What you cannot live without...

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KellyBowman
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What you cannot live without...

Post by KellyBowman »

I am getting a new studio built. It will be approximately 16'x20'. No more working in whatever corner I can find! Since I will be building it from the ground up, tell me what it is in your studio that you can't do without.

Thanks, K
Laurie Spray
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Laurie Spray »

As far as in the construction mode......not just equipment......i have to have running water!
And plenty of electrical as I can never seem to have enough kilns! Skylights for natural light too!
Just dreaming over coffee here!.........love new construction!
Laurie Spray

New website!! Http://bonnydoonfusedglasstools.com
Maker of stainless steel rings,pattern bar formers, pot melt pots, and Bottomless Molds
glass: http://lauriespray.blogspot.com
Marty
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Marty »

-running warm water for the coldshop
-a quiet place for the compressor and air outlets at various places
-polished concrete floors with floor drains (easy cleanout!) and rubber mats all over
-enough windows (I'm not a fan of skylights- too hot, too sunny, too cold, too leaky) and sliding glass doors to open up the studio when the weather permits
-high ceilings
-work tables at different heights
-ventilation (spray booth, kiln room, cold shop for mists and sandblaster)
-separate office space (stand-up desk), maybe a gallery niche

I'm about 2 to 3 years from doing the same, I dream this stuff.
Valerie Adams
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Valerie Adams »

All of the above, plus climate control if you've got the money.
But the biggest thing I don't have that I wish I did? A toilet!!!
The amount of time I waste going in and out of the house to pee has me seriously considering adult diapers. :lol:
Bert Weiss
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Bert Weiss »

I'd say the most important thing I would want is a FLAT workbench at an ergonomic height for me to cut glass on. I like my bench to be higher than a standard table. You also want your kiln set at an ergonomic height to be able to make constructions inside the kiln without having to bend way over.
Bert

Bert Weiss Art Glass*
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Tracy Fries
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Tracy Fries »

I don't have a big, fancy studio - just one converted bay in the garage, but the three things I most love are warm, running water, additional ceiling outlets for both electrical and air, with extension cords/hoses that allow me flexibility in the use of my space and the ceiling mounted air filtration system we recently installed.

So excited for you - I dream about the day I have a dedicated studio that I don't have to share with the racecars................sigh. Who am I kidding? I'm pretty darn lucky they share their space with me! :) But still dreaming....
Kevin Midgley
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Kevin Midgley »

more space.
you are soon going to wish you had more space.
build it bigger.
Buttercup
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Buttercup »

Kelly, you don't say where you are located so we don't know your weather constraints, but some of the posts have already commented on climate control in the studio. You haven't said what type of glass you will be making and what type of equipment you'll need so it's a bit hard to give specific advice. You've been given a lot of good info already.

I think Morganica may have made a post on designing a studio. Perhaps search the archives.
I'll just add.....

Make a scale layout with paper rectangles of the equipment you want to accommodate. Allow space to stand or sit at the equipment. Move them around till you have the best use of space. Allow for the natural flow of work, i.e. glass racks near cutting table. Grinders close to layout table. Use that information to place doors and windows so you don't waste valuable space simply to get access. Don't plan to put stuff under windows making them difficult to open. Open the person door out if possible so it doesn't need space inside.

As already mentioned, allow for plenty of electrical and allow for 240v if your kiln(s) need it.

Allow enough wall space for storage, shelving, cupboards wallboard for tools and shallow shelves for supplies you use above the area where you'll use them.

Do you plan on having a strip cutting table or board that can be placed on top of another surface? Do you need a freehand cutting table, too or will that be a board that can be placed on one side of the strip cutting table? As Bert says, pay attention to the height so you're not stooping over or trying to work at an uncomfortably high surface or kiln.

Put your layout table(s) on casters. Make narrow tables ie 2'6" x 6'.0" that can clamp together to make a 5' wide surface. I particularly like the fact that I can spin a layout table around so the area I'm working on can be close to the cutting table and grinders and I don't have to dodge around the table to get to the grinders or cutting table. If you're not doing any flat glass that may not be an issue.

I agree with the need for water. Don't plan on flushing glass swarf down the drain. Try to designate a wet area.

Design your studio so you can add on in the future, if you have the space to do so. It will never be big enough unless you're making jewellery only. If you design the wall where you would potentially add on so it is framed with a stud opening or better yet, a roll up door then adding on becomes that much simpler.

My glass workshop is 6M x 7.5M, not much bigger than you plan to build. My art studio/office is in the house and the walk-in booth, compressor and sandblast cabinet are in a separate shed. A recently acquired larger light table has made the glass workshop too cramped so I'll be adding on via the roll-up door wall, and moving that door to the new end wall, and also adding a new wet area, plus the much-coveted toilet.

Being in a warm climate I don't need heating. Whirley birds on the roof and insulation on walls and ceiling plus a wall-mounted fan and insect screens on the windows take care of the cooling. Pet-proof mesh folding doors over the two roll-up doors allow for air circulation in summer and keep the pythons out in the winter.

Put time into the planning. You won't regret it. Good luck with it. Jen
Morganica
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Morganica »

I did post on how I set up my studio, and I've got an article on my blog ( http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2006/ ... udio-tour/ ). I have a two-room studio: A small room (in the article) for "clean" work, and then the whole garage for kilns, coldwork, framing/mounting/packing and large-volume glass storage.

