Lighting Rig In The Studio

Remember how I built that lighting rig last week? Well, it's being put to use in the studio before it has seen a show.

The new loom is set up with the front almost touching the wall. The HVAC ducts don't let me put the fluorescent fixture or clip lights where I'd like them. I did OK with the threading by clipping a light onto the beam that holds the harness pulleys, but that wasn't going to work for sleying.

Lighting rig to the rescue!

If this was MY house, I'd drill into the cinderblock and mount shelves all the way around the studio, giving me a place to set up palettes and clip lights. But we're only renting, and not for very long, either.

The solution was simple: I needed to hang a bar underneath the ductwork behind the loom, against the cinderblock wall. It took about 10 minutes to clamp together a frame that fit the space and met my needs.

It's tough to make out in these photos, but the ends have a 4' length on the bottom serving as a "kickstand" to keep the poles upright without leaning on the wall.

I care so much about the lighting for one big reason: accuracy is critical. I'm dealing with thousands of tiny threads grouped together in fiddly ways. I need them as close to me as possible and as brightly lit as I can have them. It's so much easier and more efficient to get this setup right the first time than it is to go back and fix mistakes.