Beads!

These are beads that have been soaking since mid-September. They were still hard to get off the mandrels, believe it or not. Actually three of them are new beads, made in my bead cottage. The first one I made is the one on the left. The other two are at the top, under a blue flat bead. I made one bead today and moved a little glass. I'd like my sound guy to come and put in my speakers so I can listen to the radio or some music. That's the last creature comfort that is needed in the cottage.

Woot!

Here I am making my first bead in the bead cottage! I haven't moved all the glass yet or all my other stuff but I had to try it. I made three. I'm definitely keeping the first one, and I'm putting it with the first beads from my garage studio. This is so exciting! Bring on the snow!

This one's for Martha

This morning Charlie and John finished up the forge ceiling. Martha has been bugging me to post a picture, so here it is. I absolutely adore this room; it is just gorgeous.


Here is another picture of my workstation, along with the pendant lights and the ventilation system. We're getting close to being finished.


And just in time for the off-season, my copy of Dirty Water: A Red Sox Mystery came today. I can't wait to dig in.

I also want to plug the awesome art of Chris Speakman. I just got another of his silk-screened prints yesterday. He's got Red Sox mainly, but also Phillies (go Phillies!), Mets, Cubs and other players. I have 6 of his prints and they're going to be hung in the bead cottage, above the windows on either side of the room.

First I have to say how awesome it was to wake up to find out that the Red Sox won last night. I tried to stay awake, honestly I tried. I hope that falling asleep in the 7th inning isn't the same as leaving the park in the 7th because we're losing. I wanted to watch the whole thing, I just could not. I continued to believe and hold faith in them, though. I knew they could do it. And games like that are exactly why I watch baseball. I'm just sorry I missed it.

But what's more exciting than the Red Sox win is that the granite is in on my workstations! It looks fabulous. I've got some pictures.

This is my workstation:


This is a better view of the whole workstation:


Here are my red doors and a view of the patio partially completed:


And another view of the patio in process:

Kirk the tile guy came and put in the tile. Here's the best picture I could get at the time. It's going to look really nice with the paint color I picked. I want the colors of the studio to give me a great big hug every time I walk in - I know that doesn't make much sense - and these colors do it for me. I need it to feel warm and inviting and not cold and sterile I guess is what I'm trying to say.


Eddie the mason started his work this week, too. Here are the granite steps in the process of being installed.

In Living Color

The first of two coats of paint is on my studio walls. It's a warm yellowy-goldy-browny color called gingerbread man. It's going to look so cool.

The outside has been painted but it's not finished. The cupola is here and needs to be painted still. I saw the weathervane for the first time the other day and it's totally awesome.

Activity at the bead cottage has recommenced. The propane people came yesterday to move the 500 gallon tank. They raised a fuss at the thought of piping 5 psi of propane into the studio, but after a bunch of conferences and a visit from the fire inspector, we're approved. Phew. I was a little worried because I know some people have had trouble. I'm glad I didn't have too much. I woke up this morning at 5:30 thinking about NFPA 54 and NFPA 58 (the codes that govern piping in gas). I quickly put that out of my mind and focused on something even more worrisome: the economy. Eek.

Today I don't really know what went on. I think a lot of problems needed solving so that pushed off the actual doing of the work. We all have days like that. Mercury is retrograde.

Plastered!

The plasterers came this morning. They were not nearly as scary as the wallboard hangers. Now the bead studio looks even more like a room than it did yesterday. I'm very excited because I'm seeing the end of this project and I want move in to the studio right away, but from experience, I know that this can be the slowest time of a construction or a remodel. For example, Project A has to get done before Project B can and the necessities of Project B are here, but we can't do it because we're waiting on something for Project A which has to be done first. Stuff like that. So I'm just going to wait and see and be patient.


Plastering is a different thing than drywalling. With drywall, you have to tape the edges and spackle and do a bunch of coats at the joins and fasteners. With plastering, the plaster goes over everything. Keith says it's a nicer finish.

Sheetrock!

Several very frightening people came today to hang the sheetrock. It only took them a couple of hours, so I snuck out after they were gone to take pictures. Keith told me to stay in the house while they were here and even Artie didn't want to go inside with them. So it's starting to look like an actual room! And with the sheetrock on, you can get a better idea of the workbench configuration. It's so mod and hip! I'm not sure when the plasterers are coming -- they are different than the people who do the hanging -- we hope tomorrow or maybe Thursday.

