The Melting Room....

Interestingly enough the latest Flaming Hot blog topic asks us to talk about our studios...something I've been consumed with lately.

My studio is.....really driving me nuts. My studio used to be out in the garage. It actually is still in the garage but I can't get to it because my DH has managed to pile all of his HUGE woodworking equipment in front of and all around it.

Now, I really can't complain because we have a plan to convert our pantry into a new studio pour moi. Yes! This is totally exciting because it will be indoors and climate controlled. My desire to melt glass will no longer be dictated by the temperature outside. So far we've torn up the flooring and stripped the walls of the built in shelving that was there. The plan is to put down some kind of non-flammable surface - most likely tile of some sort. Concrete backer board will go up behind the torching area. There is a plan for exhaust as well as bringing in make-up air. We'll tee off the existing gas line that resides just on the other side of the pantry wall. I think this space is really going to rock! The only problem I foresee is figuring out how to accommodate all the power that the appliances are going to draw. I hope to get pics up of the progress as we start working on it in more earnest (probably after the in-laws are gone) so you can always check back for progress.

Up until this point I worked out in the garage on a table purloined from my DH. It's made out of a solid core door. I simply laid out 12 x 12 tile all over the surface and insta-unflammable tabletop! I have a creation station which I love. Use a Minor torch with 2 oxycons hooked up. My kiln is a Mike Crowley creation with I can't say enough good things about. I have to say the one really neat accessory that I have is an old dental tool cabinet. It has casters so it can roll around and I love the shallow drawers that house all my picks and tools. It also has deeper drawers that I use to store all of my frit jars. The top shelf is for all of my presses. The best part of it is that I got it for $7 locally from some dude selling it on Ebay. My best buy by far!

I'm looking forward to re-organizing all of my glass when I move indoors. I've got so much I'm really going to have to think carefully about my storage strategy.

Not sure what else I can tell you about my studio except that I long for the day when I have my own, standalone building dedicated to melting glass. Yeah....gimme another couple of years. Once all the renos on this house are done it'll be time to find some land somewhere a little further out where there's no such thing as a HOA to veto me putting up a studio.