Finally signed up! Hello from Glasgow

[Calum Bettison]

Hello all,

Been dipping in and out of the forums for quite a while, it’s been a great help and sometimes quite entertaining! Finally thought I’d sign up and become a supporting member.

Bit about me:

• Part time designer and maker of furniture, lighting etc.

• Member of a maker community in Glasgow helping to run/maintain a communal workshop.

• Very interested in exploring the place of craft in the world of contemporary design.

Looking forward to becoming an active member of the forums and thanks to all for the endless help already provided on this platform!

Cheers,
Calum

 

[Blister]

Hi Calum, Welcome to the forum , Have fun.

 

[Bingy man]

hi Callum , welcome and always nice to hear of someone giving back to the community.

 

[Calum Bettison]

Cheers both!

 

[DrDarren]

Hello all,

Been dipping in and out of the forums for quite a while, it’s been a great help and sometimes quite entertaining! Finally thought I’d sign up and become a supporting member.

Bit about me:

• Part time designer and maker of furniture, lighting etc.

• Member of a maker community in Glasgow helping to run/maintain a communal workshop.

• Very interested in exploring the place of craft in the world of contemporary design.

Looking forward to becoming an active member of the forums and thanks to all for the endless help already provided on this platform!

Cheers,
Calum

I’m in Kilmarnock and interested in the idea of the communal workshop. Can you say more and would you like bunch of cast-off narex chisels that I’ve replaced with newer Ashley Iles?

 

[Calum Bettison]

Hey DrDarren, nice to meet you!

The workshop that I help to run is part of an artist studios in Glasgow Southside called ARC independent. Its quite rudimentary and small at the moment and not open to the public as such - its more to cater to the studio holders if they need space to make stuff with wood. There are talks of it becoming more of an open access setup further down the line though, likely in a few years when we have a bigger premises and management of it is more financially feasible.

I wouldn't say no to a set of chisels, although Narex aren't cheap right? But only if you were getting rid anyway!

Its always nice to meet fellow woodies so if you were ever going past this way you're more than welcome to pop in for a cuppa.

Calum

 

[jsjwilson]

Hello all,

Been dipping in and out of the forums for quite a while, it’s been a great help and sometimes quite entertaining! Finally thought I’d sign up and become a supporting member.

Bit about me:

• Part time designer and maker of furniture, lighting etc.

• Member of a maker community in Glasgow helping to run/maintain a communal workshop.

• Very interested in exploring the place of craft in the world of contemporary design.

Looking forward to becoming an active member of the forums and thanks to all for the endless help already provided on this platform!

Cheers,
Calum

Nice one Calum. I'd be interested to know how the communal workshop works. Such a great idea. Does it get opened at particular times. How many use it. Was thinking of trying to setup a local men's shed. Love to see some of your woodwork!! I'm just new here too, but am a novice woodworker. So hi from the East of Scotland!

 

[poshpaws]

Nice one Calum. I'd be interested to know how the communal workshop works. Such a great idea. Does it get opened at particular times. How many use it. Was thinking of trying to setup a local men's shed. Love to see some of your woodwork!! I'm just new here too, but am a novice woodworker. So hi from the East of Scotland!

There is the Dundee makerspace thats relaunching soon for us over this side

 

[jsjwilson]

There is the Dundee makerspace thats relaunching soon for us over this side

Cool. What's it called?

 

[poshpaws]

Cool. What's it called?

https://dundeemakerspace.com/

 

[TRITON]

Hey DrDarren, nice to meet you!

The workshop that I help to run is part of an artist studios in Glasgow Southside called ARC independent. Its quite rudimentary and small at the moment and not open to the public as such - its more to cater to the studio holders if they need space to make stuff with wood. There are talks of it becoming more of an open access setup further down the line though, likely in a few years when we have a bigger premises and management of it is more financially feasible.

I wouldn't say no to a set of chisels, although Narex aren't cheap right? But only if you were getting rid anyway!

Its always nice to meet fellow woodies so if you were ever going past this way you're more than welcome to pop in for a cuppa.

