Hey guys! good news: I have just signed onto my first craft fair!
I haven't seen much of craft fairs here in Manchester so I am extremely excited to be part of Not Your Grandma's Craft Fair. After I signed up I realized some of my friends will also be there, like the very clever Stacey McGowan Doyon from Three Monkey Cloth Diapers, among others. There are about 10 spots left so, if you are in the area and want to crank up some crafty stuff... sign up now! should be an awesome time!
Check out their page and like them on facebook... let's spread the word!
Meanwhile on the studio: Bertha is clean (woohoooo!!), I'm just finishing up the feeder trays. We will be moving her sometime this week, so stay tuned!!
I was checking out my Monday post and I realized I got (mostly) everything done in my short list! Here it is if you don't remember:
Today [8/21], in the calendar:
1. Send out a quote for one of my lovely clients <-- And accepted!
2. Pick up an awesome looking white piece of wood from the dumpster (someone just put it there!) <-- more on that later.
3. Pick up some high gloss floor enamel and about 5 more Easy Off for Bertha <-- After talking to the people at Home Depot we decided to not gloss it. Since I probably just walked on the floor to soon and didn't let it dry enough. And I just got 2 Easy Off cans.
4. Clean and give the floor a final coat <-- Mopped and painted edges.
5. Clean Bertha some more <-- Unfortunately I wasn't able to get over to the Studio today, so she's just as dirty as I left her on Friday.
Since this is the middle of the week (sort of, unless you work Saturday and Sunday as well), I thought it would be fitting to make a plan, or goals, for the end of the week. I won't be around Wednesday afternoon and most of Thursday, so here it is to hoping.
Clean Bertha... Yes. I mean clean her up and down! I want her all done by Saturday morning. (Adam, if you are reading this... I might need your help. A lot! – and anyone else who doesn't mind getting dirty for a few hours, you are all welcomed!)
Get metal sheet for the space where Bertha is going to live.
Meeting with a client regarding their company identity package (sooo excited about this!)
Move Bertha into place.
I might be a little ambitious with this. It is A LOT to get done in 3 days. But I figured, if I write it down then I will have to answer for it. Right?
{Image courtesy of this tumbler blog... which now I have to look at entirely}
Finally!! after much pain, measuring, painting and (mostly) waiting for the darn floor to dry... I present to you... THE floor!
Yep!... what do you think?! Let me tell ya, it was NOT easy to paint that floor. As you may remember here is how we prepared to paint it. After the white was done, it was time to make it fun.
First I decided to go around the room marking 2' gaps all around...
As I came to realize once I was done measuring the whole room (and marking it with black marker)... that was WRONG!... since the room isn't even, I couldn't just go around the whole room and pretend everything was going to align. Since I'm so bad at math, even though Adam was explaining to me on the phone all the measurements, I had to go to my computer and just grid it out in Illustrator. And THEN it all made sense!... divide the room into a grid!
Thanks to some chalk string I was able to divide the whole thing without using markers ('cause I am silly like that). Once everything was gridded out and I knew where my stripes were going I started to tape things up.
Couple of layers of black paint and tadaaa.... we have a floor! Let's remember for a second what this room looked like before I went crazy ninja on it.
I saw this saying at this lovely blog and I thought it was so fitting for today. Huge plans for the week, my friends! Some are a lot of fun: like finishing the floor, once and for all. And others not so much: like price research and contracts and stuff. Eek! (who likes that?!)
Today, in the calendar:
1. Send out a quote for one of my lovely clients
2. Pick up an awesome looking white piece of wood from the dumpster (someone just put it there!)
3. Pick up some high gloss floor enamel and about 5 more Easy Off for Bertha
4. Clean and give the floor a final coat
5. Clean Bertha some more
What are you up to today? Any dreams in the making?
As some of you know, I had been having a bit of trouble with the throw off lever on Bertha. I oiled it for 3 days in a row, allowing the oil to seep into the holes and nothing... the lever wouldn't move. This was really frustrating because
1. I bought a bad press and I would have to find another one – which I refused to believe.
2. I was going to have someone come up and check it out, which would have proooobably cost me a lot...
and 3. I might have to buy some expensive part to the press which I hadn't planned for.
So! I put my gloves and dirty clothes on and started scrubbing the grime off of her (which mostly ended up on me)... but the lever would still not move. So I decided to take the lever off and go part by part figuring out where the problem was. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Right?.... Right!
First I took the lever off, which at that point I thought it was the dirtiest thing ever!
What the heck is that? Cat hair??
You should see what that looks like after I cleaned it! I was concentrating so hard in arranging the parts in a very specific grid so I could remember where they went afterward, that I forgot to take pics of that part after I cleaned it.
