Welcome to the first ever Ms Bootblack Glasgow (2026) newsletter! I’m both stoked and terrified at the concept of Being Perceived, so bear with me whilst the panic dies down. I’ve been reliably informed that I already look a lot less “deer in headlights” than I did on the night I won the title, and I think I have recovered enough braincells that I can write a semi-coherent, mostly-useful newsletter. So here goes, I guess.

This newsletter is so that interested parties (you, hopefully) can keep track of what I will be up to during my title year – where I’ll be, what I’ll be doing, and what other cool people in Glasgow (and beyond) are up to. The plan is for this to be a monthly thing, with maybe spot updates if I need to signpost to something at short notice. This month there aren’t a whole lot of updates (I’m just getting started), so it’ll hopefully be a relatively brief read.

Important updates

I guess the most important update is that I won the bloody contest! I’m working on a post-mortem of the event, but it’s a bit delayed as I got distracted by writing this blog post – it is tangentially related to the contest, at least.

If you have thoughts on anything I write, I want to hear about them! Socials, email, in person, it's all good. Please also give me a shout if you have a cool idea related to leatherdyke stuff you want my support with: the main reason I ran for this title is because I want to see more different events, and more different people organising those events in Glasgow – and the visibility I get with a title means I can hopefully help with that more now. So yeah, come talk to me, come yap, come ask me questions about bootblacking, event organising, or anything else.

Where I’ll be

I'm covering what I currently have in my calendar between now and the end of the year – for next year stuff, you'll know as soon as I do.

• The regular Glasgow Leatherdyke bar night, Game Over, 4th November (tonight!). Me and a couple others will be bootblacking, so remember to bring cash for tips!

• Bootblack circle at Adrian’s, 18th November

• On the 5th December, I'll be in Nottingham, to speak on a panel for Nottingham's first leather social! I'm really excited for this, and there's a bunch of other cool people speaking too – check out @nottingham_leather on Instagram for details. This will be my first speaking engagement as Ms Bootblack Glasgow 2026, so safe to say I'm absolutely bricking it.

Stuff I’m doing

At the moment I’m mostly working on my PhD (scream), with a little time here and there dedicated to writing up thoughts swimming in my head for the blog. I've also spent a little time prepping for my title year and getting as much front-loaded for that as possible. My title year is going to involve travelling to places like UK Bootblack https://fetlife.com/events/2027/01/15/uk-bootblack-contest-2027-ejcwra) and Bootblack Europe (https://darklands.be/2026/09/09/bootblack-europe-2027/) to represent Glasgow Leatherdykery further afield. Sadly, the sash didn’t come with a pay rise so I’m going to be fundraising for travel and accommodation where possible. If I run a dedicated fundraiser I’ll let you all know with plenty of warning! For now, I’ve set up a ko-fi if you have a spare couple of quid to throw my way. The tips I get from bootblacking will go towards this too, as well as keeping my kit replenished.

Spotlighting

• Adrian’s, the bar where the bootblack circles have been held for Glasgow Leatherdykes since they started, and queer/trans hub of the Southside, has launched a fundraiser to be able to stay open. They need to raise another £1500 – link to the fundraiser here. I’ll be dropping a few pennies their way, please do the same if you can! They also have a dedicated fundraiser event this Friday, 6th November at Stereo: https://ra.co/events/2574636

• Congratulations also to Calum, the first Mr Leather Scotland! It's so nice to have 2 regional titleholders in Scotland.

Product spotlight

Not a recommendation per se, as I haven’t used it myself yet, but I got to see this cream polish for the first time during the contest (thanks Wookie!). It’s made by Collonil, and it doesn’t have the texture I’ve usually seen for a cream polish: it’s much more tacky but also slippery – kind of like a really expensive face cream, or the slime you get in slime jars. Turns out it’s quite hard to describe.

Other stuff

This is the section where I'll put all my other promo stuff and any miscellaneous info. Okay, so:

1/ I have a website! You can find it at this address: https://strings-and-masochism.neocities.org. It’s very much in its infancy, but that’s where all the thoughts inside my brain will be going. I’ll also be updating the “bootblacking” section regularly with updates on my location, happenings, kit updates, etc.

2/ I will be posting some things to Instagram @stringsandmasochism, probably on an irregular basis. I'm not good with posting regularly, so I assume the algorithm gods will hate me forever. Regardless, it exists and you can go look at it if you'd like.

3/ If you attended the contest and have any photos, I'd love to see them! Please send them my way. I can also pass photos that feature the other contestants, Beth and Morwen, onto them.

I think that's it! Thank you so so much for subscribing to the newsletter, and for being interested in what I get up to this year! I hope I do a decent job of representing bootblacking and Leather in Scotland and beyond.

Xoxo,

Archer