Come celebrate the color and joy of Mardi Gras with collage artist/art journalist/art quilter Debi A Barton. Debi will be returning from a week-long solo artist residency (and Carnival parades weekend) in New Orleans the week prior to class, maybe with some fun Mardi Gras swag to share! Class will begin with a discussion of collage basics (techniques, substrates, adhesives, resources, etc.) and will include a stash of collage supplies for each participant to take home. The remainder of class time will be creative time ~ each participant will have access to plenty of materials to create one or more collages to take home.

Class Fees: $20 members/ $30 non-members

Materials Fee: $5 included in the class fee

Bring to Class: Students may bring favorite paper ephemera (magazine cutouts, memorabilia, etc) and/or a favorite non-messy glue medium if they would like, but this is optional.

Prerequisite(s): None

Skill Level: All levels, anyone interested in a fun creative evening

Age requirement: Youth + Adult (15 years and older)

About the Instructor(s): Debi A Barton (Haverly) is an analog collagist, art journaler, art quilter and denim upcycler, occasional writer and random photographer, based in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Her life and creative work are most influenced by a lifelong love of travel, deep woods and mountains, as well as outsider art.

Debi’s collage-based art journals have most recently been featured in Art Journaling magazine (January 2019, July 2019, January 2020, July 2023). Her fabric art has been exhibited at the Beyond Gallery (formerly of Bennington, VT) and AVA Gallery (Lebanon, NH) (2020); her mixed media collage art in Bank Street Gallery at AVA (2022, 2024, 2025), Art Around Books (Bellows Falls, 2022), Canal Street Art Gallery (Bellows Falls, 2023, 2024), and essays with accompanying collage art in the book “Magic in the Modern World”.

Debi A Barton creates primarily with thrifted, deadstock, or otherwise abandoned materials that have stories yet to be told. Many of the materials she repurposes have “imperfections” that she sees as an integral part of those stories, inviting the viewer to imagine their histories and possibilities. Find @debi_a_barton on Instagram

Class full but still interested? Or can’t make the dates above? Use the form below to let us know and we will reach out!

Class Interest and Waiting List

About the Instructor: Allison Zito received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of the Arts. Her artwork has been exhibited in numerous museums including The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield
MA, The Delaware Art Museum, The Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg, and The Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Allison has decades of teaching experience, having taught a variety of classes at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, at Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, PA, and at the University of Pennsylvania Morris Arboretum. She has taught Studio Art in the Upper Valley at AVA Gallery and Art Center, Craftstudies at Hanover League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, ArtisTree, and Claremont Maker Space with
stunning results.  Allison Zito was awarded The Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 for her work as an artist and art educator. In 2019 Allison was awarded an Artist in Residency at The Claremont Maker Space. There she created an art installation addressing the issue of Global Warming and she organized a symposium on site, to inspire positive action within the greater community. Allison created two local public art murals in 2021, one for The Sullivan County Conservation District in Unity and Allison created the Bee and the Monarch Medallions on the Lebanon Art Tunnel Way Pollinator Mural. Making a statement and creating beautiful art as a way to open a conversation that leads to a better world, is the cornerstone of Allison’s
career as an artist and art educator.

Age requirement: Adults (18 and older)

Class Fees: Free for members and $10 for non-members.

Materials Fee: None

Machine embroidery is a fun way to add embellishment to plain ready to wear garments and handmade items. You can create gift items, clothing, ornaments and many useful household items. I will show you how to select a design to be placed on a thumb drive. Also cover the different stabilizers used and how to set up the hoop with materials for embroidery. Then how to use the machine to embroider your item. 

About the Instructor(s): Tammy has been machine embroidering for 10+ years. She has enjoyed being a crafter for most of her life. Her hobbies include sewing, quilting, and anything involving wool fiber. She has been teaching knitting, crochet and needle felting for the past 15 years. She has also taught sewing for three years. Tammy is retired and lives in Springfield, Vt. with her husband and two dogs.

Class Fees: $50.00 for members/$60 for non-members

Materials Fee: $10 NOT included above, please be sure to bring cash with you on the day of class

Prerequisite(s): None

Skill Level: Beginner and Intermediate

Age requirement: Youth and adults (ages 15 and older)

This class will teach participants the techniques for effective and reliable soldering on printed circuit boards (PCBs).

