The studio takes shape after years in boxes on pallets, boxes in the duplex, boxes inside of boxes, label, no label, 2 cross-country moves (pack, unpack, repack, reunpack, repeat, put studio stuff in box marked kitchen, etc), sketch books, work-in-progress, material, casting grain, stock shapes, scraps, and so forth…

There was a small trunk show a couple of weeks ago at the tail end of 5 days of fever and flu. Yuck. More of an exercise in finding and preparing old work than making new pieces. I enjoyed and appreciated my hosts and talking to customers plus I took away some ideas about a new display table.

One space I’m using is in a warehouse in Moore where there is a stupid amount of room.  The studio area is about 9×10 feet furnished with a traditional bench, oak library table and wax work table. Nearby is a small area with a safe, 4 metro shelves on casters, 3 kilns, a vac and centrifugal caster, vibe polishers and finishing machines and storage. About 200 square feet total. Lots of searching, wiping, cleaning, sorting, knolling, labeling, and purging (really don’t need 20 Dixon hammers,  3 leather mallets, 3 riveting hammers, 3 chasing hammers, etc).  The extras will be on a “tools for sale” page. Set up Paypal and Square.

Oh yes, entropy (an amount of disorder in a closed system)… Before I packed up the studio I occasionally used a Los Angeles refiner/fabricator for refining and stock material. They were professional as of Oct, 1999. Fast forward to Oct and Nov, 2011 and I’m somewhere between Dilbert and Kafka. I thought maybe the customer service for the first batch was a “bad day/week” kind of thing for them. I recently sent a second batch of scraps for refining and found dysfunction, chaos, lies and showing contempt for your customers is really their mission. I thought about writing a bit about the experiences but why waste the time and energy on these folks. They have many competitors who are trade professionals. I’ll consider myself lucky if the settlement check arrives without any issues.

So, a short ramble of activity in the new studio. I haven’t created an editorial calendar or schedule for the blogs but I think from this point there will be more frequent posts.

Work in progress: “Happy Moon  Happy Sun” series.

hand pierced sterling with lapis lazuli chips

Marshall