Moved in

I swept the bare floor, took one last look, closed the door on 4-11 and turned in the keys. Kinda made me a little sad. I have a tendency to get attached to places. But I have a beautiful new studio needing my attention now, so I am moving on. Plus my lease was up on the temp one.

My studio (no longer have to distinguish which one...) is in a separate building from the other artist studios. Mill A is attached by a little ramp at the third floor. There are at least 17 units in there. When we were all painting our rooms and introducing ourselves, it felt like we were moving into the dorm the first week of school. (We hope we are the "cool kids".) So far it's a great mix of photographers, a textile artist, a jeweler, a graphic designer and this guy whose work I cannot describe, but I dig it. Plus he and his wife are so nice!


All my supplies are piled on shelves or on the floor against the wall, but I was able to set up my work table in the middle under the (ack!) fluorescent light. I've been in constant motion all week, moving load after load from one studio to the other. I was so sore this morning I took aspirin.

I had bought some self-stick rubber base molding because the drywall couldn't meet the uneven steel floors properly. I thought this was an easy solution. Tip from me to you: self-adhesive rubber base molding - isn't. I did this yesterday. A half hour after I had it up and was feeling pretty clever, I turned around and all 40 feet had done a face plant onto the floor. *sigh* My neighbor had gone through the same experience and kindly lent me some glue in a caulking gun and a putty knife. So I redid the whole job and went back to schlepping.

This morning, you can imagine I was not surprised to see it all on the floor again. I still need 24 more feet of it (waiting for Home Depot to restock, I bought the last boxes in both Nashua and Tewksbury). This time I'll buy the adhesive intended for the job and the little notched trowel-head you can attach to the tip of the glue barrel. I am not daunted!


I needed two book shelves of very specific measurements to put a jewelry display case on top of. I had shopped around the web and in some real stores but saw nothing in my size or price range. So I made a drawing and a cut list and took them to Home Depot. I was lucky and found someone to work the saw and had him do all my cuts. The wood is crappy and the cuts are all off, but I got the materials for two cases for about $50. A little sweat, some screws, putty, primer and paint, and they will be great!


I pulled out the cordless Makita my brother-in-law once sent my dad. (I stole it away one day and conveniently never returned it, thanks dad!) It's an old work horse and the battery has seen better days, but it still holds a charge and as long as it doesn't blow up on me, I'll keep using it. Builds my forearm just to wield it! I used it to drive all the screws and one charge almost made it through both cases.


I didn't get a chance to paint them yet and I have an Open Studio this weekend, Saturday, so I draped a cloth over the cases and a computer desk to make some displays at eye level. I filled the spinner rack with mom's cards, I'll put the earrings, and felt flowers out Friday or Saturday morning.

Then I turned off the overhead light which was harsh and ruining my NPR reception, instead switched on the table lamp D had given me. I sat at the table (also swiped from dad, you're the best!) and made a pair of earrings. There, now it's a studio. Now it's my studio.