New Studio Space!

I moved into the new studio last week, or maybe it was the week before. Anyway, it took longer than expected. There was a lot of stuff to go out to the garage from that little sun porch. Days of carting stuff across the driveway. And then I had to figure out where it all went and how it all worked in the new space. I'm still doing that, and I find that no matter what, I'm still getting up to get something on the other side of the room.
I bought a counter top at the Restore which will be the sink and glaze area on the far wall. Eventually, but for now I'm using a bucket of water from the kitchen as always. The plan is also to have ware shelves across the north wall, but for now, there is still construction material for house reno stored on the wall, and it will be there a while I think. For now I'm still using the small ware shelves that we had in the other studio.
I'm in a decorating phase right now which you may notice from the pots of paint littering the table top. I signed up for a tile making and decorating course at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design with Suzi Cameron. I was attracted to the decoration aspect of the course in the description because I know nothing about painting (and it shows) so my pots always end up looking like a 4 year old painted them, but not in a good way like naive art or folk art, or Jackson Pollack but just in a bad way like a completely talentless hack had a go.
So I've been practicing on greenware with underglazes under Suzi's very expert direction, and in some ways I'm actually getting the hang of it, but it still looks pretty amateurish. Plus now I want to go out and spend money on better brushes because her brushes actually do what I want (sort of) and mine I bought in a package of 10 at the dollar store 4 years ago. Nuff said.

Also, we moved all the orphan pottery equipment that we have collected over the years into the studio. You may notice a large treadle wheel and a belt driven bench style wheel and a stand up cabinet style wheel in the photos. These came with various kilns we acquired on kijiji. The bench wheel was my first wheel which I used until the sweetie (and inlaws) bought me the new one a couple years ago at Christmas. All the wheels work, although the electric ones are slow and a bit jittery. The treadle wheel also came with a motor but the wiring was apart, so we just took it off and the treadle bit works amazingly well. I had a go this week for the first time. I've never done it before, and I was surprised at how much energy it took. It was like riding a stationary bike and my heart rate increased by the time I was finished centring.  An art workout!

The cabinet wheel has only one speed, and I think we will turn it into a sharpening wheel because it isn't very fast and I don't think I could manage to throw a pot on it, although I thought for a while I could use it as a dedicated trimming wheel.
Oh, and the studio has a facebook page! The world must be coming to an end if I'm on facebook. Except I don't understand what I'm doing, and I can't seem to make anything work. My page doesn't have a search window or a fans or events button, so I can't do anything but post to myself and post photos on my wall. I'd like to invite you to see it but I can't. Just search facebook pages for Sun Porch Pottery and Like me (or don't) and maybe it will start working, or something.
Cheers
Jane