But anyways, after I took the whole thing apart I realized where the problem was...
See where the yellow oval is? That part wouldn't move. I though that might've been the problem, but when I took it apart it moved just fine... so I was left with the part marked by the red oval. Do you see anything wrong with it?.... I didn't at first, but after looking at it, and a quick consultation with my step-brother... here is what we figured out:
WARNING: To those of you who know me: See? I can ditch the nice shoes and get dirty sometimes! To those of you who don't know me!: I swear I don't look like this every day (otherwise my boyfriend would disown me)
By the way, as soon as I said "Let's hear how she runs", a motorcycle decided to pass by, so it sounds like the machine is making that noise!
So... this is what it looks like now (just a bit cleaner)!
How about you? Have you had any troubles with your press that scared you? Did you fix it yourself? I would love to see some videos of other presses... link me to yours!
The first time I saw the studio I knew right away I needed to do something about the brown carpeting. I couldn't imagine making a mess there, oiling things up, dragging things around. And it certainly wasn't inspirational. We didn't know what to do with it, until we saw there was concrete underneath. So we decided tear the carpet up and paint it.
It hasn't been easy. First we had to strip everything out of it and clean it as best as possible (mop it and all), then we primed it, and THEN we started painting. It is taking me the longest because I have to wait for it to dry between every coat in order to paint something else again. It isn't finished yet, and I will be working on that today... but here is a sneak peek :-)
Gasp!... Why white, you ask?!
I have a plan my friend... finishing the painting today, and probably cleaning everything up tomorrow. Stay tuned!
I'm sorry to say that the floors are taking a lot longer than I expected. I thought I could do them in one weekend, like the walls, but for every coat I put down I have to wait a full 24 hours. What with priming and a bizillion coats on top of that... it's taking more than I anticipated. And trust me, no one suffers more than I do for that!
In the meantime I have been giving Bertha a scrub down in some parts. I started in the back because I didn't know how she would react to the cleaners... and HOLY COW! I feel like I found gold under all that gunk! Remember this photo?
This is the disk after a cleaning (though I'm still scrubbing part of it):
She looks beautiful! I'm heading over to the studio for some floor measuring and possibly more cleaning later. I'll keep checking back as I will be updating photos of before and after of Ms. Bertha!
It was finally time to move Ms. Bertha to her future home. Luckily I had three very savvy men to help me out! My step-dad Rick, my step brother Brian from Twisted Cycles and, always, my boyfriend Adam.
I didn't really expect to get her so soon, but the day was beautiful and sunny, and everyone was around so we decided to make the move. First, we had to bring the truck to where she was:
Then we had to roll her up in a rolling cart
Then, after we strapped her to the cart we had to bring her into the truck... this was the scariest part of all (we forgot the ramp!)
And finally we were off!... Once they got it to the building my studio is in, it was way easier to unload it - we had a ramp! The guys got it down before I even made it back into my studio.
Bertha is in the building, but not yet into the studio. I have been cleaning her a bit and trying to loosen up the impression lever, but it's hard as a rock!
Some of you don't know yet... but I am now the proud owner of an 8x12 Chandler & Price. It is from around 1920 and she is huge!
It all started a few months back when I attended the 2011 Portfolio Review at Manchester Community College. (Remember that? It seems so long ago!) In the midst of it I saw a few familiar faces from the New Hampshire Creative Club. Among them was Norm, who, as soon as he saw my business cards, started asking me about my printing methods, etc. I told him about "my business", which at that point was a room in my old apartment. and sales on my Etsy store (which is now empty, since everything sold out and I've been crazy busy to make any more!).
Anywhoo... I told Norm how everything would be better if I had a bigger machine, like a C&P, which I had been looking for, but couldn't find anything close by... and he says "Oh really? because I have one in my garage that I haven't used in about 15 years, if you want it".....
::gasp! hyperventilate! CPR and a pinch:: I now own a Chandler and Price!... let me repeat that: I own a Chandler and Price!... doesn't that sound AMAZING?!
It wasn't easy, since it's a 2,000lb machine. I had to find a place to put it (aka The Studio). Make sure the studio is ready before we move it in. Make sure it fits through the doors (more on that later). I mean, this is serious!
Bertha, as I have come to name her (taken from Yim, who named hers Big Bertha - a 10x15 C&P - I figured I could name mine just Bertha) needs a good scrub down, some oiling in her joints, some plastic surgery in her rollers, and a little face lift. But other than that she is as beautiful as I imagined!
Everything is coming together... people are calling me for invites, everyone wants to come by the studio (but the floors are still wet!) and I'm starting to make a name...
