, and sells wonderful sculptural work primarily made from found / scrap metal. You’ll often catch her in the metal shop operating the CNC Plasma Cutter or chopping up giant sections of steel on the Horizontal Bandsaw. Kelly has a significant shop of her own, watch the video to catch a little of both worlds!

Einor built some beautiful wood enclosures for his motion sensor project. This involved a nice pairing of the laser cutter to engrave one part, and the ShopBot CNC router to route out the pocket for the electronics. Note the tiny lip on the middle image, precisely routed to allow the laser cut portion to snap right in.

Motor City Comic Con, Art Birmingham, and Ann Arbor Summer Fest are all coming up! You’ll find a number of our members gearing up as exhibitors for these events. Lana (pictured) runs Saving Throw Pillows, prepping our ShopBot for another run of her dice boxes. She can also be found operating the Roland Vinyl Cutter or Epilog Helix Laser Engraver to further customize her products.

The future is yours to make!