Moving in to the new studio

Last week saw us move our son into his new bedroom, which means his old bedroom was now free to become my studio.

(happy dance, happy dance, happy dance!)

The first order of the day was moving all my fabric into the cupboard.  The fabric had been living in cardboard boxes on the floor of our bedroom.  Not convenient to use, nor convenient to walk around.

Just that one little job made a huge difference to the usability of the house and to how much I loved the new room!  Seeing all my pretties nicely loaded up on clean white shelves was such a great feeling, immediately inspiring and I kept seeing intriguing colour combinations that I hadn't noticed before.

But there was no time to start playing with fabric!  I had to get the design walls up.  They had also been resident in my bedroom, just leaning against the wall, in the way, with the annoying habit of falling on me in the middle of the night.  Hubby helped out a little here.

I unpacked my HQ Sweet Sixteen and was very relieved that after a year in storage, she still purred - that is once I put the needle in the right way around....!

I've set up my Bernina 440 and the Sweet Sixteen in front of the windows with a work table in between, so I'll have plenty of light for working during the day.  And if it gets too bright, the curtains seperate so I can pull them to exactly where I need them.  I have to have my cutting mat and ironing pad on that worktable for now, which is not the best height, but workable, and there is a little storage underneath.

The wall opposite the windows was the only big full wall, so that's where the design wall had to go, and I wanted my design wall big.  I've never, ever regretted a large design space and in my opinion the bigger the better.  It gets plenty of light for viewing quilts, and for taking photographs too.

I have a set of drawers set up under the pre-existing shelf and tools hanging from under the shelf.  Eventually I'd like to have a bigger set of drawers here, wider and slightly longer and at bench height.  It would have my cutting mat set up on it at perfect cutting level.

In the picture below I'm standing in the doorway to the room.  Behind the open door is another door that leads into our bedroom.  It's a leftover from when this sewing room was a porch, and we never open it.  We have plans to take it out and build a recessed book shelf where it is, so that will help with storage.

I was all set up and ready to sew this weekend just been.  Conveniently it rained, so I had the perfect excuse to test out my setup the WHOLE weekend.  And I'm very, very happy.  I need a better sewing chair, preferably with wheels that can swap from machine to machine and then everything will be perfect!  Happy sigh.

Studio Planning (again)

We've been living off-boat/on-shore for about a year now and about nine months in this particular house.  I'm feeling well settled, in fact, it's starting to feel too small.  I'm resigned to the fact that however large a space we have to live in, we'll soon fill it, so it's probably best that we stick to fairly small abodes!

This house is only 90 square metres (970 square foot) and it only has three bedrooms and one bathroom.  It does have three metre wide decks on three sides of the house, so that has given us more 'living' space, but we knew we would be looking at expanding the house as soon as we could.

One of the reasons to extend is to give me an area to sew in.  Hubby promised a dedicated space when we moved out of the apartment and into here - it was one of my conditions for settling for a smaller place.  In the meantime, I've been squeezing into the corners:

My machine takes up one corner of the living room

And using the hall as my storage space:

The funny coloured square on the wall used to be a window.  It's in the process of being filled in because we've been extending the house on the other side, and eventually there will be a big floor to ceiling cupboard on this side.

We've (well, really it's been newly retired Hubby doing all the work with executive design decisions by me) filled in one of the decks on the side of the house and have created a fourth bedroom, another w.c and a new entrance way.

The new entrance looking right through the new bedroom to the other side of the house.

I'm looking out from what used to be my front door to the new entrance way and the new w.c.

And the new bedroom, awaiting paint and flooring.

It was finished just enough and just in time to install my sister, brother in law and nephew who are visiting for a couple of weeks.  And now that they are just about to head home, we are gearing up for another push to get it all finished.  That means plastering the ceilings, painting, flooring, plumbing up the loo and then installing my son in the new bedroom.

Which gets me to the point of this post.  I get to takeover his old bedroom for my studio, which means I get to plan my studio layout!

This messy bedroom will be my new space. I didn't clean up, I'm sure you all know what teenage boy's rooms are like!

