I really had high hopes for this place as it came suggested for a great place to have a project…read moremade if you were not handy, which I am not. I had a meeting with the male owner to talk about having a urn made for my late horse who had passed and I didn't want anything of the norm for a urn that they make out there, I wanted something different. We went thru everything and he wrote down (so I thought) everything we discussed. Now don't get me wrong, this box looks amazing, at first sight and I sure thought it did when I finally was able to get it over a month later. Which was communicated to me, that it would be a couple weeks before he could start it but should be completed in the month. Not the case, I did have to ask how it was coming and there were sooo many emails about what did I want where and how did I want it worded and positioned etc. The font, is the only thing that was in question when I left that day, maybe my horses exact name on her papers as well but everything else was decided. It was communicated that this box needed to be tight for air and if there were any wood knots that they would be epoxied. Neither the top was solid in the way it closed flush and tight or that any knots were epoxied. It also was not communicated to me that the box would not be able to be put together in one whole piece for each side but instead would be pieced together. When her name was put on the front, the font was done correct and was checked in with me but what was agreed upon at initial visit and communicated in email after was for it to go at an angle from one corner to the other. Which as you can see it is not the case in the pictures. So I guess maybe when I finally was able to pick it up and granted, I don't live close and run my own small business as myself only, so it was not convenient to just pop in. I was excited because at over all look, it does look good and I was excited to be able to finally put her to rest. But that came crashing down once home and I realized all that really was not done. I communicated my concerns back via email and he wrote me back stating because I wanted a rustic look he decided not to epoxy the knots (what you don't see are on the other side, how many more knots there are and how you can even see thru one of them from The outside to the inside). He did tell me to bring the box back in and he would fix whatever it is I was not happy with! Ok, sure but this is the holiday season at this point and my most busiest time of year (again not convenient to just pop in) so I tried but with business and snow storms it never happened. After the first of the year I was still busy so I decided to see what someone up here could tell me, in February (if I was being dumb). I brought it to someone who's been in wood work for over 25 years and he confirmed what I thought. Without the knots epoxied eventually they would crack the box if it got humid in the area the box was sitting in. The lid was not solid/flush with the bottom part and you can see that in the pictures. He agreed it's good wood and he did most work right and nice but over all for what I needed it for, not well done. So I decided I have been thru enough and will just have to sit on it til I can afford to have another made for her. This may not be a big deal to many but this is a family member to me and to entrust a "small business" with something that is very valuable and meaningful to me and in the end feel that there was a slap together of the project to get it out the door,a fake personality to your face,etc that's not how a business with customers should be run. Plus to see/hear about the other projects he was doing/did for other customers, it makes me sad that I didn't get that much attention and detail spent to my project. Ya, I had a budget I needed to stay in, but I disclosed that right away and I feel I was very flex on what we could do to still achieve what I desired. It's a shame! I thank you for the offer to fix it but after all the miscommunication and the feel of disregard, it's best to do business with places that value their customers not the money that's coming in.

I had so much fun making a cutting board that I signed up for another class to make a cheese board…read more This is the perfect place to go for a girls night out!

This place is a hidden gem. It's hard to find, but once I found it, I saw that a beauty the inside…read moreof there is. There are lots of pieces of art to look at. This makes a delightful time to walk by and enjoy some pieces of art. There isn't much, considering the space, but this is a trip worth making. There's a lot of talent that's displayed in there. There's also a good variety of pieces that gave me a new perspective of the world, one that I never would have thought imaginable. They have a special uniqueness that I describe as "je ne sais quoi". They have sculptures, sketches, paintings, and a lot of other cool things. I'll be back to check out more art.

Lust. That's the feeling. There's no excuse for it at 7am when I make my way daily past Gallery…read more13, but that's what it is. Rubber duckies with dark gaping holes for eyes, a squashy video screen that ripples when touched and a huge sculpture of Godzilla shooting real lasers from its eyes at tiny army green figurines. High five to Jillian C for stopping for the artist's name when she walked through-- lesser beings were distracted by duckie desire.

