Studio Construction: Fixtures and Fittings

The hot water tank is installed in the crawlspace below the tub. This energy efficient placement means little heat is lost between the hot water tank and where I need the hot water.

South Shore Cabinetry made and installed the cabinets and some of the furniture.

Here are my drawing and design desk areas...

...backed by a bookcase.

The print table gets its wheels.

These drawers...

...go into both sides of the dye station.

A shelf is made to support the double tub.

The tub is braced while the sealer cures.

The room is finally coming together and beginning to look like a studio. I am enjoying visualising how I will work at each of the stations.

Studio Construction: Painting and Plumbing

Marshall Travis, Artisan Painting Plus, brought his daughter, Madeline, along to help him with the painting.

Ron unpacked the new sink faucet that arrived in the mail.

The plumber delivered the hot water tank.

Ron helped carry it around the back to the crawlspace.

This is a plumber's bag.

There were lots of different vehicles in the back yard this day.

Studio Construction: Lighting

Installing the lighting.

Note the orange spot on the ceiling - Paul Dancy of Prices Alarms has installed the alarm system. The orange cover will be taken off once the system is activated.

An electrician's belt/bag has lots of different wire cutters.

Lighting was another big issue that we were most particular about. We got 2 different companies to model the lighting and give us a quote according to our specifications. When we started doing the research last year dimmable LED lighting wasn't available but once we started looking at specific lights last month dimmable LED lights were being made.

We began designing on the premise that light was needed over the different work areas and not necessarily over every area all of the time. We needed controls to manage the amount and location of the light. The amount of light is measured by lumens per square foot. Transition areas require only 7.5 lumens/ft while work surfaces require 75.0 or more lumens/ft.

Another consideration which was more difficult to assess was my patterns of use. Once I am working in my new space, I am not sure what my work habits will be. I don't want to limit myself at this stage, but we needed something to work with so we assumed  I would work mainly in the mornings because I know that is when I work best.

Jonathan, the architect, designed the windows to get maximum light right into the centre of the room without too much direct sunlight on the work surfaces. He designed for the soft morning light to come in through the east high windows. We have long summer days and short winter days so the lights would be needed mostly over the winter months. I will count on daylight as the primary light source for general illumination during the summer and turn on task lighting only when needed.

The result of the modelling was 3 banks of lights in the main room, each with their own control, and all dimmable.

The next consideration was the type of light.

I need the light to show true colours which translated to a high CRI (Color Rendition Index) bulb rating.

The light itself needs to be a neutral colour, not too warm and yellow like in a cafe and not too blue and cool looking like in a laboratory. These colours relate to the temperature of the light or the Kelvin Index. We went with a medium high Kelvin temperature of 4100.

The Green Shed lit up at night. 

A first.

Meanwhile, the dehumidifier continues to take moisture out of the building materials and the moisture level is slowly dropping.

If the humidity level inside a building during the heating season (winter) is at 30% the risk of condensation on cold surfaces such as windows increases greatly which can result in materials damage over time.

If mold grows inside the building during the warmer summer months when warm air hits a cold surface humidity levels are at 60%. 

Humidity levels at 50% and more are when dust mites flourish.

If you smell a musty odor inside there is mold present. Reducing the indoor humidity level is the first defense against indoor contaminants such as mold, mildew and dust mites. Keeping the humidity low makes for a healthy living environment and a longer life for the building's materials.

So we keep at emptying the dehumidifier bucket every day.

Studio Construction: Finishing the Floor

While I was downstairs in the crawlspace vacuuming...

...and scrubbing the polished concrete,...

...Adrian was upstairs finishing the floor. The tiles have the first coat of sealer. The light bulbs help it to dry and cure.

To help decide on the type of flooring I did a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a number of different materials looking at their durability, life expectancy and ease of maintenance. 

The winner was......cork!

I made these signs to ensure people didn't track in pebbles and grit with their shoes and scratch up the beautiful new floor. 

Four thin layers of water based varnish have been spread over the tiles with the final layer drying slowly in a closed up room. Now the floor needs to cure for 4 days and I can't put any rugs down for 10 days.

Looking good!

Duro Design, a Quebec company, imports sustainably sourced tiles from Portugal, adds the colour and coats the back with a marine grade, neoprene contact cement. They make the tiles only once they are ordered to minimise waste and having to store a large inventory of the 6 different designs and 52+ different colours. Their flooring gives a building a lot of LEED credits because it is recyclable, made from renewable materials and the adhesives and sealers are low-emitting.

Cork trees can be harvested every 7 to 12 years and a considered a rapidly renewable resource. The fast growing species doesn't require chemical fertilisers or pesticide treatments. The cork tiles are guaranteed to last 25 years and can be recycled to make new tiles. Cork  tiles have so many positive attributes. They are antimicrobial preventing the cultivation of mold and they resist dust mites and insects so require only a damp mop and water to clean (no chemical cleaners). Cork absorbs sound, bounces back when things are dropped on it, and dropped things are less likely to break. It is fire resistant, anti-static and unaffected by humidity. It is soft underfoot making it easy on the feet and back when standing for a long time. Composed of 50% air in closed cells it has excellent insulation properties and always feels warm underfoot. Any damaged tiles can be lifted and replaced without having to replace the whole floor.