Both surface mount and through-hole soldering techniques will be explained through videos and lecture and hands on experience will be completed using kits made for soldering skills.

These skills will be allow the student to assemble electronic kits or projects after completion of the course.

About the Instructor(s): William French has been soldering electronic circuits since je was in high school in the 1960s. Two of the courses that he taught at NHTI were “Senior Project Prep” and “Senior Design Project”, where the students designed their projects, created printed circuit boards and soldered electronic components onto those boards, debugged these Senior Projects and demonstrated the circuits in a formal presentation to faculty, hiring managers and peers.

This course at CMS would be essentially the same used at NHTI, where students with no soldering experience are able to create quality operational printed circuit boards.

Class Fees: $50 for members/$60 non-members

Materials Fee: $15 NOT included in the class fee, please bring cash with you!!

Prerequisite(s): None

Skill Level: Beginner – Anyone interested in soldering electronic components onto a printed circuit board including light wiring

Age requirement: Adults only (18 and up)

Class full but still interested? Or can’t make the dates above? Use the form below to let us know and we will reach out!

Class Interest and Waiting List

The Claremont MakerSpace has an Amateur Radio club! Before makers, hackers, and DIY, there was Amateur Radio. 

Join us on March 9th at 1 p.m. for our monthly meeting. You do not have to be a licensed ham to participate, just bring your curiosity and energy! Everyone is welcome! Each month, we feature a presenter (45 minutes to an hour), and after we adjourn to MakerSpace’s Digital Fabrication and Electronics Lab for open-time kit building, sharing, studying, and socializing.

This Month’s Presentation: Design of a Magnetic Loop Antenna
Bill French will discuss the design of a magnetic loop antenna. After his presentation, he will lead a DIY Workshop ($5 material fee) where we will construct a ladder line j-pole antenna.

Presented by:
Bill French has dedicated his life to electronics, communication, education, and community service. His journey began in high school with an interest in ham radio, though he only earned his Extra Class license in 2021, receiving the call sign AA1BF—’music to his ears’ in CW. Bill’s career includes service in the USAF as an Automatic Flight Control Systems Technician, earning BSEE and MSEE degrees, and three decades as a digital/computer engineer. Beyond his engineering career, Bill spent 27 years as a volunteer EMT with the Epsom Rescue Squad, serving from 1976 to 2003. After retiring in 2002, he became a professor at NHTI, teaching electronics and microprocessor courses for 16 years. Now retired, Bill is an active ham radio operator, Volunteer Examiner, and a builder of regenerative radios, QRP rigs, and microcontroller projects. His current pursuits also include 3D printing and fostering the art of CW communication.

What is Amateur Radio?

Amateur Radio (often called ham radio) is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics, and communication together. People use Amateur Radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones. It’s fun, social, educational, and can be a lifeline during times of need.

How is Amateur Radio used?

Amateur Radio is used for a variety of recreational and service-related activities. Amateur Radio operators, also called “hams,” use Amateur Radio equipment to engage in two-way personal communications with other hams, as well as:

• Aid communication during public events, such as parades and road races
• Act as a vital communications link during emergencies and disasters
• Advance their technical skills and build their own radio components (ever wanted to talk to an astronaut in orbit?)
• Participate in competitive events and earn awards in contests

Who can become a ham?

Anyone of any age who is not a representative of a foreign government can be an Amateur Radio operator in the US. Before you can get on the air, you’ll need to be licensed and know the rules to operate legally. In the US there are three license classes — Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. The Claremont MakerSpace has resources and support available to help you learn and prepare to take your exam. 

You can learn more about amateur radio here: arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio

Helping hands needed to make warm, comforting quilts for Baby Steps in Claremont! Only basic skills needed. Do you know how to use a sewing machine, iron, or rotary cutter? This is not a quilting class, but we will guide you along through the whole process of making twin and crib size quilts for those in need in our area.

Our space is reserved from 1pm to 6pm, but please come when it is convenient for you, even if you can only spare an hour. 

Sponsorship: All materials are provided thanks to a generous donation from a local quilter. Many thanks to Mascoma Bank for sponsoring the program to provide studio space and additional supplies. The Home Depot is supporting this program by providing storage containers to manage the quilting materials. 

About the Instructor(s): Michelle Goldsmith has been sewing since she was eight and quilting since she was eighteen. She has experimented with many different sewing, quilting and mixed media techniques. Michelle has had many pieces of her work in shows and juried exhibits.