Calum

Hi Calum.
Another Glasgow maker here, though a bit lapsed due to no longer having anywhere to work other than the spare bedroom. 3.5mx3m is not a lot of space to have the huge amount of machines I seem to collect*.

Always been a problem finding bench space in our city, which is surprising given so many makers coming out of formally the college of building and printing.

* Ive a spare cross cut mitre saw, dewalt
Dont get your hopes up its as old as the hills ,only thing going for it is the 80t neg rake industrial blade ive fitted to it. Pointless selling it on gumtree, and I've a bit of a thing about giving dangerous saws to amateurs.
It's sat taking up very limited and valuable space since I replaced it with a kapex. More than welcome to it.

 

[Calum Bettison]

Nice one Calum. I'd be interested to know how the communal workshop works. Such a great idea. Does it get opened at particular times. How many use it. Was thinking of trying to setup a local men's shed. Love to see some of your woodwork!! I'm just new here too, but am a novice woodworker. So hi from the East of Scotland!

Hey! Sorry for the late reply. At the moment were still trying to work it out. Where we currently are has very small capacity, so only 2-3 people can work in there at a time really. Once were fully up and running it will involve some sort of booking system and a voluntary technician on hand to supervise the space.

Its very speculative right now, but the CIC I'm part of (ARC Independent) we're talking about setting up a new space, a bigger multidisciplinary workshop space (wood/metal/ceramics/textiles etc) alongside individual maker studio spaces.

In essence it would be the same as what we have at the moment, but bigger scale and better/smoother functioning, and dedicated to at least semi-skilled makers who can look after their own workflow. At the moment out current workshop is open to the artists who often need a lot of guidance and as such a lot of time from volunteer technicians.

We're yet to work out how this new space would work (paid technicians, workshop setup etc), but I feel confident that there would be a demand for something like this.

And I'm actively looking for opinions, interest and advice from anyone and everyone who this might be of interest to! So please let me know if this sounds appealing!

 

[Calum Bettison]

Hi Calum.
Another Glasgow maker here, though a bit lapsed due to no longer having anywhere to work other than the spare bedroom. 3.5mx3m is not a lot of space to have the huge amount of machines I seem to collect*.

Always been a problem finding bench space in our city, which is surprising given so many makers coming out of formally the college of building and printing.

* Ive a spare cross cut mitre saw, dewalt
Dont get your hopes up its as old as the hills ,only thing going for it is the 80t neg rake industrial blade ive fitted to it. Pointless selling it on gumtree, and I've a bit of a thing about giving dangerous saws to amateurs.
It's sat taking up very limited and valuable space since I replaced it with a kapex. More than welcome to it.

Hey Andy, again apologies for the sluggish reply! I have experienced this bench space shortage myself when looking for a bigger space.

There seems to be plenty of artist studios around, presumably because its easy to set up. Just a big open space needed and then lots of stud walling. I suppose the initial investment of setting up a proper open access workshop is a lot more involved.

As I said to @jsjwilson, in our current studio we're in talks about how a properly kitted out communal maker space could work. In my mind I'm envisaging a space where lots of creative and skilled folk can work on their own projects but also exchange knowledge. There would be a well equipped and properly maintained workshop space catering to a variety of materials and processes, with bookable benches and a technician on hand to help with makers projects if needed.

For me I love the idea of holding a space to facilitate cross pollination of peoples' skills and ideas. And providing an environment where makers can be around similar but different skillsets and materials. I'm sure this would be a viable project but just need to find the right space and the right people at the right time!

If you or anyone you know would be interested in this sort of thing, please let me know. As I said, all very speculative at the moment, but I'm trying to put the feelers out there early to gauge interest.

 

[Calum Bettison]

* Ive a spare cross cut mitre saw, dewalt

Also thanks for the offer of the saw! If I had space for one, and didn't already have one I'd take it off you. Having said that, if you're actively looking to get rid, I can ask about, I'm sure I could find someone who'd take it off you.