studio!

 I feel like I've been holding off on this post because I didn't feel like this was actually real. I've pinched myself again and again-and it's true!  We have a studio!  A big, bright, beautiful space to work and make in.  I'm sharing the space with 6 of my lovely friends who just graduated with me.  I love having like-minded friends who get excited about the silly things that I get excited about.  A wash-out sink! Exposed brick walls! A light table!  Wowser.  

Anyways, we're in the Sonic Unyon building on Wilson Street, just off of James Street North.  It's already been exciting just being close to the growing community of amazing-ness on that street- and I don't even know very many people yet!  We're hoping and planning that we can be open for James North Art Crawl every month so that people can come in, see what we're doing, and maybe even buy some things if we set up a fun pop-up shop!

We need a collective name, however.  Any ideas? 

The studio is not done being set up, by any means, and there's still a large amount of supplies and things that I'll need to get before I can start using it every day(my poor bank account) but it's getting there.   Eric and I, and my studio mate Mary, have been working hard at building a giant print table, a cutting table, putting up shelving, etc, etc.  When I say all three of us, I mostly mean Eric.  If I didn't know it before, I can now safely say that I'm married to the greatest man on earth.  What a guy.

Here's some pictures of our progress so far.  Some of the images aren't the best quality, but you get the idea!

 Big, beautiful, empty space!

 eric the great starting construction on the 20 foot long print table.

   Kijiji stools!  Reupholstered by yours truly. (the ugly red is the old upholstery)

 The cutting table! with built in shelving! It is now painted white and awaiting a cutting mat with a grid.  Oh, and what's that in the background?

 Print table, with padding.  The padding is now stapled on and there's a not-wide-enough drop cloth covering the surface. Oops.  We forgot to get double-wide length cotton.

Oh look!  Here's our embroidery/tea drinking/knitting/crocheting/drawing/sleeping loft!  We really wanted to have room for a couch or some chairs so we could have some space to just sit around in the studio (because screen printing and sewing is hard work-seriously) but we soon discovered that there wasn't going to be any extra room.  Thus-the loft was created!  The previous tenant,the talented Jenna Rose, had a darkroom for exposing screens built already (huge bonus for us!), so all Eric had to do was reinforce it with his framing know-how and build an adorable ladder and railing!  We're going to eventually put lots of pillows and maybe some carpet up there, so we have a nice cozy spot to take a break.  I also attacked the beams up there with a vaccum cleaner. Not completely fun, but definitely worth it.
I think it looks like a giant adult bunk bed and I'm not mad about it.

That's the studio!  I've been pretty busy with it, thus the lack of posting, and the lack of MAKING.  My sewing machines been packed up in a box, waiting to be taken out and used, but there's been too much sawdust in the studio to actually use it.  The construction is done now, though, so hopefully soon I can get back into the swing of things and start expanding this business!