You can see why I am sold on cork flooring.

Studio Construction: Flooring Preparation

I see Adrian's truck. That means he may be here to install the flooring. The other mean looking truck belongs to Chris, Adrian's assistant.

Adrian tested the humidity levels in the floor and they are acceptable - whipeee!

He removed all staples, lumps of glue and filler in the plywood before vacuuming it all thoroughly. Next he sanded all of the joints smooth.

Next step was to lay down the underlay and nail it every foot or so.The underlay is printed with a regular pattern of crosses (hard to see) to indicate where the nails are to go.

All of the underlay joints are filled with a Portland cement-based underlay patching material. Chris is sanding the dried cement to make the underlay perfectly smooth. Then the floor is vacuumed thoroughly again.

The underside of the tiles (left side) has a dry green coloured contact cement that was applied in the factory. The right side shows the tile.

Next step, a thin layer of the green adhesive is rolled onto the subfloor and left to dry. Then the tiles are laid down. Pressure applied to the tile activates the adhesive to make it stick.

A good day's work.

Studio Construction: Cabinet Installation

I came home from the Dorothy Caldwell workshop to find the new garden bed has flowers for the first time. This inlet to the pond had been completely covered by blackberry. Once it was cleared there was nothing else growing.  

Last July visiting family members planted Japanese water irises and ferns. Almost to the day, a year later, the irises came out in bloom. They contrast beautifully with the soft horsetail, a native that has appeared out of the soil. It was such a lovely sight to come home to.

Meanwhile. back in the studio the built-in furniture had been put back after the plumber visited.

Can't wait to fill all of those drawers.

The tub is proving a challenge. It needs to be blocked so the edges won't move and break the waterproof seal. Ron and I are now searching the internet for the right faucet.

Dorothy Caldwell: Book Making - Putting it all Together

Dorothy showed us many other methods for making our mark on fabric and paper. She also showed us many examples of what others had done in the past and what contemporary artists are currently working on. 

 We were left to continue exploring the methods we liked.

Then is was time to start thinking about how various elements and pages could go together.

Cleverly Dorothy got us to use the sheet of paper we had been working on top of to make a practice book with a woven spine binding. I was delighted I am a messy worker because I have lots of random marks in the pages of my book.

Another book involved folding and cutting up the large piece of paper we marked with ink while outside. This book was such fun to make. It now awaits embellishment, or not.

After the practice books, we worked in earnest on assembling our main book. Dorothy sat with each of us while we showed her our marked pages and she offered advice, suggestions and help that kept us going until the end of the week.

The last activity involved everyone sharing their books.

Such a wonderful workshop.

Thank you, Dorothy.

Dorothy Caldwell's Human Marks Workshop

"An individual stroke is an utterance of touch." Dorothy Caldwell

 Dorothy is demonstrating the next Stroke Painting exercise. 

We taped various types of brushes onto long sticks. We dipped them into pots of different dilutions of black ink. With a large sheet of paper on the ground in front of each of us, we were instructed to use our whole body to make the mark on the paper. After we had filled the paper we flipped it and continued making marks but this time very slowly and deliberately. An added bonus was soft rain started to fall adding texture to our marks.

We hung our marks in the breezeway of Gloria's studio. We studied the layers of marks when the papers were more transparent with the light showing through them.

We spent the rest of the day making marks by piercing with a large nail, burning holes with an incense stick, burning edges with a candle, and adding smoke and wax to paper.

Next morning we learned about the history of Kantha embroidery. We then began to make our own Kantha marks on fabric.

This is the result of a group exercise where we all stitched blindfolded, responding to words Dorothy gave us to meditate on.

All of these exercises have helped us to feel centred and focused on what we are doing.

Dorothy Caldwell Workshop

Dorothy Caldwell taught her 'Human Marks' workshop in Gloria Daly's Duncan studio. Many of us had registered for the workshop over 18 months ago, as soon as we heard Dorothy was coming to the island.

Dorothy is a gifted teacher and a great artist. Everyone was so eager to be coached by her for the week.

The first exercise was to make a quick spontaneous mark on paper with black ink. We put our efforts up on the wall and looked at them while Dorothy explained the notion of the human mark.

The next exercise was to make  repeated marks with only our hands, ink and a small felt pad. We worked on both sides of a long piece of soft paper.  I used all of my finger tips on my right hand to make my repeating marks.

We lay our papers end on the full length of the room and marvelled at the variety and different effects and feelings in each one.

Next exercise. This time we used a fine pen to make a small single motion repeated mark over and over. This exercise required more arm movement and produced quite a different kind of mark. One that looked different close-up and from a distance. The mark itself makes the drawing.

Throughout these exercises, we were thinking of the word Dorothy gave us -

Allow