Here are a couple of different views:

The forge doors are done and hanging. They are beautiful. Here's a picture from the inside with the doors shut.


One other significant development is a new trench from where the propane is going to be placed and going toward where it will hook up with the existing line where the propane is now.

So that's about it for now. The crew is out of here as of next week because the building part is pretty much done. We still have the tile, the sheetrock and plastering and painting to go. But those are jobs for the subs, not the contractors.

It's hard to put into words how much I love this building. I've said this all before but I'm going to repeat it because this is my blog. That people can take a pile of sticks and make a beautiful building out of it just blows my mind. Charlie and I were talking about this this afternoon. It's no different than me using glass rods to make beads, or a blacksmith using iron to make tools or a potter taking clay and making a vase. It's a gift to be able to make things. A gift. From whom, I'm not all that sure. God? The universe? Whomever, it doesn't matter. The point is that I feel very grateful that I have this gift because when I make things it fills my soul. That's when I'm happiest. And I'm also grateful that I have people in my life who also have this gift and can make me fireplace tools, or a beautiful, beautiful building. Now I can continue to fill my soul all winter long and I'm so happy about that. Thank you.

I had my new window treatments in the living room installed today! They look great!

Electricity!

Today the bead cottage got its own electricity! It truly was an auspicious day. I took a picture of Arthur the electrician plugging in the first electrical thing. I would post it here, but I'm not sure he wants his picture on the internet. So I have it in my album. Here is a picture of the temporary lights.


And the first door on the forge has been hung. It is truly awesome. I gave it a little push and it slides very smoothly. I am so happy with the way they came out.


I actually helped build my workbench, because I made a cut with the saw! It was exciting and a little scary. Here is a picture of the 2x4 that I cut. I think I should sign it.


And here's a shot of the framing of my workbench. I'm going to have two workstations back to back. There's a 5-foot workbench and a kiln table off to the left at a 45-degree angle. This is actually a shot of the secondary workbench; mine is on the other side and looks out the sliding glass door. The top is going to be lab-stone. I'm not sure what the true name of it is, but it's that soft, black stone on the top of school lab tables. The gas comes up from the middle and the oxygen concentrators will go under the kilns. It's going to be totally sweet. It already is.

Awesomest Key Ever

I wasn't going to keep a key to the bead cottage on my key ring, because I'm fussy about how many keys a person carries around. I think it should be minimal: house, car, post office or office and that's about it. My husband carries keys to everything: his parents' house, his parents' lake house, any key he may have a remote possiblity to need, he carries. His key ring looks like a building superintendent's. I thought I'd just keep the keys to the bead cottage inside the house and then when I needed them, they'd be there. That was until I got the awesomest key ever from a very thoughtful young gentleman named Thatcher. I will always carry this key with me. I never even knew keys like this existed. Wow. It's so cool.

And today the bead cottage got the cutest little smoke stack.

Decision time

This weekend went by too fast. I had a great time at the lake with my Mom and Elizabeth. This is a picture of her wearing my hat. I had to bribe her with plastic horses to get her to pose with it on for 10 seconds while I took the picture. Having a niece is great because they go home to their parents when you're done with them. But spending the whole weekend with her was a lot of fun.

So my poll has run its course and we've decided to go with the happy sun weathervane. I deliberately left off the prices so that wouldn't enter into the decisionmaking, but it has entered into our decisionmaking. The dragon vane is over 20 times more expensive than the sun, and that really made up our minds for us.

It's a good thing that I can't find a Red Sox weathervane because that would be my first choice. I'm sure I'd have a huge fight from Robert, though.

I'm in love with ship-lap

I know these are not the best pictures, but Robert has my other camera with him at the blacksmithing conference. I have to resort to my other camera that I take pictures of beads with (with which I take pictures of beads -- I know) which has a much more close-up lens. The forge area is really looking amazing. I love the wide boards of the ship-lap. My camera doesn't do it justice. I had to take pictures while work was going on because I want to boogie out of here as soon as the crew does. But I have to say that I am in love with the look. Totally, fabulously, out of my mind, head over heels in love with the forge area. I might have to either 1) kick Robert out and use it for myself or 2) learn blacksmithing.

