My friends Nikki and Mandy introduced me to Jessica, Rochelle, and Jonathon.  Rochelle is interested in learning flash animation and website design, and Jessica's son, Jonathon, is interested in learning how to use computers to illustrate his comics, how to print a real comic book, and how to host an online comic website.  We're going to try all of these, and post the results in a separate art blog.  Glad to finally be getting to something purely, indulgently, artistic! :-)

And, even more excitingly, Nikki, Mandy, and Jessica are interested in searching for grant opportunities to help graduate the Steampunk Laboratory from a "pilot program" to an official educational instrument.  Nikki's a PhD materials scientist who writes grants every week; Mandy's a practicing mechanical engineer who's interested in helping with the Steampunk Laboratory website hosting, as well as general fabrication (she's got more tools than I), and has already helped design the exhaust system for the welding and ceramics shops; and Jessica's an accountant with grant auditing experience.  :-D  Not sure a better group of motivated folks could have fallen into place.  They've encouraged the development of a mission statement, a business plan, and even a board of directors.   Moving along a bit faster than I anticipated, but I'm grateful for it!  More on these points as they develop...

Jonathon's not just interested in coloring his comics (which he draws prolifically!), printing a hardcopy book, and hosting the images online at the Steampunk Laboratory, but we may also develop his own website, with his own URL, images, and text.  That will be a lot of fun....  He's keeping careful notes about the technical aspects of using Adobe Photoshop to scan, color, and print his comics, and perhaps he'll be able to inspire and teach his friends and family to do the same.  We may move to the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GiMP), a freeware software program very similar to Photoshop, so that he can continue his work at home when not at the Lab without having to break the bank to do so.  Perhaps an "open-source" philosophy should be a thread running throughout most of these projects, to minimize the thresholds necessary for other people to do this work too, should they want to try.  (For example, this site is designed and maintained by the open-source program "Plone", and members can add to it by following the instructions here).