Bench Making

The table was a free-cycle find we came across on a bike ride about two months ago. It could not be a nicer fit for the new deck... a long and deep, sturdy table with fitted pipe legs, and heavy wood planks. It looks great! Since the deck was built with making events in mind, we want to keep it both open and inviting, with space for gathering and doing projects, but without crowding ourselves. This is why Alex suggested we don't look for chairs to add to the table. It would be too many pieces of furniture to buy, and to deal with. Then Natalie thought of benches... two pieces of furniture that could seat many visitors, and be easily tucked out of the way when not needed. They could be versatile! The idea stuck, and Geoff, William, Alex, and Max got to work on a design, and making!

To compliment the style of the table, Geoff looked for steel pipes to make legs for the bench, and he was happy to find Brooklyn Pipe. Actually, he started at our local hardware store, but the limited selection is what made him do a wider search. Some of the pieces had to be painted, so we could make them look a little more uniform. Technically, it's a bit mismatched, but that kind of suits are aesthetic anyway! I won't get too detailed in describing all of this. They made measurements, came up with a configuration, and then called Natalie over to decide on a paint color, and she went with Nocturne Blue, by Behr; same as our picnic table (maybe?)

William painted the 2"x8", 8' boards. It's Nocturne Blue. But. Maybe not. Our Nocturne Blue looks nothing like it shows on the website. Nothing. And it doesn't even match the other picnic table we were looking at when we chose to paint the benches blue, too. What the heck? It's not a disaster, but I suspect we will be going over the benches, someday, with a more subdued blue.

Using pipes like this is something new for us, and we like it. We are thinking of using the extra parts to make shelves, maybe for the blacksmith shop.

Now we have two benches, and seating for ten, or more. They are very stable, and have a nice, deep seat. We will be able to use them at the table, or pull them away for sitting around the perimeter of the deck... versatile, like we said, and that's good for us. When we can get back to hosting making events, this new space and accomodations is going to be really nice, like an extension of our shop. We look forward to all the making, playing, and sharing we will be able to enjoy.

Virtually Maker Faire 2020 Tonight!

We are making Personal Protective Equipment at Home... and our Make story is one of hundreds being shared, virtually around the world. As of last night, with San Diego 3D Printing For a Cause, we have made, and donated 10,336 pieces of PPE, including ear-savers, face shields, and fabric masks, since April 1!

Learn our Make story, and many others at Virtually Maker Faire!

Around the world makers have been rallying, rising up to solve shortages in medical supplies and equipment, turning makerspaces into micro-factories, creating self-organized community networks, and developing clever distribution strategies. For our inaugural Virtually Maker Faire, makers representing 25 countries will share over 350 presentations, demonstrations, and online project exhibits. Programming is curated into five tracks: Community Organizing, Learning & Teaching, Re-Thinking the Future, Design & Production, and Making.

Virtually Maker Faire is a stage for makers to connect, share, and learn with each other and a broader public, and show how the community fostered by Maker Faire has sprung into action, using their skills and talents to solve for human needs.

Plan out your virtual day with the full schedule or meet some of our fantastic makers.

Upcoming Session Highlights
Check session pages or the schedule for updated times.
Making a Global Movement in Crisis: the Story of Open Source Medical Supplies
Gui Cavalcanti, founder of Open Source Medical Supplies, will talk about the role of Open Source in the pandemic and how their group documented the global fabrication of over 7 million units of personal protective equipment, medical and community supplies.
View Session

How Making 3D Printers Widely Available Enabled Covid-19 Solutions: From RepRap to Prusa
Maker Faire Founder Dale Dougherty will talk with RepRap's Adrian Bowyer and Josef Prusa of Prusa Research about the rise of 3D printing and how getting 3D printing in the hands of more people enabled so many of the PPE solutions from the maker community, including developing and testing the Prusa Face Shield and its spread around the world.
View Session

DIY Heroes: Meet the Makers Featured in Make: Vol. 73
The new issue of Make: magazine looks at the maker response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Join Make:’s Executive Editor Mike Senese and the editorial team as they discuss the new issue with the various subjects that are profiled in its pages.
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Pivoting in the Pandemic — Adafruit NYC
Adafruit founder Limor Fried will talk about pivoting production smartly and safely during the pandemic, from making face shields to essential electronic components as their home town of New York City became a hot spot for the virus.
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How to Use Social Media as a Maker Portfolio
Panelists Ana Karen Ramirez, Estefannie Explains It All, Jen Schachter, and Xyla Foxlin will discuss how to leverage social media to showcase your work, create your own maker community, and give a glimpse of the behind the scenes of your processes.
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ArcAttack's Tesla Coil Music
Tesla coil music live-streamed from ArcAttack’s shop as a Grand Finale to Virtually Maker Faire!
View Session

We Are Making Arts

No one has seen the dining table, for weeks! We've been making art.

