Brass Bound Bulletin #1: Beginning

Finnigan Cogwheel

What a year it's been! 2025 for me has been eventful on many fronts and has been full of challenges and triumphs, joy and sadness. I guess it's like that for everyone, each in different amounts. But as the year winds down I wanted to reflect on some of the things we have accomplished at the Workshop this year.

1. We got the workshop up and running! We started making and crafting. Finally getting ideas out of our head, onto paper, and off the paper into the world! It's been awesome to rediscover the joy of being a maker again. I owe credit for all of this to my students. I'm the kind of teacher who believes he can't teach something unless he can live and practice it. So I'm taking the time to create things, figure stuff out and learn.

2. We started making videos about making! When the Workshop opened up I wanted to share it with the world. And since I can't do that live... yet ;) I needed to do it virtually. It started on Tic Tok and Instagram although I have got to get better at consistency on both. I began sharing my thoughts on making and the challenges that come from being a maker with ADHD. It's going like all new content creators experience, less than 100 followers, views hovering between 150 and 200. Slow and steady wins the race.

3. I WROTE A BOOK! In order to help young people like my students become inventors or just flesh out ideas I wrote the Cogwheel Workshop Inventor's Workbook and released it on Lulu and Amazon KDP. I've sold a couple of copies on each platform. And before anyone thinks it, NO I do not promote the book to my students. That would be unethical. Their parents though are a different story...

4. I also got most of the tedious things related to starting a business done. Logo, certificates, website, etc which puts us in position for what's coming next.

so what is next?

In 2026 the workshop will be expanding out of online video and into real spaces! The plan is to begin facilitating workshops teaching STEAM skills beginning in January. Some will be free as we will use them as test beds. Most will be paid either on a per child or group basis. We are also accepting bookings for organizations who want to offer some STEAM enrichment to their students. Email us if you want to learn more!

There is more planned but I'm not going to put the cart before the horse. Suffice it to say the workshop has a trajectory and targets to hit before it can move up.