Hi everyone,
I thought I would write a little bit about my studio today for those of you who don’t know the set up here.
We moved to our Victorian end of terrace two up two down, nearly 3 years ago, there was a garden shed here at the time, but it was very small and leant to one side, not really ideal for a pottery studio! My studio at that time was in my Mums garage, but when she sadly passed away and we sold her bungalow, I needed somewhere else to work from, so we employed the services of a local supplier of wooden studio/summer house style buildings and my current studio was built half way down the garden. It was a tight squeeze fitting it in as in typical Victorian style, the gardens are 100ft long and about 15ft wide….. the studio we went for is 12ft wide. There is just enough room for a path running down the side which leads to our veg patch and my husbands workshop. (Yes we have His and Hers workshops – nothing if not fair!)
The building is made of timber with a flat roof, slanted down slightly in one corner for water to run off into a water butt and not collect on the roof. There is a window at the rear and one to the side, plus French doors which open out into the garden.
Here is a very leafy view of the studio from the back of our house.
Within the studio space I have a table for working on decorating, attaching handles and a small amount of hand-building, under which I store my glazes and clays; I now have two kilns so I can fire back to back (this has helped hugely at busy times); a bookcase which I use to store pots for two of my main stockists; various other clutter which is important to me but of little relevance to anyone else! and of course my all important wheel. I also have a small electric mock wood burning stove, which keeps it nice and toasty in there when its chilly and one of the kilns isn’t on.
I have shelves for drying pots, bisque pieces and finished work, a shelf for my books and the inevitable paperwork files; and one for pots of underglaze. There are also two suitcases, one of which is quite old and has been around the world a few times with my late parents; these I use for storing more stock pieces, and the patina on the top of one of them makes a nice backdrop for photographing finished work.
It is a happy place for me, I find it very calming and easy to work in…… I listen to the radio a little, but quite frequently I prefer the sound of the birdsong and the triumphant clucking of my neighbours chickens! I frequently thank my lucky stars that my comute to work takes about 30 seconds (a minute or two if I get side tracked looking at how the garden is doing), I am my own boss, and am able to work at something I love. It took a very long time to arrive at this point, but I am eternally grateful to be here now.
bye for now,
Yvonne
