mistakes and moving forward

My brother over at Mechanish crafted these great steel legs from some drawings that I made.  I routered out a spot in the bottom of my window bench to allow the plates to sit flush with the bottom of the bench. 

Ahh...a nice fit.

Testing out the t-nuts that I installed so that the brackets can be removed for shipping.

Unfortunately, as I started work on installing the t-nuts to the other side, I discovered that I had routered out the area for the bracket on the wrong side of the line I measured—time for some repairs!

A reminder for the future.

I started working the transition piece for the shade of my Through The Forest Lamp—it's made from a vintage jello mold tin that I cut and bent to form the shape-I had a lot of fun experimenting with this.

I've posted a couple peeks of my new studio space over at CoRK, but thought I'd post some more pics of the space-it's still a work in progress, but it's great to have plenty of room to work amongst so many talented artists.

A wide-angle shot of the studio-I'm slowly cleaning and replacing the windows to let in more light and enjoy the view-when I moved in, there were all completely covered in grime.

Here's that great view—and the trains run by regularly :)

Another side of the studio.

I found this old door in the corner of the warehouse space and turned it into a spot to hold some of my hand tools.

Here's my area to draw and plan out projects-I painted the wall with chalkboard paint for sketching.

Here's the before, midway through the chalkboard wall repairs, it was a mess.

My wall of treasures...oh the possibilities!

More treasures, I found this ladder on the curb one morning while walking the dogs and carried it all the way home.  I think my free MDF shelving is going to need replacing soon though, it's really sagging (darn that Florida humidity!)

A little lath detail on one of the workbenches I built.

I can make a lamp out of those rulers, right?

dye and wood

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the shop.  Much time was spent moving into a new studio location just blocks from the house at CoRK, where a flurry of cleaning, dry-walling, replacing glass, moving, and building has taken place.  While it took me away from my projects for a bit-it's wonderful to have more space to move about and not get stabbed in the side by some piece of wood or metal every time I turn around.  I am also looking forward to the opportunity to be in company with the many great artists in this community, and of course getting out of my own house is a big plus! 

I've finished up on my first lamp, the Textile Lamp.  

Each part of this piece has particular details which I appreciated and my goal was to bring them together as a functional whole, but in a simple way so as not to detract from the individuality of each part.  Incorporating elements of wood, metal, and fiber in raw form... the days of the booming U.S. textile factories. 

Drilling a hole for the lamp cord.

Time to wire everything up!

The lampshade is re-purposed from an old lamp.  Long strips of cloth from my collection were torn and wrapped around the frame.  I then dyed the shade in a turquoise ombré.

The light coming through the shade highlights the ombré effect.

A few of the great details I love about the components of this piece.

A brass water hose nozzle makes an unexpected finial.

I've also been wrapping up on these mirrors.  Made out of lath from the walls of Jacksonville's Riverside/Avondale homes-I contrasted the rough, unevenness of the lath with glossy, modern white frames.

I cut some pieces of birch for the back of the frames (where the mirror will go) and papered them.  Just because it's the back doesn't mean it shouldn't look pretty!

A little peek at my new studio space, I thought the old sampler was quite apropos to the pieces that I create.

finding my way

"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it--but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor" 

Oliver Wendell Holmes

To find myself supported by others who share a passion to create is a wonderful feeling.  To share admiration for a rusted piece of steel discarded in a bin, to see a "kindred spirit" in others-maybe this is what life is about?  I was taken on a voyage of sorts today that I could not have envisioned, yet another example of how I should stop trying to always "have a plan."  A thumbs up out the car window lead us to a personal tour of a local propeller foundry, not only were the GIANT machines and fire shooting out of the furnaces REALLY COOL-but the pride, knowledge, and willingness to share of his craft left my heart filled with joy.  And when Mr. James is showing you the snapshots of his metalwork over the last few decades and says, while turning the final page "there it is...my heart's work" you gotta smile. Oh, and if you haven't been over to CoRK, you should check it out, it's a pretty special place too :)

This machine is used to clean up the propeller after it is poured (look at all the tiny brass shavings EVERYWHERE!)

Molds for the props; cut out of wood using computer patterns that they upload into their CNC machine. 

 

 

 

Fire!

A few goodies found along the way.

entertainment site

It's finally done.  I'm pleased.  Custom orders anyone?

Ellie really, really wanted to be on the blog.

a new project

My husband is just giddy...he's finally getting his favorite speakers he's been wanting, for like, forever.  And I'm finally brave enough to have them out in the open.  And as technology typically goes, you want to get one new thing, then you figure out that whatever you're getting just won't work with what you already have.  In our case, the speakers were going to be blocked by the entertainment center doors when open. Ok.  So we need to change out the entertainment center for something with no doors. Ok. Now our big, unsightly TV (normally hidden) is going to be out in the open.  First thing you see when you come in the front door--"Hello! I'm a giant T.V.!"  Looks like we need a different T.V. (score again for Adam since he's been wanting a new one of those as well).  So a weekend search for just the right piece of furniture ensues.  I refuse to purchase anything new--gotta keep on a budget since spending all the money on the technology.  Our weekend searching as well as numerous internet/craigslist/newspaper searches are fruitless.  It's a small wall, not a lot of room in this old home of ours, and no other places where it can even go in the living room, and then there's all of the electronic components that need to be organized and accessible.  So I've decided to make it myself.  I've been thinking of some uses for all of this lath board that I've been collecting.  I'm excited to be using it on this project for my own home.  Although this has been time consuming to come up with the design and taken me away from some of my other projects, I am really looking forward to the construction process this weekend--nothing more fulfilling that seeing your ideas and sketches come to life! 

My lath pile: I've been collecting this since we moved in.  I just love all of the different colors and textures.

Removed the nails and laid it out to admire it's beauty.

Preliminary sketches.

Constructed my drawings in the computer to get a better sense of things and started dimensioning everything out.