Class Fees: Free! Please volunteer your time to help Baby Steps, a very worthy cause.

Materials Fee: None

Prerequisite(s): Sewing experience helpful, but not necessary

Skill Level: All

Age requirement: Youth + Adult (15 years of age and older)

In this two-class session you will learn how to make a simple bezel setting for a round or oval cabochon stone (you can choose between red jasper and tiger’s eye!). After crafting the setting, students will affix it to a silver band ring that they will also learn how to make in this class. After taking this class, students should walk out the door with a finished silver ring with a bezel set stone and the basic skill set to bezel set stones in the future.

This class is intended both for students who would like to learn the fundamentals of setting cabochons and for students who would just like to come make their own beautiful piece of jewelry for themselves or as a gift. Although no experience is necessary, it will be beneficial to have taken a silver ring class in the past.

Monday, March 10th, 6-8:30 PM AND

Monday, March 17th 6-8:30 PM

About the Instructor(s):  Theodore is a jeweler and commercial fisherman from Homer, Alaska. He got his start in metal work taking welding classes in high school, but discovered jewelry making when he attended Dartmouth college and began working at the school’s Jewelry studio, falling in love immediately. That was over three years ago now, and Theodore has since graduated from Dartmouth and is doing jewelry work in the Upper Valley area and teaching classes here in Claremont. Theodore’s specialties in jewelry lie in fabricating unconventional forms and metal overlay work, as well as a japanese metalsmithing technique called mokume gane. 

Class Fees: $160 for Members/$170 for Non-Members

Materials Fee: $15 included in the class fee

What Students Should Bring With Them to Class: Closed toed shoes and hair-ties if needed

Prerequisite(s): None but some silversmithing experience could be helpful!

Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Age requirement: Adults only (18 and up)

Class full but still interested? Or can’t make the dates above? Use the form below to let us know and we will reach out!

Class Interest and Waiting List

Bring your electronics projects and supplies and have fun visiting with other Electronics Enthusiasts. Work on your projects in our stocked Electronics and Digital Fabrication Lab. In addition to the MakerSpace’s soldering irons, diagnostic tools, and parts library, there will be some LED soldering kits and soldering irons available for purchase as well.
 
Hang out, finish your projects, think about future projects, and just enjoy being around other electronics enthusiasts.
 
Tiffany, the electronics shop lead, will be available to help you set up, find parts, and offer support.

Class Fees: Free for members and $5 for non-members.

Materials Fee: None (LED soldering kits and personal soldering irons are available onsite for purchase

Prerequisite(s): None

Skill Level: Any

Age requirement: Youth and adult (15 years and older). Under 15 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian partner.

Are you interested in learning how to work with silver, but you’re not sure where to start?

Do you want to make a beautiful silver band that you can show off to your friends and family over the holidays?

Maybe you just want to get to know the Claremont Makerspace? 

This class is for you!!

This class will introduce students to the absolute basic jewelry skills of filing, soldering, sanding, and polishing. At the end of our two hour session, everyone will walk away with a brand new piece of jewelry that they made themselves. Everything about this class is the same as the simple band ring, but in this class we will have letter and number stamps that you can use to personalize your band ring.

This class will be designed for complete beginners, but you’re more than welcome to join if you have some jewelry making experience already and want a little refresher course (you can also look out for more intermediate classes I’ll be teaching later!)

About the Instructor(s):  Theodore is a jeweler and commercial fisherman from Homer, Alaska. He got his start in metal work taking welding classes in high school, but discovered jewelry making when he attended Dartmouth college and began working at the school’s Jewelry studio, falling in love immediately. That was over three years ago now, and Theodore has since graduated from Dartmouth and is doing jewelry work in the Upper Valley area and teaching classes here in Claremont. Theodore’s specialties in jewelry lie in fabricating unconventional forms and metal overlay work, as well as a Japanese metalsmithing technique called mokume gane. 

Class Fees: $80 members/ $90 non-members

Materials Fee: $10 included in the class fee

Skill Level:  Beginner Friendly

Age requirement:  Youth + Adult (15 years and older)

Safety requirement: Closed toe shoes and hair-ties

Learn the principles of taking beautiful photos, cull and edit your work, then choose 1-2 to print on archival fine-art paper. This course will also set you up for a planned April workshop on frame-making and mounting (stay tuned for details!)