It's 2.25 metres wide and 4.2 metres long. The windows run the whole length of the front wall, so two whole walls are taken up with glass - good for light, but not great for storage solutions.  And in here, I want to fit my: 

• HQ Sweet Sixteen machine and table, 
• my Bernina 440 on my Sew-ezi table, 
• a big wardrobe type cupboard for fabric, 
• a cutting surface, an ironing surface 
• and a design wall.  

Hmmmmm, time to get planning.

KOAST - done

Well, the Kerikeri Art Trail is over.  I'm exhausted, but on an exhilerated high, a bit like giving birth!  And I learnt a few things.  

I learnt that exhibiting and talking about my art non-stop for three days is hard work, but fun.  I learnt that I got better at talking about my art the more I did it.  I learnt that I actually LOVE talking about my processes and inspirations to people who have no idea about textile art.  

I learnt that people enjoyed watching me demonstrate how I did something.  Trail goers were fascinated to watch me free-motion quilt the swallow quilt above, and really interested to see me stencil on the sample below.  It was a great conversation starter and question generator.

I learnt that bringing my sketchbooks for people to look through was a great idea, even if it made me feel a little vulnerable.

I learnt that people are happy to pay fair prices if they love the work.  I learnt that participating in an art trail is really good for my ego!

And I learnt that comfortable shoes are a must...

I don't know if I'll get to do it again.  I can't participate in KOAST unless I'm an invited guest artist, as I was this year, because I'm not actually a Kerikeri resident.  But if I ever get the chance to do it again, I'd jump at it.  It was so very worthwhile on many different levels.

A few thank yous are in order - my family for putting up with my KOAST focus in the past couple of weeks, my fellow exhibitors Jane Shaw and Judi Souter, both very talented artists and the best co-exhibitors I could wish for, and the lovely staff and residents at Oakridge Village who looked after us, made lovely cups of tea and served us the best scones I've ever had!

My Pressing Station - Quilt Studio Tour

Following on from showing you my quilt cutting station, I'm going to show off my new pressing station.  I had been using my ironing board in this location, but Suz's comment on my last studio tour post made me think.

"I've still got my main cutting station set up on top of our large chest freezer... stole that idea off you before :o) but I changed the ironing board area, removing the legs and attaching the top onto a shelving unit. Makes it a bit taller, which is more comfortable to use, and I have useful storage space underneath!"

I've always wanted to set up a better pressing station because an ironing board just isn't big enough for big flat pieces of fabric.  And I don't iron clothes, so I don't need the tapering bit of a board.....

So I assessed what furniture I had around, and here's what I came up with.  A small fold up trestle table that we use for camping (not any more!), those big chunks of wood designed for my door table (see the blog post on my cutting station), three layers of cotton batting, a white sheet, a piece of fabric for a cover and I'm good to go!

When I stand at the pressing station there is a large white cupboard to my left - that holds the majority of my fabric stash.  To the right is a passageway to the laundry, bathroom and the only bedroom.

The chunks of wood stick out a bit at the foot and I thought I might catch my feet, but I haven't yet so they are staying that way for now.

They also sit on carpet and, from experience, the natural wood will leave marks.  I don't know whether it's leaching or perhaps dampness from such a large chunk of wood, but either way, I've cut two pieces of plastic drop sheet the same size as the wood and placed them underneath to protect the carpet.

I hide the ugly trestle legs under a white sheet, and I've got storage of a sorts underneath.  I can fit one more of the larger tubs under there too, and until now those tubs were just kicking around making a nuisance of themselves, so it's good to get them out of the way.

You can get a sense of the size by knowing those are fat quarters of my hand-dyed fabrics.  Loving the size!!  All that room feels luxurious.  There is an electrical plug just behind the table at floor height, so no problems with the iron cord.  The trestle table top is made of heavy duty plastic, but I've stuck my hand underneath the three layers of batting after doing a session of pressing and it's warm but not hot, so I'm not worried about nasty, melty, plastic messes.

