At Home in the New Studio- bring on the polymer clay!!

The studio transfer was competed yesterday with the installation of a light fixture. even with three 100 watt bulbs inthe new fixture, I'm still supplementing lighting with desk lamps. I'm getting used to walking from the kitchen into the new space rather than clunking down the basement stairs. The two-desk system is working very well so far and I find my mindset for sweeping stuff onto the floor is different when I'm in a finished room rather than a semi-finished basement.

The room itself is lovely. It has high ceilings, a funky Victorian fireplace that was purchased in an auction by a previous owner- it's non-functioning but looks super when a row of candles are lit in it. The LEM UV Resin oven  (patent pending lol) sits beside it to add an eclectic accent to the decor.

The original 1911 windows are gorgeous and are framed by a wisteria that is trying to fnd a catch-hold in the room. I'm always baffled that one of the windows is painted shut. Why anyone would paint windows shut is beyond me- we have three windows in this condition - I'll have to get a professional to repair them as my attempts have been futile. (I digress- grrrrr)

Shelving is vital in the space- I have supplies and stock in several dozen rubbermaid bins and a very handy IKEA storage unit.

As you can see by the work on my "mess-desk", the space is functioning and today I'm going to do a batch of crackle resin earrings then begin a series of lanterns... where did I put the polymer clay?

The LEM- my home built UV resin curing oven

A few weeks ago I purchased an 18" black light fixture for curing UV resin. Today I built the "oven" which I affectionately nicknamed the LEM as, with the duct tape, mylar and cardboard it looks like an Apollo era space craft. My son Brendan walked in during construction and thought I had finallygone off the deep end and was building a unit for communicating with extra terrestrials. Anyway, the job is done and true to the spirit of Appolo 13 it works!

I used a Rubbermaid cupboard shelf, a reflective mylar emergency blanket which is much stronger than aluminum foil and will last a long time without ripping, duct tape and cardboard.

I attached the light fixture to the frame with some binding wire.

Here's the oven, it has a front flap that closes  for curing  - it's not rocket science!  

Mixed Media Messiness- a solution?

The new studio organization session is well underway. I will have 2 desks- one is a "clean desk", it has my computer and printer on it and it will be used for art jewelery construction. Sand, paint, fibre , Future, glue and other gunge-related materials will be banned. The second desk is for the messy stuff. I'm topping both desks with glass.


Regular visitors to my blog know the state of the floor under my work area. Here's a blog entry describing the way I managed to do a floor clean up.  This new studio is on the main floor of the house and has a gorgeous 99 year old hardwood floor. Mushed clay and other materials can not be ground into it. I'm finding myself approaching this room with a different state of mind- it's not a semi finished room in the basement- it's part of my home. I found this catch all tray for my mixed media desk at Lee Valley Tools - I'm hoping it will prevent floor damage in here.


No one can say I don't TRY to be tidy. 

The New Studio- getting organised

I'm home  from Chile... what a wonderful place! I took hundreds of photos to use in collage pieces and  I'm inspired to get to work again but there's one obstacle I have to overcome- loading up the new studio! The new space is much smaller but has bigger windows, high ceilings and is adjacent to the kitchen which is handy for keeping myself supplied with cups of tea.

Here's the current jumble, a traffic jam of furniture,  I'm desperate to go to Home Depot to get shelves and a light fixture but I'm stuck at home waiting for a call from the cable guy....

Street Art in Santiago and Valparaiso

Chile is a country that celebrates COLOUR!!  Street artists have festooned many shops and buildings with fabulous works that energise the environment with colour! Here's a sampling...

Visiting Santiago Chile!

I'm lucky to be accompanying my husband on a trip to a conference in Santiago! I'll have plenty of arty pictures to share but the real delight today was being a part of a huge national celebration when Chile won against Honduras in the World Cup!

New UV light for resin work!

Okay, I KNOW I'm downsizing the studio but I saw this addition to the space to sensible! It's an 18" uv light- cost me an economical $39! I'll be rigging up a box for it so I can do the resin and leave it and then put the light box over it.


I've noticed that resin often spills when it goes under the lights and warms up--- I wonder if a fan to help cool things down would reduce spillovers? That's an experiment I'll have to try soon!


Back to sorting.....

Mixed Media Polymer Clay on Canvas Collage is Finished! "Tide Pool at Point No Point"

It seems timely to post my celebration of a west coast shore on World Oceans Day. . Thanks to all of the people who followed the progress of the piece over the last few weeks! Your encouragement helped a lot- especially during the "oil spill incident".


 I must have done something right, photographing it was a lot like one of my beach photoshoots except I didn't have to worry about slipping off of a rock!

Here's a detail

Closing A Studio

My son is graduating from high school tomorrow! He's heading for college in the fall to study culinary arts...yum!
 He has outgrown his bedroom-  and we've decided that well convert my studio into a living space for him and I'll move the studio upstairs to his old bedroom.

I've gone through the process of a studio cleanout/renovation  before and blogged the process.... this will be putting together a  new that is half the size of the current one. should be interesting....

The first step was to box all sorts of items that I can't toss but don't need- they are "filed" in labelled  Rubbernaid bins. As you can see from the picture the bins will be getting more "stuff".

We've got a timeline of around a month for the transition. even though the studio is in chaos there'll be an element of order- I'll be still able to work on resin work and BeachStone art jewellery!

FINALLY- some UV rays on the west coast!

At long, long, long last we had some sunshine and I spent the day applying progressive layers of resin to my "tidepools"!! I have a few last touches of colour to add with some polymer clay "BeachStones" but for the most part this piece is  finished and I'm aiming to post the final photo during the weekend!