Studio tour

Well, hello there!

As some of you know, in just three short weeks, we're moving from our little crooked house.  I thought I'd take some pictures of it "for posterity" and then realized that maybe you'd like to see it too.

For those of you who have been with me for awhile, yes, I did do a post about my sewing room after the second "renovation" a couple of years ago, but that was done for about a hot minute when I realized I didn't need a sewing room set up for quilting, I needed a studio set up for art-ing!


Soooooo.....

So the first big change is, that when you walk in, instead of seeing a big L-shaped table, you now see this. That's two of  the large sized Expedite units from Ikea on their sides, with an ash plywood top and pine finishing edges, all stained with Varathan in "Tuscan".

I use it for quilting the backgrounds of my pieces as well as other sewing stuff, but where that baby is worth its weight in gold is as a painting table!


That little shelf unit is still there, and still has most of the same stuff in it and on it, except that there is now some soy wax for resist dyeing and some resin and encaustic stuff (leftover from my ill fated resin and encaustic experiments). I'd like to say that those shelves are usually tidier, but I'd be lying. lol  And yes, that's a broken drawer, that I broke and never repaired. Oops!



This long wall on the left has seen a lot of big changes as well.
 
In the middle, there used to be a drafting table with all kinds of batting and WIPs in baskets underneath, but I didn't really have room for the table anymore, and I didn't use it very frequently anyway. 
 
The big industrial metal shelving units that used to be on either side (that held yardage) have been replaced by more of the RAST dressers, whose drawers have small amounts of rolled up fabric in them. Although my art pieces have gotten larger over the years, the pieces that comprise them have gotten smaller!

                         

In this new configuration, I'm also able to display some of my small pieces which has been nice for me - it's inspiring while I'm working to look around and see some favourites as well as pieces that remind me to always try to get better!

An unexpected result of this displaying was that when I posted pictures of work in progress on Facebook on the weekends, sometimes people spotted stuff in the backgrounds and would ask if the pieces were for sale. So that was nice as well. :)


This wall used to have those dressers (which got moved to the opposite wall, plus  2 more) and a sweet Ikea bookcase. The bookcase is now out in the other room, along with the metal shelves with yardage and the other stuff.
 
As well as having storage in the cubbies of the table, I have some storage on the table:



this basket full of my paints for instance, 


... or on the far left, this smaller basket containing my remote controls, a cup with my different pencils, another with all of my cutting implements, and two vintage tins - the smaller containing pins and the larger containing oil pastels and charcoal sticks.



This little basketry contraption that used to live under the L-shaped table has all the same dyeing stuff in it - I just put a piece of the leftover  plywood on top and store my needle felter, irons and laptop on there. 

Above it, I have my bulletin board of shows that I'd like to apply to... I don't always remember to look at them though, so I have a "back up plan" of the calendar right below my t.v. shelf.



Speaking of which: I used another piece of the plywood to make it. It's great for the tv and also for my tchotkes, which revolve according to my mood. There are usually at least two birds and a couple of elephants - which there are currently - but the only things that are permanent up there are my Buddha, my clock and the little fabric bunny - a gift from my youngest son at Easter ten or eleven years ago. :)


...and replacing my drafting table is this super-great contraption that BSP bought me, a table easel. I attach it to this shelf when I'm not using it, but when in use, it gets put on the end of the table in place of the sewing machine. 


On the other side is my mini-design wall: more of an inspiration wall, really.

I do have a large design wall (along with a painting and mini-photo studio) just outside this main studio (BSP let me take over the family room for those activities, and that's where the rest of my studio lives); but I love this little mini board for pinning up ideas, baggies of bits for my pieces, and things to stir my imagination.


In that little tucked away corner I used to have all of my stretcher frames and pre-stretched canvases and the like, which now live in the closet; and instead, I have bolts of muslin (for backing) and poplin (for painting), as well as bolts of lutradur, pellon and fusible, and works-in-progress rolled up on pool noodles for safe-keeping. My "guest chair" (or my desk chair) lives there as well.


Actually, a note about chairs - the table itself is an odd height in that it's not tall enough for a bar stool, but too tall for a regular chair. So I have a cut down bar stool for  my sewing chair with a little table for my foot pedal that BSP made with the cut off bits of legs from the stool. In the new space, I'll actually have a desk! :)

Under the table I have some containers with bubble and industrial plastic wrap as well as huge muslin bags that I've sewn up  - all stuff for packing my art off to various shows.
 

My thread wall remains the same.

I go through every four or five months and organize the thread by colour and weight, and after a tidy, I put them back where they belong for a while; but eventually, I go back to just putting them wherever there's an empty space, which means it generally looks like this. lol
 
And that, my lovelies, is the end of our tour.

My next studio is twice as big as this one and has room to put everything back in one space - it'll be fun to have allllllllll of my things around me again. Stay tuned for a new studio tour around September, I think.
 
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I'm really going to miss our little crooked house. It was BSP's and my first home together; where we began our married lives, and lived and loved and argued and made-up; where we talked and danced and dreamed and my god - did we laugh(!) But I'm especially going to miss my little sewing room-cum-studio where, after 30 years of sewing, I decided to make a quilt out of some leftover fabrics I'd been saving, and with that first quilt, accidentally discovered my passion and purpose. 

It all happened here in the home that love built. 

But still, I`m beginning to be excited about our new house and our joint adventures in this next stage of our lives.  And I can't wait to see what will happen next in my artistic life in my new, bigger and brighter studio.

 If you'd like to see the old sewing room, that's HERE, and what it looked like before that, HERE. And before that, I had a little table in a bedroom on the third floor - that's where my very first quilt was made.  
Onward we go. I  hope you'll join me in the next chapter!
 


Kit Lang

6 comments:

  1. Oh Kit there seems to be so much moving going on! I'm moving this week. ( my work home as opposed to my home home) and I will have a bigger space to call a studio and Sherrie ( another blogger I follow from Seattle) is on the move too. Hope the move is successful and straight forward for you.

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  2. That bunny with the wings is such a great piece, I love the feel of it.

    Are you staying in Riverdale, or will you be breaking in a new neighbourhood? I can see that moving will be bittersweet, your studio is just fine tuned now!

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  3. Good luck on your move. I dread the whole thought of moving. We've been in our house 35 years and have so much stuff.

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  4. Thank you for sharing your studio. I'll probably adopt more than one of your ideas for storage, especially the peg board, for thread. Good luck with the move. I hope it all goes smoothly.

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  5. It's always fun to see other peoples studios. Thanks for sharing. The thought of packing and moving all of this overwhelms me! But, I'm sure the new studio will be awesome once you get it set iPad!

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  6. Hey, lucky you to move into a BIGGER studio! Let us know when you get set up, so we can come visit your new space Kit. Always enjoy your posts.
    LeeAnna Paylor not afraid of color lapaylor.blogspot.com

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