Session 1: Tools & Taking – Visual Storytelling, Essentials of Photography Equipment & Technique
Session 2: Work Session – Culling, Editing, and Printing Your Photos
Session 2a: Community Critique (free as part of CMS Open Photo Meetups)

Questions and Details

I don’t own a DSLR or mirrorless camera—can I participate?
Absolutely! Smartphone cameras are remarkably powerful tools—they just have some limitations to anticipate and work around (same as professional cameras). I also own a few camera bodies that I don’t use daily, so we can talk about lending something out on an individual basis.

Is there homework?
Call it fieldwork, but yup! You’ll take your photos before Part 2. And after Part 2, we will all be bringing our photos to a CMS Open Photo Meetup for a community critique session. I know that’s a scary phrase if you’ve never done one before, but critique is not criticism, it’s a fundamentally communal, supportive act: we build each other up by giving each other the gift of our time and attention, looking care-fully at what others have made. Critique is how we all learn from each other.

I’ve been taking photos for years, what value will I get out of this class?
Quick pitch? This start-to-finish workshop is an opportunity to challenge yourself to create something that expands your practice, and you’ll contribute to everyone else’s process and product by walking along with them. Some of my most rewarding photos came from putting myself into situations I didn’t strictly have to be in: out of my comfort zone, out of my geography, and often out in the sun (sweating buckets). And most of my editing technique and style came from freeing myself up to play with the tools I saw other people using in ways I wouldn’t have thought of myself.

About the Instructor(s): Jeff Dietrich is the Winter 2025 Artist in Residence at CMS. He is an emerging art photographer (as well as a writer; wanderer; community engagement professional; historian of frontiers, wilderness, and civilization in US history; and general-purpose dabbler). His photographs explore the intertwined perceptions of our ‘built’ and ‘natural’ worlds, highlighting the intricacy and aesthetics of their design to celebrate the endless journey of iteration and reconstruction that suffuses what we build and what we’ve borrowed. Recurring themes of Jeff’s work include the juxtaposition of order and entropy–finding moments where meticulously designed & constructed forms linger on with signs of breakdown or with unexpected irregularity–and highlighting the innumerable human acts of making that have been hidden amid the scale of our creations. Put another way, he tries to carry his camera whenever he goes somewhere interesting, and is constantly finding that means going nowhere without it.

Class Fees: $80 for members/ $120 for non-members

Materials Fee: $10 materials fee included in the class fee

Bring to Class: Session 1: notebook and open mind; plus optional digital camera, laptop. Session 2: camera with photo files, computer / tablet with the software you use to edit photographs

Age requirement: Any age (children under 16 years old must be accompanied by their adult)

Class full but still interested? Or can’t make the dates above? Use the form below to let us know and we will reach out!

Class Interest and Waiting List

Intro to the Mid Arm Quilting Machine is designed for people looking to learn how to use our mid-arm quilting machine, a Brother Dream Quilter 15. It can be used to quilt all sizes, from baby quilt to king size. Premade clothing can also be fitted onto the frame for quilting! The cost of the class includes a one on one follow-up certification session. Members may use the machine on their own after passing the certification.

About the Instructor: 

Allison Zito has been the shop lead in the Fibers Department at Claremont MakerSpace since 2018.  Allison majored in Fibers and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of the Arts. Her artwork has been exhibited in numerous museums including The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA, The Delaware Art Museum, The Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg, and The Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Allison has decades of teaching experience, having taught a variety of classes at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, at Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, PA, and at the University of Pennsylvania Morris Arboretum. She has taught Studio Art in the Upper Valley at AVA Gallery and Art Center, Craftstudies at Hanover League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, ArtisTree, and Claremont Maker Space with stunning results.  Allison Zito was awarded The Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 for her work as an artist and art educator. In 2019 Allison was awarded an Artist in Residency at The Claremont Maker Space. There she created an art installation addressing the issue of Global Warming and she organized a symposium on site, to inspire positive action within the greater community. Allison created two local public art murals in 2021, one for The Sullivan County Conservation District in Unity and Allison created the Bee and the Monarch Medallions on the Lebanon Art Tunnel Way Pollinator Mural. Creating beautiful art in an effort to open a conversation that can inspire hope and action for a better world. This the cornerstone of Allison’s work as an artist and art educator. 

