A Lanarkshire blacksmith is steeling himself for a busy time after quitting his job to go it alone with his own business.
Andy Donnelly, 30, from Wishaw has been inundated with orders after he posted examples on social media of bespoke raincatchers he made.
The former St Aidan’s High pupil was spending so much of his spare time in his home workshop trying to keep up with requests for the unusual garden items that he decided to give up his job at Miller Fabrications Ltd in Waterloo and launch his own company.
AMD Ironworks was born, with the business name taken from the initials of his wife Alana, son Malcom, and the family surname.
“I always liked practical stuff at school, I wasn’t quite sure if I would end up a joiner or a brickie but I was always into making stuff. I wasn’t into science or anything. I wanted a trade and it was the first thing that came up.
“It was gates and railings and stuff like that I was making at first, and in Miller’s it was heavier stuff like rail bridges for Network Rail.”
Andy was with Miller Fabrications for 11 years and recently parted company with them on good terms.
“They wished me all the best and said if I ever needed to go back then the door was open,” he added. “They were really sound. I’m only two weeks in and I’m not sure how it’s going to go but I’m getting orders in most days and working through the waiting list I’ve got.
“It’s just really took off so I want to see where it goes. I always did kind of plan to try and go it on my own, and I built a workshop on my house with the intention of giving it a go.”
Andy has plans for further designs and items in the near future but at the moment he’s concentrating on fulfilling the orders he has flowing in.
Andy continued: “I’ve been making raincatchers and bird-baths and I’m planning on doing bird-feeders and memorials in the future but I’m just inundated with the raincatchers just now, so I can’t even get a chance to make something different right now until I catch up with these.
“I saw things like these selling on Essy and Marketplace and just thought I could do it a bit better. And that seems to be the case so far. I’ve made a few different designs and folk seem to be going daft for them. That’s just through Facebook.
“I only put my first post up a few weeks ago and two weeks later I quit my job. That shows the power of Facebook.
“My wife Alana helps with all that stuff, I only know how to bang metal together,” Andy admitted.
His place of work may have changed but Andy is relishing working for himself.
“It’s having the free range to decide when you want to change things that I enjoy,” he revealed. “It’s my own schedule and my own pressure. The feedback I’m getting is positive and people are well happy with what they are getting.
“I’m upfront with customers and can only get through them as fast as one guy can do it. People are understanding, and they can’t buy this stuff anywhere else, so they are happy to wait. And the quality is there.”
You can find AMD Ironworks and examples of Andy’s work here.
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