New digs, part 2

My new outdoor studio was finished in June 09 and christened in the midst of the heat wave of the year.  It was miserable being slathered with both sunscreen AND mosquito repellent.  A little mist from the hose occasionally was a life saver.
 


Moving the workplace away from the house meant also moving the rust collection.  It took several days to clean out the shed and organize some sort of system for storing and easily retrieving items for use.  I bought a garden cart which is capable of holding 1000 pounds.  Absolutely great going downhill from house to shed!  Quite a task going uphill again as I discovered when I began other summer projects such as my first vegetable garden and collecting all the piles of bricks I had under various trees left behind from when I was doing mostly composting with my silk.  Bricks were used to weigh down the cocoon of plastic around the fabric.

In the studio I placed the utility sink and another small work table alongside it on the west wall making it handy to the long hose that I stretched down the slope from the house.  The studio was designed with a walk through area.  I can pull my garden cart in from the west in case rust items are too heavy to carry.  My neighbor installed a step on the east so I can access the yard or walk to the clothesline.

Near the end of October my husband visited the studio in late afternoon to shoot some pics of me at work.  In the photo above, in the foreground is a table with several shibori wrapped pieces bundled in plastic.  The large rectangular contraption is a decorative slab of iron with other heavy items being used to weigh down a pair of tights I'm attempting to rust with flat pattern objects.  The other table is being prepped to lay out another scarf.  I can walk completely around the big tables which makes it very easy to work.  My neighbor attached PVC pipe to the legs to raise the height of each which has saved my back from considerable stress. 

When the humidity is low as it was on this day, the wet silk must be covered so that  rusting can proceed before the fabric dries.  I use large ziplock bags for scarves wrapped on short poles.

As I write this, I have a portable heater on in the office and I feel like I'm freezing.  But here I am in shirtsleeves on a breezy 60 degree day handling wet silk.  I dont' recall minding the chill.  Go figure.