The Shire of Wurm Wald is the Champaign Urbana branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism. The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is "an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe." Wurm Wald is full of medieval makers of all kinds. They practice calligraphy, cooking, armoring, metalworking, carpentry, needlework, and spinning, among others.
One of the quirks of an organization like this is that upon occasion it is necessary to use 21st-century technology to re-create the 6th century. For example, to create molds for pewter casting (to re-create old coins) one of the members used Community Fab Lab to laser cut a coin for use in creating pewter molds. In this instance, laser cutting allowed for the most detail.
The Shire of Wurm Wald participated in Heartland Maker Fest on October 18, 2014. Aside from explaining what they were all about to attendees, members of the Shire also demonstrated spinning with a drop spindle and allowed attendees to create their own spindles with wooden dowels and recycled cds.