And on the wall above the pressing station I have a contraption that my Grandfather made.  He was an artist and iron worker in his spare time and I have a couple of chandeliers he made, a door knocker and this thing, which might be made to hang a light off?  Anyway, it's now hanging my teflon and cotton pressing sheets.  Very handy.  

Here's another view.  I'm standing just at the entrance to the passage way to the laundry etc.  To the left of the dryer is a door and then my cutting station is to the left of the door.  The dryer is temporary (remember, the studio also serves as our storage unit).  I do use it occasionally but have to pull it over so the vent sticks out the open door!

That's a small design board above the dryer and then sets of storage shelves in the far corner and end of the room.

I'm super happy with my new pressing station.  Once again, nothing flash, but it gives me a chance to see if I really like the size and height and then maybe one day I'll invest in something a bit more classy!

What do you use as a pressing station?

My Quilt Cutting Station

I've been in my new quilting studio for about six months now and I finally feel like I'm getting some order to the chaos.

When I first moved in I immediately set up my Sew-ezi sewing machine table and the two trestles I use and got to work.  Then everything else moved in around me, clutter happened and chaos began.

As we are using it as storage for furniture that can't go on the boat, it filled up pretty quickly and I've been sorting and shifting things around ever since.  The flat has two poles in the main room, which really annoy me effect the possible furniture configurations (see here for photos of the empty studio).

But I think I've finally sorted out a layout that is working.   I can see it staying this way for a little while and today I'm going to show you my cutting station part of the set up.

We don't have Ikea in NZ so there was no melding together several kitset units or anything fancy.  In my art gallery/studio I had a display table made of an old boat door, painted white and laid across two  huge chunky bits of wood.  So I set it up in my new studio as my cutting station, but it was too low.

I had a brainwave (probably from seeing all those cutting stations set up on the top of Ikea drawer units) to use a couple of old sets of drawers that I was already using for notions and paint etc.  It makes it quite tall, almost 98 cm, but a good height for me at 168 cm tall, especially if I wear shoes!  I also slipped another desk unit underneath for extra storage.  That consolidated some of the furniture that was taking up valuable floor space in my studio too, an added bonus.

*Hey Dad?  Recognise that drawer unit?!  It's one you made - was it the old telephone desk when we were kids?*

The table top is slightly wider at one end than the other, which is why I have the end unit below turned around and facing out - it gives the table better support.

I have my cutting mat on top at one end, and it's a really sunny spot (as you can see by the difficult photography), so when I leave I always shut the curtains so I don't get a warped cutting mat or faded fabrics if I leave them out.

I've put some 3M hooks on the other end unit for my most used rulers and my large rotary cutter.

I use the top of the table for holding all the necessary junk that collects when I'm cutting a quilt - patterns and notes, fabrics, pins, pencil case - it can become a bit of a mountain of junk but I cleaned it up specially to take photos!

The chunky bits of wood went outside onto the deck.  They were all natural to begin with so a bit of weathering won't hurt them if I want to use them again.  And I think I'll add some more 3M hooks to the other side of the smaller end unit for a few more rulers, a tape measure and my scissors.  I'm always doing the 'scissor pat', you know - when you pat down the fabric laying all over the table to find your scissors?

Yes, I'd love for it to be bigger.  I'd love to have two cutting mats end to end.  I'd love to have a table that I could adjust the height of with the push of a button.  But until I win Lotto, this is working well.  And heck, it's better than using the dining room table!

What's your cutting station like?

My New Kettle (and Studio)

Following on from my last post, when I heard the news that I no longer had a studio, I wallowed for a little while, then I put the problem out to the universe.  I asked friends and family for ideas and help, and the discussions that followed pushed me to think about what I really would like in a studio if I could have anything I wanted.

The list was long!  It included: water, power, space, light, storage and all the other things artists usually want.  But it also included security of tenure.  I wanted to be somewhere that I wasn't at the whim of other people's decisions.

I had some amazing offers and I want to thank those people, it was humbling to know people wanted me in their spaces, but my husband and I came up with an alternative solution that really ticks our boxes.

A nice sunny spot that's all mine! The curtains are up because the carpets were being cleaned.

