Upholstery Zone

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It has been determined and proven already that Carol can do anything. It has also been determined that Graham enjoys purchasing fabric too much and Ermela comes up with too many ideas for said fabric....What does all this add up to? If Carol doesn't get an upholstery studio, Ermela wont get her chairs and Graham will bury everyone in yards of natural fibers. The obvious solution was to start converting one of the garage bays into a workspace, it has natural light, electricity and big spaces; or at least it will once we finish emptying it out of boxes. For now we have cleaned it up, turned a door into a table, set up a couple sewing machines and put down a sisal rug (we have learned that the quickest way to make a space feel more finished is to put down a sisal, its odd but true). So, without further ado:
 

Yes yes, you were expecting more, but it's a start, the true magic will be seeing what Carol turns out of this space.
 

First Glaze Firing

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We finally got around to glazing and firing our first set of pots! they came out 90% awesome. Thanks to the tutelage of Dustin ( @ceramicism www.ceramicismxoxo.com ) we figured out what we were doing and had some pretty cool if unexpected results. For those of you who have not been in middle school recently... first you shape the clay, then you harden it in a light firing, then you paint it with the glaze. The glaze changes appearance drastically after the firing from what it looks like in the container, also, glazes tend to react in unexpected ways with other glazes.
 

More detailed pictures of the post-firing results to come, just waiting for a nice sunny day and a minute to spare.
 

Artist in Residence Program

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OK, perhaps it is too soon to call it a program, but due to our abundance of artistically gifted friends we are hoping to create a space where friends can come visit, stay a while, and create. This last weekend we had our first taste of it when Dustin and Hannah came upstate and set up the rickety home made pottery wheel Graham got off Ebay (turned out to be a good buy). We don't know anything about pottery, we picked up a kiln and some basic equipment in the hopes of making tile, but figured you cant have a kiln without a wheel... So lucky us, Dustin is an awesome potter, follow him on Instagram @ceramicism - he gave us tutorials and made some great pieces. We can't wait for more creative weekends like this.
 

Meanwhile, Hannah did some serious damage upstairs tearing out plaster and lathe in the old "pink bathroom".
 

See that smudge??? That's a sign of hard work!
 

A great weekend!