The front is finished

Here is the little bead cottage with the front all sided. It looks so cute. Speaking of cute, Charlie made a fabulous bird house. You can see it up there towards the roof. I cannot wait until next spring when the birds are nesting! Of course, we had to reposition the flag again. But it still flies.

Here are some of the beads I've been making:

A cupola thoughts

I've been poking around on the internet in the past day or so, looking for weathervanes for the cupola on top of the bead cottage. This is a difficult task. It's like choosing the perfect ring tone, the perfect avatar or perfect quote for your yearbook page. It has to be meaningful to me, most importantly, but also has to convey a message. I need to find just the right one to sum things up directly and succinctly.

Here are the two we like the best.

The first is a happy sun, coming out from behind clouds. I like this because it's positive, and actually relates to the function of a weathervane. In life I always try to find the good behind the not-so-good --like SpongeBob -- and this weathervane reminds me that there is a silver lining in every cloud. The sun also symbolizes successful ventures, which is always a good thing.


The second is St. Michael and the Dragon. I like this one because of the association with fire. Each hobby that is going to be present in the cottage deals with fire. Michael is the archangel of the South, the direction associated with fire. I guess if there's a message it's the triumph of good over evil.


Another design we thought of was a phoenix, but I'm not so keen on putting a bird that is burnt up over and over again on top of a building that I'm hoping never burns down.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Here are the pictures taken Friday afternoon. Notice the windows and doors and siding. The inspector came today and approved the rough stuff that was done this week.


The forge window is in! They said it would take three weeks but it only took one. Keith knew about it earlier but wanted to surprise us today. I think it is perfect and adds so much. If we hadn't put it in, it would have been a mistake. And note the sliding glass door, siding and the trim.


The view out the window from inside the forge is really nice.

So to continue the writing on the Tyvek theme, here's another one I wrote. It's a Celtic blessing:

Bless this house,
From site to stay,
From beam to wall,
From end to end,
From ridge to basement,
From floor to roof-tree,
From ford to summit,
Ford and summit.

Robert wrote (in ancient Greek) the Homeric Hymn to Hephaestos in the forge area. Hephaestos is the Greek god of smithcrafting and technology.

Building hugger

I've heard of hugging trees, but never have I heard of hugging a building until this evening when we came home from dinner and I couldn't resist. I hugged the bead cottage. I could feel the love.

Today they started the siding, put in the sliding glass door and the other two doors and finished the electrical roughing-in. I took pictures, but I'll post them tomorrow or Saturday.

I believe in intentions and positive energy, which is why we did all those superstitious things like putting a penny in the sill, the mighty bough on the roof, etc. So while the cottage is covered in Tyvek, we're going to be writing prayers and blessings on it to be covered up by the siding. I did this to a smaller extent when we had the house resided. I don't care if anyone thinks I'm crazy.

This is the prayer I wrote next to the main stairs going in. It's a modern prayer from Jerusalem, Israel:

By gradual steps I rise to the topmost attic of this
house, from which the views are spectacular.
I could rise to the palace of heaven if there were
steps enough.
Let me take two or three steps to the palace of
heaven each day.
Let me think of being a little better, a little kinder,
a little more grateful to you for your gifts,
each time I climb these stairs.

I realize that I said I'd only update here weekly from now on, but there have been major developments and I'm too excited about them to not share.

Yesterday, Keith and Will finished the north side of the roof.


And today, Arthur roughed in some electrical, Keith finished the roof on the south side, and Charlie and John put in the windows and soffits.



I love this little house already.

I think from now on, I'm going to be uploading weekly photos, rather than posting the day-to-day progress. In the beginning, the progress was on a large scale as the building went up. Now the progress is more small scale day-to-day so to see it weekly will make it have more of an impact.

These next photos are from yesterday (Thursday):

The forge roof is done on the north side.


The header and cripples are in for the forge window. It's being made and will be ready in about 3 weeks.

And half of the roof on the south side of the forge is done.


These next shots are from today:

The facade, complete with rakes and the drip edge.


Will framed the overhang. It looks great.


Keith finished the roof on the south side of the forge.


And Will did the strapping on the forge wall. I asked why this wall was strapped when the others weren't and it's because they're using ShipLap on the forge walls. These are wide boards that are rabbeted and so interlock with each other and give a nice rustic look. They need the strapping to have something to nail into.


Here's the tiny piece of rooflet.