A Small Update..

I've been SO busy wrapping up the studio we are building that I've barely had time for anything else. Hubs and I are knocking out most of the finishing touches this week.

View from one of the windows in the new studio

So here's a another small peak into what is going on...

First, some weeks ago our pipes and waste line froze. But we are starting to see some thawing. A drip of water started coming out of one of the drain pipes so Don spent part of today working on adding more heat to try to speed it along. The septic system installer put a cattle tank warmer into the tank to to heat it up. The tank had been filled with water right after the install to get it to weigh down into the ground, and THAT water is what froze the system. Argh. Anyway, we are seeing a TINY bit of progress in the thawing.

Don working on thawing the new waste line and tank

View out back - the ground is dug up from the initial excavation, and still pretty frozen about 4 feet deep.

Our friend and carpenter Jack has been working on the trim and doors - getting them stained and installed. He rigged this neat little system for staining doors. He basically mounted 3 at a time onto two large 6x2s. He did this by adding a screw in the middle of each door end,  allowing them to be easily pivoted for staining and varnishing. Genius! I think he is doing a fabulous job getting all this done.

Trim stained and read to be installed.

Doors getting stained and varnished.

Doors from Karen Totten on Vimeo.

Tiled floor in Clay Room.

Kitchen cabinets are installed. It is a small galley style kitchen. We chose a woodland / lodge theme so we decided on hickory cabinets. I plan to make tiles for the backsplash this summer. I have been looking at hardware for the doors and drawers. Here are some ideas I ran across (image below the cabinet pictures). I like the idea of a mix of twigs, leaves, and maybe some animal paw prints or whatever. They are a tad expensive so I might think about making some of them myself out of ceramic; maybe just get the twig styles in bronze and make the others in stoneware. Hmm....

One side of the galley kitchen...

...the other side.

Some ideas for door pulls and handles.

My large kiln has still not been moved to the new studio so my ceramic work is on hold for at least one more week. Meanwhile, I have been focusing on bronze work.

Last week's bronze.

That's it for now.  :)

Except for this...

April Component of the Month Announcement from Lesley Watt:

We have 3 winners! They are: 

• Johana Nunez
• Perri Jackson
• Leah Curtis