As of mid-January, the Milwaukee Makerspace is now a member of the Space Federation. The Space Federation is an organization that brings hackerspaces and makerspaces together to share resources and knowledge, while providing non-profit fiscal sponsorship for member spaces.

With the fiscal sponsorship provided by the Space Federation, we will be able to accept tax-deductible donations of equipment and funds from individuals and corporations. We have already been approached by several companies and individuals about helping out the space and the new setup will help us do more for the community in Milwaukee. More importantly, a non-profit structure has always felt right for the space. We collect dues so we can provide an awesome space for the makers in our community. All of our officers and members volunteer their time to make the Makerspace great and no one profits from the space directly – if you discount inspiration and collaboration, that is. The new structure formalizes one of our guiding principles in a way that will hopefully help us do more for our makers and Milwaukee itself.

The discussion to become a non-profit has been an active one throughout our history. Joining up with the Federation gives us experienced folks to work with and a bit less work on our side. We’re excited by the opportunities for the space and the community the Space Federation provides … and we’re in good company! Many of our favorite spaces around the midwest and the country are already members of the federation and we’re excited to start working a bit more closely with them. It’s also nice to work with more local folks – the Federation is based here in Milwaukee.

Things are still getting set up, but if you are interested in working with us in our new capacity, please get in touch with our board!

It occurred to me that I haven’t posted about my latest laser-etched wall-hanging yet.  This piece was inspired by a trip out to a couple of Milwaukee cemeteries.  I’m slowly learning what to look for when preparing photographs for laser etching.

Total time to etch and cut was about 3 hours.  Both the front and back pieces were treated with teak oil, lightly sanded, then rubbed with a clean cloth to bring out a little sheen.

This piece is the sister to one I had posted about here.  Put side by side, the tree on the right merges with the tree on the other piece to create a unifying effect. There are two other pieces that I’ll be doing for this series which will have the tops of the branches visible to unite all four.

I moved into my first place this year and with that came the harsh reality that landlords do not care too much for you dragging trees through the halls and making a mess of things, go figure. So I decided to get a bit creative and do something a bit more on the unconventional side of things.

Most of this was done using a 60 watt laser. I mostly went this route because I wanted to be sure that the pieces would all be the same size so that when I tried to hang them it would hang level. This plan failed partial due to some vertical stretching that the laser was doing and mostly do to my inability to tie knots in 4 ropes at the same places along their lengths. It took a considerable amount of messing with it to get the thing to sit level. If I were to do it again I would most likely have a center post that is in sections about a foot high each that I hang the rings from by simply doing an ‘X’ of rope through the center.

All in all I think it turned out well. I am already plotting for next year hopefully this will mean I manage to get it done before the weekend before Christmas this time.

I am going to clean up the files and get them up on Thingiverse so look for them there if you are interested.

Note: You may have noticed Peach is at the bottom trying to rescue Mario. My girlfriend insisted the tree must also defy gender stereotypes. So it is not only nerdy but also progressive.