Absolutely worst custom fabrication experience I have ever had in my life. I needed a custom…read morestainless steel water tank. I approached George to do the work since I knew him from the local maker space. When I explained to him what I needed he came back with a ridiculous number, $1500, for a tank that is about 2 and a 1/2 feet by 17 inches made out of 304 stanless. 1500$ doesn't make sense. When I asked a farmer family member of mine, familiar with custom tanks, if thats a fair price they laughed at me I explained to George that this is way too much money for that small of a tank and that I simply could not afford and would not pay that much. We worked out a deal where I could cut all of the pieces myself drill all the holes myself on my own with my own tools and George would just weld them up for me. I Dropped off the pieces with George on a Wednesday asking him if he could please have the tank done before the following Tuesday as I would be leaving town for a trip to install the tank on Tuesday night. He had 6 days lead time to do the work. I also carefully explained that this is a big trip and a lot of planning went into it and it will be very difficult for me to be delayed, both financially and personally. When I showed up Tuesday to pick up the tank George was very avoidant and argumentative and complained about how it wasn't enough money for him to do the work even though he agreed to the rate before we started. I then asked to see the tank and realized that he had messed it up completely, attached below is a picture of his original attempt to weld the tank. George used way too much heat not enough tacks and attempted to do the welding way too fast and warped all of the metal out of shape so that it will not be useful for a tank anymore since the bottom pan won't be flat to drain out all the water. This entire time George was upset with me that I wasn't paying him enough money to mess up the metal I bought and prepped myself. I tried to be reasonable and polite, I didn't speak. I didn't argue with George or even say anything negative I simply offered to go by new metal so he could do the job properly. I went on my own with my own money and again cut the metal to size and drilled the holes so that George could do the job properly a second time. He also asked me to increase the thickness of the metal to 8th of an inch since he wasn't skilled enough to weld the 16 gauge metal we originally started with. I dropped off the metal the next day fully prepped and ready to go. I asked him how long it would take and he said " ill get to it when I get to it". I bit my tounge and let it go. I waited all day Wednesday and Thursday and heard no word from George. Despite me making it very clear that I was waiting on him to finish the work so I could leave town. Not even a text update from him as to the progress. At about 6pm Thursday I messaged him for an update and he said he didn't work that day because of "personal reasons" I had had enough of this game and decided to take my buisness elsewhere. Friday I messaged him whats the status? He said again " ill get to it when I get to it, might be done by Sunday." Again I have made it clear to him that my trip is waiting and I am being delayed. I told him ill pickup the metal, I met him after waiting an hour for him to show up at his shop at around 1035 am he had still not started the job. Luckily for me he didn't mess up any more metal. In the end I spent 130$ more than I needed to on wasted metal, wasted a week of my time, and delayed a very important trip because of this guy. Waste of time and money all because George felt his time was "too important" to do the work he had previously agreed to. If he is such a skilled $$$ worker then why did he completely f#@k up the metal on the first try. Basically I got scammed by a guy who thought they would pressure me and slow play me into paying more money. Dude kept complaining that I should pay him more to "rush it", while earlier in the conversation he was complaining about not having enough work to pay the bills

This is historic Grain Belt Brewery complex in Northeast Minneapolis, designed by Boehme and…read moreCordella who are renowned for designing the American Swedish Institute's mansion. It's beautiful! I visited here today for the first time to attend Craft'za...Craft'za is a free one‑day art market for handmade goods! Whoo! It is is a heated and the the art was wonderful and a free public parking lot attached. Had a wonderful and enjoyable time. What a wonderful use of space!

Grain Belt Bottling House is a diverse venue, used for everything from the Autumn Brew Review to…read morevarious other gatherings and shows throughout the year. Depending on the size of the crowd, parking and entry can be a breeze or really tough. It is a venue that has a lot of potential, with both the inside of the building and the outdoor field where ABR is held available as potential space. I guess I would say that I feel the ABR is too big for this venue and there are parking issues (not to mention the wrap-around-the-block hour-long wait to get through the gate). Other things I've been to at this facility seemed better suited. For the record, I do think that reusing an old building period is awesome. It's way better than just letting it sit there. :-)