Chinook Crafts Fire Disaster
Donation protected
Hello everyone! First off, a big thank you for clicking on the link that brought you to this page.
Update:
The community support has been so overwhelming. Thank you all. We've replaced the new machine and we're back up and running! This campaign is now inactive
My name is Duke Davidson, co-owner of Chinook Crafts. Together with my wife Katrina, we have spent the last three and a half years with our home based business making handmade props, replicas, jewellery, and cosplay goodies for fans around the world. If you've never heard of us, take a look at what we do here.
In between running our online store, we attend nearly 20 comic-con's, anime conventions, and pop-culture shows every year all across Canada, and it is so much fun to see familiar faces every time we come back.
Over the years we have been blessed with the rare opportunity to make Chinook Crafts our nerdy passion and full time jobs, and we are so grateful to those who have supported Chinook Crafts along the way. Our little company helps us put food on the table, and is helping me achieve my University Degree. Unfortunately with the convention season near upon us, we need your help more than ever.
Chinook Crafts is in trouble. There was a fire.
Earlier today (Feb 4, 2015), our Laser Cutter/Engraver caught fire in our garage. It must have been burning for a good ten minutes, and we don't know exactly what started it. We were lucky enough to have a fire extinguisher (go buy one if you don't) on hand and were fortunate enough to put it out and save the garage. Three fire trucks, twelve fire fighters, and an inspector later, they advise us that entire inside of the garage will probably still need to be gutted. But the Laser Cutter, well it's incinerated.
As you can see, the devastation to the machine is immense and entirely beyond repair. For Chinook Crafts, our Laser Cutter was integral in our ability to provide our fans amazing one of kind pieces.
But what's more, outside of the business we have been lucky enough to use it to design pieces for weddings...
a local church group....
and birthdays.....
In fact, one such event is the upcoming Otafest Pokemon League (coming May 16th, 2015); a free to participate Pokemon Event whom we have sponsored annually and of which we donate over 250 sets of custom handmade Pokemon Gym Badges to this event. (see photo below).
As things stand, we won't be able to sponsor the League this year.
Now we do have a small number of our laser cut pieces pre-made, but with online orders it will only last a few weeks before we sell out completely with no ability to make more. But this is about more than just our online shop. At the moment we are pre-paid for 12 Conventions/Trade Shows from Winnipeg to Calgary, with another 5 shows pending. Without our Laser Cutter and the full catalog of items, we are faced with the reality of having to cancel some of these shows. With a reduced inventory we simply won't be able to afford the travel and hotel costs.
It breaks our heart that we might have to miss out on some of these shows, and that our online shop may never be the same. The last thing that we want to do is disappoint any of our fans, collectors, or admirers of our product. To try and get things straightened out, a good friend of ours recommended we create a page here, so here we are.
The only way for us to get back up and running is to fund a new Laser Cutter. And with our conventions starting in just two short months away, we need to start saving immediately. Based on our needs and the size of our acrylic sheets, comparable machines cost upwards of $25,000. We would never expect to achieve that much via a fundraiser, and we accept that we'll most likely need to finance most of it, but it is our hope that we can lower the down payment as much as we can. We're starting this campign at just $10,000, and we'll revise as we go. Like many, we still have student loans to work off.
So here is where we ask for your help. Help us finance a new Laser Cutter. We're fortunate enough to have an amazing Laser Cutter distributor (Trotec) right here in Calgary, and every dollar that is donated goes directly to the machine without having to waste money on freight charges or levies. Please spread the word to your friends, family, cosplayers, con-goers, bronies, etc, so that we can get back to doing what we do best. Which is, of course, making awesome crafts for the rest of you. And if you can, please donate.
Thank you all again, so very much.
The timeline:
We will be looking to finance a machine within the next two months, but we will keep this fundraiser going for a little while after that. Even after we purchase a new machine we're confident we'll still have oodles of principle on it.
Update:
The community support has been so overwhelming. Thank you all. We've replaced the new machine and we're back up and running! This campaign is now inactive
My name is Duke Davidson, co-owner of Chinook Crafts. Together with my wife Katrina, we have spent the last three and a half years with our home based business making handmade props, replicas, jewellery, and cosplay goodies for fans around the world. If you've never heard of us, take a look at what we do here.
In between running our online store, we attend nearly 20 comic-con's, anime conventions, and pop-culture shows every year all across Canada, and it is so much fun to see familiar faces every time we come back.
Over the years we have been blessed with the rare opportunity to make Chinook Crafts our nerdy passion and full time jobs, and we are so grateful to those who have supported Chinook Crafts along the way. Our little company helps us put food on the table, and is helping me achieve my University Degree. Unfortunately with the convention season near upon us, we need your help more than ever.
Chinook Crafts is in trouble. There was a fire.
Earlier today (Feb 4, 2015), our Laser Cutter/Engraver caught fire in our garage. It must have been burning for a good ten minutes, and we don't know exactly what started it. We were lucky enough to have a fire extinguisher (go buy one if you don't) on hand and were fortunate enough to put it out and save the garage. Three fire trucks, twelve fire fighters, and an inspector later, they advise us that entire inside of the garage will probably still need to be gutted. But the Laser Cutter, well it's incinerated.
As you can see, the devastation to the machine is immense and entirely beyond repair. For Chinook Crafts, our Laser Cutter was integral in our ability to provide our fans amazing one of kind pieces.
But what's more, outside of the business we have been lucky enough to use it to design pieces for weddings...
a local church group....
and birthdays.....
In fact, one such event is the upcoming Otafest Pokemon League (coming May 16th, 2015); a free to participate Pokemon Event whom we have sponsored annually and of which we donate over 250 sets of custom handmade Pokemon Gym Badges to this event. (see photo below).
As things stand, we won't be able to sponsor the League this year.
Now we do have a small number of our laser cut pieces pre-made, but with online orders it will only last a few weeks before we sell out completely with no ability to make more. But this is about more than just our online shop. At the moment we are pre-paid for 12 Conventions/Trade Shows from Winnipeg to Calgary, with another 5 shows pending. Without our Laser Cutter and the full catalog of items, we are faced with the reality of having to cancel some of these shows. With a reduced inventory we simply won't be able to afford the travel and hotel costs.
It breaks our heart that we might have to miss out on some of these shows, and that our online shop may never be the same. The last thing that we want to do is disappoint any of our fans, collectors, or admirers of our product. To try and get things straightened out, a good friend of ours recommended we create a page here, so here we are.
The only way for us to get back up and running is to fund a new Laser Cutter. And with our conventions starting in just two short months away, we need to start saving immediately. Based on our needs and the size of our acrylic sheets, comparable machines cost upwards of $25,000. We would never expect to achieve that much via a fundraiser, and we accept that we'll most likely need to finance most of it, but it is our hope that we can lower the down payment as much as we can. We're starting this campign at just $10,000, and we'll revise as we go. Like many, we still have student loans to work off.
So here is where we ask for your help. Help us finance a new Laser Cutter. We're fortunate enough to have an amazing Laser Cutter distributor (Trotec) right here in Calgary, and every dollar that is donated goes directly to the machine without having to waste money on freight charges or levies. Please spread the word to your friends, family, cosplayers, con-goers, bronies, etc, so that we can get back to doing what we do best. Which is, of course, making awesome crafts for the rest of you. And if you can, please donate.
Thank you all again, so very much.
The timeline:
We will be looking to finance a machine within the next two months, but we will keep this fundraiser going for a little while after that. Even after we purchase a new machine we're confident we'll still have oodles of principle on it.
Organizer
Duke Davidson
Organizer
Calgary, AB
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