Alex is applying glaze to the ceramic forms he made. With this fine point stylus he discovered in a classroom locker, he can add elaborate illustrations and details to the sculpture he is making.

Back in November, Alex was sculpting the forms that he's glazing, now.

And in November I was busy, too, designing shapes to make little shelves. William offered to take my drawings, and add them to software for operating our CNC router, Frankenrouter. It sounds simple, but it's a lot of work, and he adds his own attentive consideration to the process, including layout, formatting, scale, and measurements. I feel so lucky to have his thoughtful skills and own artistic perceptions to help me get things done.

Then comes taking what William finished, and loading it into Mastercam... a notoriously fickle, yet indispensable operating system for CNC milling and routing. Now we have three artists and makers on my little project. I never underestimate the time and frustration some of my brilliant ideas can command! Fortunately, Geoff relishes a bit of tinkering and puzzle solving. His unique skills are always in demand, and much appreciated.

Maria, Emma, Amira, and Sarah~

When we celebrated Maria's birthday, it didn't take much more than paper and markers to make the party fun. Artfully so.

I love this collaborative, engaged activity... how it evolves and is interactive, but also spontaneous. Sometimes, art can be private and personal, need it's own space, but there is something energizing and stimulating about sharing space, too. The exchange affords opportunity for developing new skills, new ideas.

Thanks to William and Geoff, my little shelves are cut, and glued, and now, I sand. And sand. And sand. I actually enjoy this part.

And this part, too! Painting my cat shelf with a chalkboard surface paint! These little shelves are for holding tiny things, and are completely inspired by the ones I saw in Lauren's home. Of course, I slipped in another New England mention... the goodness has become ingrained in me!

Besides sculpting and ceramics, Alex is painting, drawing, working on his life drawing. And I would love to post more on this, but, to quote myself, "Sometimes, art can be private and personal, need it's own space." For now, just this peek.

Just before her birthday, Maria turned a corner of her room into a gallery, with her own work, and friends'.

Taking Flight :: Making Masks

Benevolent Order of Makers is proud to share these excerpts from the Utah Ballet production of Hansel and Gretel, featuring the crow masks designed, developed, and built by Alex Van Valkenberg.


The order was for masks that were form fitting, stable, but comfortable enough to wear while dancing, and with beaks that could not only open and close, but also pick up breadcrumb props in a ballet. Fortunately, for Alex, he knows a very good ballet dancer, and he consulted with Bambi about measurements, and other specifications and recommendations she had. Most manufactured masks are either very small, like for a child, or rather large, for bigger adults. These masks were specifically measured and scaled with the proportions of a ballerina's size kept in mind. Maria and Bambi were helpful models and testers for this purpose. During testing it became apparent that air holes for ventilation were necessary, the elastic bands were modified for improved fit and function. But these details were what followed the elaborate process of making the basic mask forms...

Everything began with Alex's research, and drawings. He took his concepts into the computer and fine tuned them in Autodesk Mudbox. What he made were designs for a wood mold. The wood mold was cut using our homemade CNC router, Frankenrouter. This picture shows the two layers being glued together.

Here the face mask is being sanded and prepared to be put into a vacuum former.

This is the ABS vacuum formed face mask, and Alex is cutting it out for finishing.

Each part of the beak was made in the same way as the face portion, but in separate parts, both due to the limitations of the router, and the vacuum former, and so that they could function with the design to open and close.



A total of fourteen crow masks were made for the Utah Ballet.

Here they are, about to be shipped. In Utah, they were finished with details by the costume department.

We see this not only as a job well done by Alex, but as the culmination of years of study, practice, experimentation, and artful design by Alex. His diligent pursuit of engineering, from concept art to completion of robots for competition, and art for public enjoyment has been practiced with creative imagination, as well as an instinctive understanding of mechanics and engineering.

Alex, congratulations on the successful completion of this custom order. It's a pleasure to see both your art and your engineering skills applied to such a clever and beautifully finished product. Your career is taking flight! Bravo!