SELLERS OF WOOD.

Woodcraft Industries,The Gallowgate.
This is what all shops used to be like.Situated at the Barras,on London Road,"Woodcraft" under the ownership of "Big Jim" provides an invaluable service to the area & for visitors an unforgettable shopping experience.If you are looking for DIY materials & tools,laser-cut/handcrafted fireside surrounds,made to order artists stretchers or whether you just desire wood--this is the place to come.
From the outside the shop appears small,but on entering you realise just how tiny it is-- every square inch is taken up --floor to ceiling-- with all the joinery materials,tools & accoutrements you could possibly need.And it has wood.Lots of it ,in every variety,shape & size you could ever need--plywood,softwood battens ,perforated hardboards,MDF sheets stacked high,finely turned poles & just at the entrance-- tied up in string--bargain bundles of offcuts for a few pounds.All the cutting is done in-house to your specifications & this frenetic sawing & chopping results in a fine patina of wood dust which settles over the entire shop, it's contents--door handles,chicken wire,adhesive door signs,bags of nails & panel pins,padlocks,hasps & staples,patterned formica sheets,aromatic wood stains,hammers,buckets,brooms-- &, if you wait there long enough,your very self.

"Ah,Mr McDonald! Come in!"

I've been a regular customer here since first renting my studio nearby in 1986.To this day I still sweep out my dingy cell using the very same broom that I bought here back in '87.One day,I suppose,it will break & I will then have to wrestle with that old philosophy chestnut concerning the exact nature & identity of a fully re-constituted broom.But until that sad,far-off day,the broom in question still works as good as the day I bought it!
I also still use the same saw I bought here in '87 but it is,admittedly--like me ,I suppose--getting a wee bit squeeky & I should maybe think about treating myself to a new one.Over the years I have also bought most of the small wooden panels that I paint on,sizing them first with the PVA based wood glues that "Woodcraft" also stocks.Often,on a whim,while exiting the shop,I will stop & select a bargain bundle of oddly-shaped offcuts--the random nature & shape of these often spark an idea for a new painting or construction/collage.My own favourite effort of mine,in recent years--"Hinged Pandora"--was made using two such mis-matched offcuts stuck together with the addition of two brass hinges.It's funny how you can be inspired by the actual materials you use.For larger paintings they have also built--to my fumbling & scribbled diagrams--innumerable,expertly finished wooden stretchers & laboriously hand-sawn circular versions from thick MDF.Jim has often helped me out in other ways:once,the respected gallery owner,Cyril Gerber was due to visit my studio to select some pieces for a high-profile exhibition.Panic--the pictures were in a storeroom,the door was locked,I couldn't get in & he was due in 20 minutes! No problem--Jim lent me a fireman's axe of Jack Torrance proportions,& after a few minutes of frenzied chopping & hewing I was in!
Though his assistant Bill has long gone & Barbara serves there now only occasionally,Jim is ably assisted these days by skilled Glaswegian Poet & Wordsmith,Anthony "Tony" Browne.Overall,things haven't changed much  over the years.Such reassuring retail constancy is an increasing rarity these days--if you are in the area & you need wood or anything to do with "DIY" then pay them a visit!

"Hinged Pandora"  James McDonald 2011

Coming soon:"Party Times:Adult Fun Shop"