We own a rental property a couple of minutes drive from our boat and it has a small flat downstairs.  The woman who had been renting it bought a house so she was moving out.  Then we sold our old house where we lived before we moved onto the boat (yay!).  We stored our furniture in a shed there when we moved aboard - now we would have to rent a storage unit for it.  And our rental property needs some serious maintenance work to the gardens.

So the plan came together like this:  We would take the bottom flat for ourselves, using our stored belongings to furnish it.  It would be my studio, our storage facility, our landside base if we ever wanted to get off the boat (storms, pulling the boat out of the water for anti-fouling etc) and we could also put wwoofers or Helpxer's in to help with the gardens and work on the boat - it always needs sanding and painting in one spot or another!  The best thing about the place is that we own it, nobody can kick me out and I can make as much creative chaos as I like!

There's a little bedroom, bathroom and laundry down the hall.

I'm getting excited about it now.  I wasn't, purely because I've spent several weekends shifting out of the studio and our furniture out of the shed, and the last thing I wanted to do was to shift it all back in again!  But I've taken a week off while I wait to get the carpets professionally cleaned and now I'm rearing to go again.

And I bought a new jug....

Opua Arts Studio and Gallery Last Days

About a year and a half ago I became an art gallery owner.  It wasn't something I'd ever wanted to be, but it was a way for me to get a studio space close to my home (boat) and form closer connections to the local art community, so I took the opportunity and jumped in wholeheartedly.

The view from upstairs in my studio.

I had the use of a commercial office space while it had no tenant, but now, I'm very sad to report, my landlords have found a permanent commercial tenant.  That means that Opua Arts is no longer as of 31 October 2016.  The landlords have been great, and they wrote me the nicest notice of termination that I've ever received.

I considered making a little voodoo doll of the new tenant when I first received the news.  The thought of using the doll as a pincushion was very appealing!  And the worry about where I would work was a bit overwhelming.  But in truth, I've been expecting the news ever since I moved in.  It's a gorgeous space and Opua is an up and coming area with a new Marina expansion in progress and a general upturn of the Northland economy.

So then I got to accepting the idea.  And do you know what really made me accept it?  My electric jug died.  Isn't it weird how a little thing like that can change your perception?  My jug (or kettle if you like) was given to me when I moved into the studio and I realised I'd need to make cups of tea.  Mathea, a fellow textile artist, gave me her spare one from when she had a studio.

It started playing up right around the time I got the news.  I'd switch it on and it wouldn't go.  I'd jiggle the connections and it would come right.  It got worse and worse and it got me realising how maybe the jug was done.  And that got me thinking about how maybe I was done.  Maybe this was a sign that all good things come to an end and it was time for something new.

I've had fun in the studio and gallery.  I've enjoyed curating exhibitions.  I've met wonderful people at my weekly stitch and bitch sessions.  And I've learnt so, so much.  But it's time to move on.  Now that I'm over the disappointment, I'm really looking forward to having a break from the gallery work and being able to concentrate solely on my artwork.

Memories of Flight by Charlotte Scott

And I've found a new studio space too!  More on that in my next post.

Stich and Bitch

One of the most worthwhile things that I feel I've done with the studio and gallery (have a look at my Facebook page here if you want to know more about Opua Arts) is to host a weekly stitch and bitch session.

I just got a tweet from a participant that said, "It's a very special thing you do there on a Tuesday night."  Which made me all warm and fuzzy inside.  Because that's exactly how I feel about it too.

Every Tuesday from 7pm till 9pm we gather in the upstairs space of my studio and gallery and sit and stitch and sketch and knit and embroider and sew and quilt and laugh and talk and pick each other's brains.  There is a regular bunch of women who attend and then there are less regulars and then there are the once-off visitors.  And I advertise it for any creative work, not just stitching.  It makes for wonderful, varied and interesting evenings.

A lot of the women I had never met prior to these sessions but we share a love of hand work and being creative.  That forms a common bond before we even start talking.  And then the socialising effects of tea and biscuits kick in...

