Makers HeadRoom

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MakersHeadRoom has re-launched and will start again on Monday 8th April at 3pm to 5pm. You can sign up and I will keep you informed by email.

What is it?

MakersHeadRoom is a weekly online group conducted over Zoom. The idea is to work together as a group of individuals, to share our presence and our energy in a virtual space where we concentrate primarily on making

MakersHeadRoom started in mid April 2022 and now meets weekly until Summer 2024.

There are two 1 hour sessions on a Monday (starting at 2.50 pm for introductory chat) for a 3pm (BST) start of work and continuing at 4pm until 5pm which gives you a good 2 hours to get your work going.

What happens there?

A group of self selected people turn up on Zoom to make things in concert with other people. After the initial 10 minute introduction while the group assembles and everyone is welcomed the making session is conducted without words but with microphones on. That way you can positively hear the presence of others without being interrupted or distracted by it. There is a an alarm set for 4pm to signal the start of the second hour and that some members might join us or leave for the remaining hour. The making session ends at 5pm at which point there is an opportunity to chat for anyone that wants to stay for anything up to 20 mins.

What’s the etiquette? What should I do?

MakersHeadRoom is meant for people who want to make things with their hands at a regular time each week. Anyone can make anything they like from a sculpture to a robot to an embroidered map. You can sit and think, make notes, sketch in your sketchbook, make whatever you want – including a cup of tea if you need one. There is space for chat at the end of the two hours. There is no set agenda for this, we usually start from how everyone has got on during the session and I try to make sure everyone gets some space.

Are there no limits?

The only rules are that you do not to disturb anyone else. We discovered this is very hard to do – Zoom mutes almost anything except what it recognises as speech by default. We have developed our own sound setting so we can hear low level activity noises like in a real studio. If you need to do anything really noisy you can mute yourself on the Zoom interface or you can ask the rest of the group if it’s ok. As the host I can also use the mute option but I have yet to intervene in this way. Sewing machine noise seems to be ok for everyone as is scraping, sanding, crinkling or rustling of paper and plastics, tapping, whacking, flicking, flexing and creaking have also been heard without objection.

Aims

What I am trying to do with this concept is to provide a place where people gather in a way that is not first defined by speech or the written word. My thinking is that all of us (but particularly makers) can benefit from each others company just by being present together. By being with each other engaged in a common activity we reinforce each others choices to make things, that making is a worthwhile and positive thing to do without having to explain or justify what we want to produce, how we want to go about it or how long it might take. 

Sometimes of course we don’t actually know any of these things in advance – and that’s just fine.

History

This workshop idea is based on @SculptorsDrawingSpace developed by Mark Richards during the Covid 19 lockdowns. If you want to draw with a group online, that’s a great place to do it. They meet at 5pm on Mondays on Zoom.