When you hear the word “makerspace,” you might picture rows of 3D printers and laser cutters. A new makerspace in Grand Lake, Colorado, looks a little different: industrial machines to carve wood, shape silver and stitch leather.
Inside the 3,000-square-foot workshop, apprentice cobbler Marcie Shearon – she goes by Marcie She – is rebuilding a donated pair of cowboy boots.
Hours earlier, she had stripped the boot down to its bones. She rebuilt the foundation with cork and replaced the leather rand that helps hold the boot together.
“So, our next step would be to do a sole,” She said.
Her instructor, Matt Paisley, laid the boot on a sheet of tanned leather.
“Just kind of trace the boot and add an inch,” he told her.
She fed the leather through a “cutter,” one of several vintage cobbling machines in the shop. Next, she would glue, roll and hammer the leather into place over the sole.
The Grand Spirit Makerspace opened this spring after years of planning by the Town of Grand Lake, the Grand Lake Creative District, the Rocky Mountain Folk School and a mix of state funding, foundation support and private donations.
“We're trying to make sure that the trades stay alive,” said Gillian Horne, executive director of the Folk School, which runs the makerspace.
The workshop offers classes in everything from stained glass to boat-building to sandal-making. Soon, Horne said, people will be able to buy memberships to use the equipment, like joining a gym. Eventually, the organization hopes to provide official certification programs in what it calls “cowboy trades,” including cobbling, leather-working and saddle-making.
“You could then go and work at one of the shops, or open your own shop,” Horne said.
Paisley teaches high school woodshop, but outside of the classroom, he’s become an expert at rebuilding shoes. He largely taught himself.
“I got good at it by just getting old boots and shoes and tearing them apart and rebuilding them, and then I would just sell them on eBay, so I didn't lose money,” he said.
He found a mentor nearby who helped him and handed down old machines. But today, Paisley said, those opportunities are increasingly rare. For generations, cobbling was a family trade, passed from parent to child. Formal apprenticeships have disappeared.
“All this equipment is very difficult to use, very heavy, very expensive," said Paisley. "People can't dabble in this – normally, right?”
This summer, She is apprenticing under Paisley through the Folk School, training that would be difficult to find at a busy cobbling shop.
She runs her own seamstress business, She Cares Gear Repair, out of a garage in Grand County.
“I work on things from wedding dresses to boat seats to upholstery jobs,” she said.
Customers have brought her their old cowboy boots, but until now, she hasn’t had the equipment or training.
Old crafts, new economic engine
For Grand Lake, preserving traditional trades isn’t just about craftsmanship. Local leaders see the makerspace as part of a broader effort to strengthen the local economy.
The mountain town, located at the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, depends heavily on tourism. Summers are packed with visitors heading to the park or boating on the lake. But winter is much quieter; some of the businesses close for the off-season.
The makerspace could bring more steady traffic, year round.
“We have people that come from all around to take a class, and then they stay in a hotel, they eat at the restaurants,” said Horne.
Like mountain communities across the West, Grand Lake is grappling with rising housing costs and the challenge of attracting and keeping workers.
To help address that, the town paired the makerspace with nine affordable live-work apartments right next door for artists and creatives. Most include street-level storefronts where residents can sell their work.
“As a town, we’re trying to find those corridors to opportunity,” said Town Manager Steve Kudron. “We're bringing in the people that will serve our visitors. We're creating that sustainable workforce to help us grow into the future.”
The first tenants, including a photographer and a musician, are set to move in later this summer.
Back inside the makerspace, She and Paisley move to one of the hardest parts of rebuilding a boot: stitching the leather sole.
“I’ve been off the sole a few times,” She said.
The curved-needle sewing machine punches through layers of thick leather with every stitch. The pace has to stay steady. Too fast or too slow, Paisley warns, and the boot can slip off the machine. She guides the fabric through.
“I gotta say, Marcie,” Paisley examines. “That is really pretty good.”
Her first pair of cowboy boots, almost done.
She imagines the makerspace will change what’s possible for her businesses, such as giving her the heavy-duty equipment to take on a job altering gear for the local fire department.
“It's very, very helpful to have the tools that you need to do a job,” she said.
This fall, she’ll return to the makerspace as an instructor, helping teach the craft to the next generation.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
