Hello David,

Here's our latest progress report on the big move!

The building is coming along great! We’re also making progress on the matching grant. As we approach $25,000 in matched donations, the donor who offered the $100,000 matching grant gave us a thumbs up to count as matching donations the proceeds received from the sale of objects donated by artists and craftspeople who want to contribute toward the building. Stay tuned, we'll begin presenting these objects soon.

As I've mentioned before, if we can match this $100,000 grant, we will be able to move into our new building free of debt. Equally important, we can hit the deck running with programs critical to the Plumier Foundation's achieving its mission. Internships, residencies and long term students are all part of that mission. Entering the new facility debt free will go a long way toward getting these programs started up.



If you have the ability to help, there's no better time to give than now, when your gift is doubled. For those who might have missed our previous notes, the donor wants the matching grant campaign to accommodate both end of the year giving and beginning of the year giving, so we are setting a deadline of December 31 which will include commitments for the first quarter of 2025 toward the match as well. The timing of your help is critical because the ideal time to get our new shop set up right is now. Keep in mind, we are a 501(C)3, so donations are tax deductible.

Despite many technical challenges, the past month of building construction saw progress on multiple fronts, . We had volunteer workers from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Utah. Also, students from the local “S.T.E.A.M. Academy” (called Voc-Ed in times past) came down to help us out with the electrical wiring. The electrical work has moved forward and the windows are now installed . There has been good progress on the siding and the HVAC system as well. The plumbing is coming along nicely, and almost all of the framing has been completed. We’re moving rapidly toward installing drywall and flooring, some of the last things that need to be done before getting a certificate of occupancy.

Our volunteers have been hard at it, putting in many hours off of the books. Matt Clemens is back out here from Cincinnati. Like so many of us, he can’t stay away. Here we see him with volunteer Geoff Saver, who lives about an hour and a half away, putting up siding along with Dustin Young from Delta Yankee Construction. Geoff has been a longtime supporter of ornamental turning and has been extremely generous with his time, spending an average of three days a week on the job.

The 6" cedar siding they’re putting up was painted by other volunteers including John Hurn, Scott Barrett, Sebastian Dytrich, and Matt Clemens. Seeing the siding go up is very gratifying, and passers-by continually offer compliments on its appearance.

Molyneaux Electric, owned by John Molyneaux, installed the main electrical panels. John won the local Heritage Preservation Award for 2024 for the work he did on the building across the alley from ours. In times past that building housed the armory for the local militia in the upper level and a hardware store below. He’s presently working on restoring the old hotel diagonally across the street from our building. His advice on all things electrical has been invaluable.

The high school kids from the River Valley School District’s S.T.E.A.M. School picked up where John’s people left off. Led by their teachers, Kip Mack and Mark Wydareny, the kids took right off the first day they arrived. Kip had 30 years in the electrical trade when the River Valley School District hired him to teach. Mark Wydareny, an English teacher, voluntarily joined the S.T.E.A.M. program to help Kip with the pedagogical side of things. They make a great team, and they led the students as the students installed boxes and ran wires. Approximately 15 students come down twice per week, and they will likely be on site for the next few weeks as we finish up the electrical work. We have been very impressed with the students’ work ethic. With few exceptions, they enter the building and go straight to work.

Two of our three air handlers are in the “attic,” which is more like a third floor. It will be used for storage. These gas-powered, forced air units are fueled by natural gas and will work in conjunction with the radiant heat in the concrete floor. Budner HVAC is getting close to completion on installing these units and the related plumbing and electric work. The duct work will remain exposed.

Chuck and the crew did a lot to clean up the corner of the building where the electric, cable, and phone lines come in. Mark Neal was put to work repairing the brick work around the area, and we added high quality electrical outlets for the vendors at the various street festivals that happen throughout the year.

Since our last update, the window trim that Geoff Saver made was installed, followed by the installation of our high quality vinyl windows made by Winchester Industries.

The windows are double hung and both tops and bottoms fold inward for the ease of cleaning. They are triple pane to provide a good thermal barrier and are Low E to prevent UV damage. The large number of windows provide a lot of natural light, making for an exception work space. 

