With effort, like a squirrel

There's a German saying 'the squirrel feeds itself with effort' - presumably referring to a lot of effort to get into one dinky little nut. Anyway. The building inspector came Monday and gave the go ahead, but the builder could only come out Saturday. So yesterday, they started. They were also supposed to finish, I think, ready for the roofer to move in on Monday. This got slightly scuppered when it took three hours alone to remove a stone ready for the RSJ to hold the gable end. So they said they'd come back today (Sunday) to carry on. That was before they saw that the RSJ they had chosen was buckling under the first two rows of stones they'd managed to build up......about four rows to go.......so they took them down again, and the build is now held up until they can find the right RSJ for the job. There's another German saying - 'things that take forever will finally come good' - here's to hope, lol!

Trials and tribulations

Well, when we found out we needed a Building Notice and requested it on Tuesday, all looked well. When the form still hadn't arrived by Friday, the munchkin and I took matters into our own hands, drove down and filled in a form there and then. Things progressed quickly, and, fingers crossed, a planning inspector will come out tomorrow (Monday). Slightly sour feeling when I think it was supposed to be finished now, but holding on to the excitement of how lovely it'll be once it's done.

At the end of the rainbow...

When I saw this rainbow ending directly 'inside' my garage (soon to be studio), I couldn't resist. You can't tell on the photo, but it really continued down in front of the houses and into my future artistic home. The builder (John) came yesterday and started digging the foundations, but found that there are some there already - unusual for a garage, and a happy coincidence. So rather than taking a photo of a small pile of concrete rubble, I thought you might prefer a rainbow.

As for torching in the cellar........NOT my favourite pastime, lol! But it's good to stay busy and be able to fill orders!

Complications...

...no serious ones, just enough for me to wish I knew more about how these things are done. It's our own fault - we overlooked the 'conditions' in the building regs! So when I called and asked whether they seriously wanted us to cart a huge slab of stone in to them (as well as a slate), I was told 'yes'. And the need for a 1:20 drawing of the roof flashings is somewhat hampered by me not knowing what they're talking about, and our roofer being a roofer (and a very good one!), not an architect. Did I mention our fabulous roofer? He's rising to the challenge and getting out pencil & paper, and will also take care of the carting of slabs & slate. In the meantime, foundations for the back wall will be dug by our builder tomorrow (which made me double-check the days of the week!)

So, all's good in the world of studios, just a bit confused!

With no new studio pics, here are some amber rough pups, my favourite of the bead sets currently on my site ;o)

Day 3

Well, end of Day 2, really! The roofers are done for now, seeing as they don't have any stonework to work with and lay the roof on! So they'll be having a day off today, and I'll need of something else to blog about ;o) The stonework needs building up to the gable, and the back, which also has a garage door, will be built up to have a 'proper' door and a window. There will be two conservation grade velux windows in the ceiling. Already, it looks so much more spacious inside. I'm in the process of finalising my ventilation system, before pressing the 'order' button.

Day no. 2

It was still a bit dark when I left this morning, and the angle is a bit disorienting, but, essentially, the roof has gone! It was an eyesore, tarp and pitch and whatever - the new one will look much nicer, pitched, rather than flat, adding extra space. I don't know if I'll update you all every day, but whenever there's anything to see, I'll share it here!

New beginnings!

After nearly two years of waiting, the builders finally started on my garage, turning it into a beautiful studio. Waiting for this has been frustrating - I bought a fabulous big torch (bearing in mind my 'normal' torch isn't small, either) as a second torch a few months ago, and, with a promise of builders just around the corner, decided to be patient and set it up in the new studio......fast forward about 15 weeks!!!

I'll be so excited to see this project finished - I'll be able to hold open studios, teach, torch with natural light (luxury!)...here is what my 'studio' looked like in January 2008 - quite a while ago, I've since (in fact, that same month) had a dual fuel torch, an oxycon, and a kiln, but the generic set-up (i.e. the garage) remains the same. Cosy, huh?

I'll keep you all updated on progress!