It works absolutely beautifully for fusing.

Casting? Not so much. Selling/showing? Not really. Teaching? Not at all.

So I think my best "can't live without" question is "how do you plan to live (with glass)? Not just right now but in a year or three. The best thing you can possibly do is allow for expansion and the (strong) possibility that your work will change.

For example...I never planned on needing a space to sculpt my models in clay. Clay dust COMPLETELY screws up glass, but the surface I sculpt on is also the surface I cut glass, fill molds, paint frit, assemble fused pieces, and do minor hand-coldworking--so every project requires a complete scrub-down before I can start the next. I am a jewelry-maker, too...but there's no place in my studio for my jeweler's stuff, so it goes in cupboards upstairs.

I didn't think I'd really accumulate more than 7,000 casting samples, which need a place to be catalogued if I'm really going to use them. I never realized that working with casting wax and refractory plaster is absolute hell on the floors in your house (especially white carpet)...but since the only bathrooms are inside the house and upstairs, it's almost impossible to avoid tracking stuff in. I figured two sets of shallow shelves for frit, one small bin for rod and stringer, and a couple of bins for scrap were more than enough. (HAH to that)

I never thought about what would happen if I had more than one kiln. Or where I was going to put master molds. Or how I would store the boxes, packing peanuts and stuff you need to pack up and transport your glass for a show. Or where exactly students and collaborators would sit in my tiny studio.

So...leave some space empty. It will fill up, soon enough.
Cynthia Morgan
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Mike Jordan
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Mike Jordan »

Depending on how much time you are going to spend in there... telephone, internet and maybe cable TV connection. Intercom drop if you have one in your house already. If you put the wiring in for all of this in several places of the room before you seal everything up, it makes it easier later on.

Mike
It's said that inside each of us is an artist trying to get out. Well mine got out... and I haven't seen him since.
Bert Weiss
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Bert Weiss »

Morganica wrote:I never realized that working with casting wax and refractory plaster is absolute hell on the floors in your house (especially white carpet)
Cynthia, you are doing well not to have a wife, with this situation in your house...
Bert

Bert Weiss Art Glass*
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Morganica
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Morganica »

Ah, well. I just get mad at myself, then. ;-)
Cynthia Morgan
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Haydo
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Haydo »

I couldn't live without the ability to hose out my studio floor, corrugated iron walls that don't butt up against the floor allow to flush to three sides. peace, haydo
Life is like a raft, so be like a rat!...Challenging being a captain type rat though, going down with each ship and all!!
Marty
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Marty »

critters?
Peter Angel
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Peter Angel »

A window!

By the way, my studio didn't have any windows so I installed a sky window. Its like a skylight, but it opens up allowing air to come in and out.

Have a look!
skywindow small.jpg
Peter Angel
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A bigger kiln, A bigger kiln, my kingdom for a bigger kiln.
Haydo
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Haydo »

Marty,Asian gecko's rule, possums have found their way into the roller doors again. Fortunately the cane toads can't make the leap to reach top of slab. To revisit Kelly's question I would find it hard without a light table when working with cane. peace, haydo
Life is like a raft, so be like a rat!...Challenging being a captain type rat though, going down with each ship and all!!
bhawbaker
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by bhawbaker »

You will absolutely love it ... but soon you'll discover it's not big enough. You'll need a separate space for coldworking, and water in that coldworking area. It's dusty and it sprays, and you don't want it around your kilns or your glass. Soon you'll want to add a belt sander and a drill press and a lap grinder and a couple of saws ... and these all take space. Plan for it now. And glass storage. Build in lots of vertical shelves in various heights. Doing any torch work? Stainless steel table and vent hood. A set of large tool cabinets with lots of drawers. Shelves ... somewhere ... for molds, frit, glues, findings. Figure out where you're going to put your stringers & rods. You want this easy to get to, not stuffed away in a box somewhere.

My major work area is a large professional drafting table. Incredibly solid, adjustable height. Bought it from a retiring architect. Easily holds a double sized grid.

I painted one entire wall with with "White Board Paint", that allows me to draw, make notes, keep track of firings, until I decide I don't need them or make permanent notes.

You'll be doing a lot more than you are now, and your supplies and tools will grow with it.

Have fun!

-Bob
Valerie Adams
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Valerie Adams »

One of the things that takes up a lot of room in my space is inventory and stuff for my booths.
Marty
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by Marty »

and packing supplies (but they can go in a loft or unheated storage).
KellyBowman
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Re: What you cannot live without...

Post by KellyBowman »

Thanks so much, everyone. There are so many excellent ideas! And things I would have never thought of. I absolutely will do the scale layout so I can get the best use of the room. As of now I work with stained glass and warm glass. I am going to Vegas for the Bead and Glass Expo at the end of March to learn torchwork. I will have to incorporate that work area into my studio also. Functional storage will be my biggest problem. 90,96, and regular stained glass has to be kept separated or I will have a big mess on my hands. I believe I will have three separate storage areas in three corners of the room to keep them separate. Occasionally I get the urge to paint silks so I need a 6 ft long table. I think I will have hubby make a table that is hinged to the wall that I can open when I need it. I can use shelf storage below it that I won't have to move to open the table. I need to start a list and get your suggestions on paper. Hubby is going to just love that "honey-do" list. LOL

Thanks so much! Kelly
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