Class Fees: $90/member $100/non-member

Materials Fee: $0

Age Requirement: Adults only (18 and older)

Skill Level: All levels

Prerequisites: none

In this course you will learn how to navigate, create, and edit 2D and 3D models as well as bring your creations to life. This course will consist of the fundamentals through the intermediate steps and decision making that creates a strong design. We will also show how to use your models in the applications of CNC manufacturing or 3D printing. There is a lot to learn and this course will move fairly quickly to make sure we cover the content.

This class will be an all in one, you may need some practice after this class to refine your skills, and I am happy to do further classes with anyone would like further instruction once you have a project in mind. 

We recommend that you bring a computer AND a mouse that can run Autodesk Fusion 360, the specifications can be found on their website here:

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-Fusion-360.html

About the Instructor(s): Joseph Sneed is our Machine Shop lead and a tool and die maker by trade. He has a strong background in manufacturing and industrial maintenance. He enjoys rock climbing and playing board games and card games.

Class Fees: $60 for members/$70 for nonmembers

Prerequisite(s): None

Skill Level: Familiarity using a computer and learning new software, content is beginner friendly but intermediate technical skills are required and comfortability with technology.

Age requirement: Youth and adults ages 15 and up are welcome (minors need to be accompanied by a registered parent or legal guardian)

Class full but still interested? Or can’t make the dates above? Use the form below to let us know and we will reach out!

Class Interest and Waiting List

Stick welding is the entry level technique to all other welding skills. Whether you’re a beginner, an artist looking for a different medium or just wanting to learn a new skill, this is the place to start!

You will learn the basics of welding safety, how to strike an arc, how to start making the bead on a flat piece of steel and how to continue to strike an arc and carry it to form the bead.

Students should bring to class: Safety glasses, leather boots, and leather gloves.

About the Instructor(s): Sheldon Heselton has an A.S. in Welding Technology from Manchester Community Technical College and he is a certified welding inspector through the American Welding Society. His experience is mostly in stick welding, but he can weld in multiple processes and he does ultrasonic weld testing and magnetic particle weld testing. Sheldon has worked on power plant construction sites, and also inspections for welded bridges and other components at welding shops.

Class Fees: $110 members / $120 non-members

Materials Fee: $10 included in the class fee

Prerequisite(s): none

Skill Level: beginner

Age requirement: Youth and Adult (15 years and older)

Don’t be irrational! Come hang out with other members for a casual evening of infinite geeky fun. Bring some Pi or math related food or activities to share. Show and Tell is always welcome! Feel free to bring snacks to share, a pie to enter into our pie contest, any craft projects or works in progress.

Although the event is free please be sure to RSVP!

Ah, sure an’ ye’d be grand to step into our little Irish haven, where the spirit o’ Saint Patrick himself would be smilin’ down upon us! In this fine class, we’ll be conjurin’ free standin’ lace shamrocks, all in the name o’ good luck an’ the grand ol’ Saint Paddy’s Day.

We’ll start with a hearty welcome an’ a wee bit o’ the history behind the shamrock, a symbol o’ the Emerald Isle herself. Share yer own tales, too, if ye fancy! Everything ye need will be on hand, includin’ embroidery machines, water-soluble stabilizers, green thread, an’ lace patterns. An’ sure, there’ll be plenty o’ tea an’ some sweet treats straight from the heart o’ Ireland.

Our instructor, wearin’ a warm Aran sweater, will guide ye through the magic of makin’ lace. From settin’ up yer machine to addin’ the final touches, we’ll have ye covered. Now it’s yer turn, my friend! Ask questions, share yer tips, an’ enjoy the process. We’ll be floatin’ around the room to lend a hand an’ cheer ye on.

About the Instructor(s): Tammy has been machine embroidering for 10+ years. She has enjoyed being a crafter for most of her life. Her hobbies include sewing, quilting, and anything involving wool fiber. She has been teaching knitting, crochet and needle felting for the past 15 years. She has also taught sewing for three years. Tammy is retired and lives in Springfield, Vt. with her husband and two dogs.

Class Fees: $45.00 for members/$55 for non-members

Prerequisite(s): Students must have completed “Intro to Machine Embroidery”

Skill Level: Intermediate

Age requirement: Youth and adults (ages 15 and older)