MakeWork Grant. The beginning....

I’m excited to announce that Merlyn Mechanics recently received a MakeWork grant via CreateHere in Chattanooga, TN. In four short years, MakeWork has provided over $665,000 to 85 Chattanooga area artists.

This grant will allow me to build the kinds I wheels I could not afford to build before. One of the main issues that I’ve had in the past is not having anything in stock to show to customers. This may seem like an odd problem to have. It’s not because I couldn’t afford to build anything before. It’s because they would sell before I could show them to the next potential customer. So I’ve decided to build sets for show only. They will be fully functional wheelsets to show what is possible. Also I will be able to have certain components painted or powder coated. For example, if the hubs and rims don’t come in the color the customer or I want then for a few dollars more that can be arranged. This is true of spokes as well. Several shops have asked on the behalf of their customers if I can build a wheel with powder coated spokes and twisted spokes. It was previously thought that this would not be possible because the twisting of the spokes would crack and flake off the paint in the twisted section. Yet I have devised a way to make it possible. Not only that but I can also now make spokes in more than one color. So picture in your mind a green hub spokes in green then white into a red rim. Italian or Hungarian, your choice. It all depends on how you see the order of color in your world.

The new processes for painting and the addition of color where there previously wasn’t any makes for an exciting time for me. My thinking is that color matching to the bike that the wheels will go on is important to making the bike look whole. This rather than a frame and parts with wheels throne on because you need them. My belief is that your bike should be more than an extension of you in function but also in design. Design is more than form and function but the accents of color that tie a thing together.

I would also like to say that I would not have gotten the grant without the help of my wife Heather Huston. Thanks for the help and the continued support of this ongoing project.