The three A/C condensers were placed along the wall on the canal side. Mark Neal used his tractor to grade the area so water runs away from the building. Soon after he finished, we had a couple of big storms which proved his work effective. The grading on the canal side of the building will provide a wonderful area to landscape.

It’s gratifying to see the windows installed and the grading completed. The canal side of the building was sided about 10 years ago, and it will be painted an appropriate shade of green. The addition will be sided with vertically oriented shiplapped siding 12” wide made of hemlock, long known for its durability. The hemlock siding was painted by volunteers and is ready to be installed after the soffit and facia are installed next week.

Once again Chuck’s Genie manlift proved its value as it lifts Dustin Young so he can install a window.

Also, when you’re located in an old community with very tight property lines drainage is important to consider. Although there are storm drains, it’s to everyone's advantage to have rain water absorbed into the soil. We’ve built dry wells and placed gravel strategically to accomplish this. In effect, every gallon absorbed into the ground is a gallon not flowing into the Conemaugh River.

Neil Johnson stopped by the site a while back and was so taken with the project, especially the people working on it, that he couldn’t help but volunteer. After picking up his new rose engine in Maine, he stopped by for a week of hard labor before heading back home to Utah. We set him to work doing a number of tasks. One job was replacing the water table which had begun to rot. Made of spruce and installed about ten years ago, it had not stood the test of time, a failing common to lumber from new growth forest. Neil and Mark did the prep work and installed Tyvek so that a new water board with a cap can be installed in another week or so.

Another job Neil did was to make the support boards for the overhang roofs over the garage door and entryways on the side of the building. These were made of local hemlock.

Volunteers Matt Clemens and the ever-present Geoff Saver worked along with Dustin Young on installing new cedar clapboard siding on the alley side, .

Carpentry requires a lot of different skills. Here Chuck is seen making caps for the outside window trim from aluminum flashing. The main folds are accomplished on a brake, then the edges have to be custom shaped with a pair of tin snips and pliers.

Here the painted finished product can be seen. This will slip up and under the siding and keep water from sitting directly on the Boral trim.

As with so many other parts of the project, we got lucky with the installation of our gas line. Our installation coordinated perfectly with a gas line upgrade that People’s Gas had scheduled for the alley side of the building. All we had to do was dig a trench across the gravel parking lot, then bury the new line. As a result, our gas line was installed at minimal cost.

During this busy period, I also managed to take a rose engine and a straight line on the road to two different places to give demos and a lecture on the history of the rose engine. First stop was the American Watchmaker-Clockmaker Institute’s annual symposium, where we introduced at least one young person to guilloche. In addition to my lecture, Peter Gilroy, Phil Poirier’s nephew and owner of Bonny Doon Technology, gave two lectures. One was an introduction to using the rose engine, and the other was on the use of the hydraulic press for making jewelry. All three lectures were well received.

I left the machines in the van and, a few days later, drove to Boston where I gave a presentation on the history of rose engines and a demo to the students of North Bennet Street School. It included students from both the cabinetmaking program and jewelry. NBSS is one of the premier schools of craft and has two and four year programs as well as part time.

It’s wonderful to observe students light up on seeing the magic of engine turning for the first time.

Once more I ask that you please consider contributing toward the $100,000 matching grant. It’s a great opportunity to see your contribution doubled. Entering the new building without debt or a mortgage would let us immediately begin our mission of having a scholarship fund and long term students. Please give if you are able. Your gift will help us create a bright future for ornamental turning and also enhance the lives of talented craftspeople and the crafts they pursue.

Support Ornamental Turning, Support Plumier. You can donate through the Join Us! page on our website, Donate Here.

We have also set up a Go Fund Me page which accepts donations of any size with more flexibility. It can be found here, Donate Through Go Fund Me.

A check sent to the address below is also a welcomed form of donation.

For more information on the location and building, have a look at the plan here: New Plumier Home!

If you have questions, give me a call at (570) 352-7137 or email me at david@plumier.org. I'm looking forward to sharing more information on our project with you as we progress.

Sincerely,

David Lindow