There is a little community forming and connections being made and I take a secret pride that they are happening in part because of me.  Yay!  I wanted to give something back to the community, and whilst that outwardly doesn't seem to be a huge thing (no big free children's education programs or public art donations here) I feel that friendships and support networks are being formed and that is no small thing either.  It really warms my heart and makes me smile to see these women who didn't know each other a couple of months ago greet each other with broad smiles and sit down for a good old chat.

Our last Tuesday night was a funny one, with lots of jokes and laughs.  The one before that got a bit deep and meaningful.  Some have been quieter, some smaller, some bigger, some with visitors who could barely speak English, and some with just a couple of us so we could have real heart to heart conversations.

I'm also loving the inspiration I get.  It's like my brain creativity sparks up a couple of notches just by being in proximity to other creatives.  I love my quiet, isolated working times, but I think a group of creatives watching each other work fires creative synapsis is a way isolated working doesn’t.

So if you are local and reading this, come along and join in.  If you aren't so local, are you in some form of group like this, or have you tried forming a social creative group of your own?

Opua Arts Studio and Gallery Update

Well, we are open for business!  One week ago exactly, I was pouring glasses of wine, smiling fit to burst and welcoming everyone to Opua Arts.  It was a great little opening; we had a brazier going outside, live music provided by one of the artists, wine, nibbles and lots of enthusiasm.  I couldn't have asked for more.

This is the view from upstairs.  Here I'm hoping to have classes, sit and stitch evenings and other community art gatherings.  When it's sunny it's divine, but even when it's inclement there is always something happening on the wharf to watch.  Can you see my boat on the right hand side of the picture?

I couldn't help admire the sun and shadows falling across this grouping above.  The artwork is graphite on gesso, a chiaroscuro work by Chris Wilkie.  The pottery is by Peter Yeates.

I have some very talented artists exhibiting and hopefully I'll have more soon.  I want some more of the smaller items, some artisan type work as well as the fine art. 

More pottery by Peter Yeates.  I quite like his rustic style - you can see the marks of the creator in it.

This is the only photo I got on opening night!  I just got far too busy talking and introducing and pouring drinks and talking some more!

But now that I'm open, things have settled down a bit more.  I've been over every day, even if it's just for a couple of hours.  I've met lots of people, all very enthusiastic for me.  I have several artists lined up to show me their work and several more who I have portfolios from to organise future exhibitions.  But I want more!  So artists and artisans - get in touch!

And here is one of the absolute best bits about the whole space - my new design wall.  After opening night, I rearranged the space a little to set up my sewing machine, my cutting and pressing table and my batting-covered, polystyrene design wall.  Bliss!  I think I've been more productive in the past week than I have in the last month just from being in a space that is set up purely for creativity.

There is still lots to do.  More signage, more advertising, more paperwork.  But I'm getting there.  And just so, so happy to be be on the journey.

Have a great weekend.

And, just like that, I'm a Art Gallery owner..

Yes, you read that correctly.

Squeeeeeeeeee!

This has never, ever been in my plans, but it is now, and I'm super excited and really working hard to make it work.

Here's a little background:  My husband and I have been casually looking for a studio space 'off-boat' for me.  I say casually, because this year was meant to be all about consolidation.  We didn't want to spend any money and I was pretty happy making do with a corner of the saloon.

But I take up a fair amount of room, so we have had our eye on a beautiful office just across from us on the Opua Wharf.  Problem is, it is a commercial space and the rent would be well unaffordable just for a studio.

The fence in front of the building surrounds a hole in the wharf looking straight down to the water.

About a week ago, my husband (bless his cotton socks), came up with a plan.  Why don't I have a working studio, open to the public, with half the space as a gallery selling local artist's work?  I can sell my work, my hand-dyed fabrics and possibly other small items like bags and table runners.  I can sell other artist's work on commission, and there is room upstairs for myself and other artists to run classes and community arts groups.  We envisage it becoming a thriving arts hub, supporting the local arts community and the community in general, and all the while providing me with a space to work and produce my own art.

My proposal to the landlord (a council owned company heavily invested in the community) was accepted.  Just like that I have the keys and I'm planning an opening night in two weeks.

