Ladder obsession

I have been slacking on the blog front again, but I can assure you that I have been anything but slacking in the studio. Not that I have woven anything much lately. Since Open Studios a new project has been sucking up my time: the project of moving my weaving life from one Meadow Mill studio to another. The move is part of a larger master plan, but is somewhat out of sequence – i.e. I wasn’t expecting it so soon! But studios at WASPS don’t lie around empty, and when something suitable comes up you have to grab it.

The new space is a long narrow one, so it is not very amenable to my phone camera. Standing at the window and looking back on the first day of my new tenancy, I could see this:

On the fourth floor, where I am currently, the ceilings are high. On the second floor, where I will be, the ceilings are really high. So WASPS have built storage platforms, which are incredibly useful additional space. They aren’t ‘floors’ due to certain building regs not being satisfied, which has implications for access: no staircases allowed, it must be a ladder. However, it is fine to fix a ladder to the platform in order to make it more accessible than this example, as long as you can unfix it again when you leave. I have had many, many ladder-focused discussions with fellow tenants! I ended up buying a loft ladder kit recommended by a neighbour down the hall, and thus most of the evenings of the last fortnight have been spent by Team Booker in the construction and painting of said ladder and a balustrade to go with it.

Now it looks like this:

I am so pleased with that ladder! In the process, we have also repainted the walls, platform and skirting, added a blind to the window…

…and had the heebie-jeebies over the state of the floor. We were expecting to paint it, so I scrubbed it, scrubbed it again and then scrubbed some more. But every layer of gunk I removed just revealed an even nastier layer below. In the end I gave up and ordered a roll of rubber floor covering, of the kind you get in gyms, and we covered the whole mess. What a relief. And it makes everything so stable: the warping mill has never spun so true! I was too cheap to buy the extra three metres I would have had to pay for to cover one extra metre of floor, so we have that one metre to paint (fortunately, it is a nice clean, even bit of concrete by the door), then we can pin the edges of the rubber and all will be lovely.

In the meantime, moving has begun. I have both tenancies until the end of November, so until then I will be shuttling yarn and books between floors in the Booker Yarn Transporter.

More to follow, if I still have the strength to blog…

Ladder obsession” was posted by Cally on 20 Nov 2017 at https://callybooker.co.uk

Creative Commons License

8 Responses

  1. Linda Adamson
    |

    Moving into a new studio is always a big job but looks like you have come up with some clever ideas. Good luck in your new space.

    • Cally
      |

      Thanks, Linda! It will be hard to leave my lovely fourth floor room, but a change can be quite exciting too.

  2. Audrey Durrant
    |

    Loving the ladder combo, well done

  3. Harris
    |

    Looks brilliant! Nice space! Well done!

  4. Jane Deane
    |

    Looks great, Cally. I miss my studio!

  5. Sandra Rude
    |

    New weaving space looking good! You’ll need a holiday when the move is finished, though. Moving is never fun, one can only anticipate the joy once it’s done.

  6. Cally
    |

    Glad you all approve of the new space and ladder (especially the ladder, obviously!) – no doubt more photos of yarn mess will follow…

  7. neki rivera
    |

    Moving is not fun no matter what people say.the fun comes after the vacations you get for doing it.
    You’re going to have a very photogenic studio.