Wednesday, April 4, 2012

New Studio Setup

The morning after the move was finished, I needed to get going on the studio immediately. Yeah, I was exhausted and just wanted a day off, but no such luck! I've got shows coming and need to get the cloth done as fast as possible. Which means first getting the studio at least partially set up.

Before picture: the loom frame is starting to come together, but the rest is still just lumber.

As soon as the loom was assembled, I went to work on the lights.

I ended up hoisting an extra set of lights to the high part of the ceiling to give me enough illumination on the backside of the beam.

And this is when I got my first surprise of the project. After a day of working in this space I discovered that I itched. A lot. And then I noticed that the walls and ceiling are unfinished. I mean, of course I had noticed that before, but this time I noticed that what they did contain is lots of raw fiberglass.

OHHH NOOOO !!! I cannot let that stuff get anywhere near my cloth! I was reminded of a story from my grandmother who washed her fiberglass drapes with my grandpa's underwear. The results were disastrous.

I've already vacuumed the floor within an inch of its life and I'll do that every week. As I begin to use sections of this studio, I will need to cover the walls. I started with the first appointed loom nook so that I can get started with tying on the blue cloth that needs to be delivered to the seamstress in seven days.

So, it was more money spent on startup costs, and most of a day to get it bought and installed, but this is something that absolutely needed to be done. I'm talking with the landlord about splitting the costs to drywall this space, even if we don't tape and mud right away. Why would I pay for something that the landlord gets to keep? Well, because I would get to use it myself for the rest of my time here. It sure would be nice to work in a space that wasn't just plastic over fiberglass. It's not required, but it sure would be nice.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Been there. I used old rolls of wall paper and stapled it to the studs over the insulation. The wall paper was left when I purchased the house. It was free and it was in a walk in yarn storage room.
Teresa Ruch

Laura Fry said...

Plus white sheet rock would provide more ambient light - not a bad thing.... :)

cheers,
Laura

Unknown said...

You're both right. If I had rolls of wallpaper just sitting around that's just what I would have done. And white walls would bring a ton more light around the loom. It's amazing how much light gets "lost" when it's absorbed by dark walls.