Holy crap!

So I'm excited, yes, but I'm also just a teeny massive bit scared.  All of the sudden there are a million things to do.  I need to set up an accounting system, I need to make display plinths, I need to contact all the artists I know (and don't know), I need to make an inventory, I need to write gallery contracts, press releases and opening night invites.

So 'scuse me if you don't see too much of me in the next couple of weeks.  I'm busy learning how to run an art gallery.

PS - If you are a Northland based artist reading this, please email me (you'll find my email address under my profile) with your portfolio and we can talk!

The Working Studio

School holidays are in full swing and yesterday and today were grey and rainy, so I did what I'd been thinking about for ages - rearranged my studio.  It's a good time to get things like that done.  The kids play and watch DVD's and I can take breaks to feed them and mediate or even read stories.  But I still get a lot of time because I don't have to interrupt to go pick them up from school or do mother help or any of those exciting things.  Anyway, here are some before and after pics.

This little nook used to be the kids play area.  I thought it was too small to use for me and it got even smaller when I jammed a couch in there.  You can see the freezer in the picture above that I had at a right angle out into the room .  I used it as a cutting table and had my machine table and trestle table backed up to it.  I decided that it really cut the room in half and wasn't nearly as user friendly as I thought it would be.  Best laid plans and all of that.

So I turned the freezer back against the wall (you can see my big cutting mat on top, I've used 3M command picture hanging strips to attach it to the top of the freezer so I can open the lid without taking the mat off).  I put my trestle table and sew-ezi machine table in an L shape in the nook and now I look out the window when I sew. 

Here's a view right into the nook (bit of a mess, I'm still slowing sorting it out).  I fitted a couple of bookshelves in beside me and these carry all my tools and pins etc that I use frequently while I'm at the machine.  You can see my design wall to the right above my ironing board.

See?  Here's the long view.  I fit nicely into the nook and the room seems so much larger now that the freezer and my trestle table aren't cutting it in half.  And look at all that floor space for laying out quilts!

Here's what it used to look like from the front door (which is next to the nook).  My trestle table with all it's junk underneath it was the central feature.

And here's the same view now.  I've shifted the couch against the wall into the space vacated by one of the bookshelves.  There's still a few baskets of toys that need to be sorted through and downsized (a constant job).  Even better, there's my eight year old boy who used to really struggle with reading.  Over the last school term, his reading age has taken leaps and bounds and is now more than a year ahead of his own age!  So relieved!  Now he's turning into a book worm.  He's read three whole chapter books over the last two days and is pestering me to go to the library to get more of his favourite - the BeastQuest series by Adam Blade.

I cleaned up a little more and took a longer view.  Looks good, huh?

And now the next sorting job on my radar.  Should I attempt it?

Re-purposing - just don't tell my sister in law!

My sister in law gave us an old silk painting a few years back.  It's hung on various walls but never really fitted.  And it wasn't really 'me' to start with.  So today, inspired by the fact it was put on my dining table to move it out of the way, I set to it with a knife and some pliers.

I pulled out the silk painting, which was a whole heap brighter on the back where it wasn't faded (the boat was orange?  Wow, I always thought it was peach!) and put it up on my girl's wall as requested.  Then I cut a piece of batting as large as the backing board, stretched some fabric over the top and hot glued it down.

Some ribbons (do not look at the unsymmetricalness (is that a word?) of them) completed a little inspiration/notice board for my new studio.  

When I slotted a few things behind the ribbons (I'm pretty sure the non-symmetry will disappear once it's got my junk all over it!) I realised I'm going to have to sew some buttons on each ribbon crossing to help hold things in.  And I need some little tacks to replace the ones I pulled out of the back, but otherwise it's all done!  And so easy!  So, if you've got an old unloved picture in an interesting frame anywhere, give it a go.

And guess what's happening at my place today?  Floor sanding!  Two coats on today, maybe a third one later if they can fit it in, and then the last one on tomorrow.  I'm moving in on Friday!  Oh - no I'm not.  I'm sleeping Friday after night shift.  I'm moving in on the weekend!!!