With the shop completed, the job of gathering tools and materials began in earnest. RC kindly left behind some purlins to make tables, and a welder (until we could get one of our own) and grinders that were easy to use for smaller hands. Our wonderful worker Manuel pitched in and we all got stuck in building tables, a hammering station, shelves & racks. John Gallagher appeared with a trailer load of timber (mahogany, long leaf pine, locust, maple, etc), boats and some old masts, all of which will be invaluable in future projects. A number of trips to the metal and scrap yards and we now have an impressive array of materials for our artists.

Thank you RC, John, Manuel and all of those who helped us get up and running.