To make beads you need glassrods in lots of different colors and styles. Over the last two years I've "collected" a lot of glass, because somehow you never seem to have enough and you simply need that "other" color because it would be the perfect addition to what you already have. Therefore my usual storage didn't work anymore and a special closet was in order. I already bought an Ikea Expedit for this purpose a few weeks ago and I went to the local construction store to buy me some MDF and look what we made... a superstorage with all my glass wonderfully organised and ready to grab, I'm totally happy :)

Om kralen te vormen zijn glasstaven in diverse kleuren en samenstelling nodig. De laatste 2 jaar heb ik dus heel wat glas bij elkaar gesprokkeld, want op de één of andere manier schijn je ook nooit genoeg te hebben en ontbreekt steeds net dat éne kleurtje om een mooie combinatie te maken. Mijn oude manier van opbergen was daarom niet echt functioneel meer en had dus een speciale kast nodig. Hiervoor heb ik een aantal weken geleden een Ikea expedit aangeschaft en heb bij de bouwmarkt flink wat MDF gekocht en dit is het resultaat... een superglaskast waar al mijn staafjes keurig op kleur en soort inliggen, ik ben helemaal blij :)

Last week Albert and I went shopping in a growshop (of all places ;) ) to buy me some proper ventilation. Although my set-up still is a bit provisionally I'm totally happy because as of now I can make beads without compromising my health.

Vorige week zijn Albert en ik gaan shoppen in een Growshop (of all places) om eindelijk een fatsoenlijke afzuiging aan te schaffen. Het is allemaal nog wat provisorisch geïnstalleerd, maar ik ben helemaal blij. Eindelijk kan ik achter mijn brander kruipen zonder gevaar voor mijn gezondheid.

This big wooden box contains the motor which is in charge of extracting all bad unhealthy fumes from the air inside and send them out in the open air. Unfortunately it also takes the warmth with it or maybe it's because due to the temporary set-up the window is opened on half. Anyway it's a bit more chilly inside my studio so a chunky sweater and some thick socks are in order!

In deze grote mdf doos bevind zich de motor die als taak heeft alle ongezonde luchtjes weg te zuigen en naar buiten te transporteren. Helaas wordt daarmee ook de warme lucht meegetrokken dus het is nu een beetje frisjes in mijn studio. Alhoewel, het zou natuurlijk ook kunnen dat dit komt doordat het raam halfopen staat om de slang naar buiten te hangen ;)
Ach ja een dikke trui en warme sokken werken ook prima...

This is the big black tube which goes from above my worktable to the softbox and you can bet this ungly duckly will be covered when my permanent set-up is finished!

Deze dikke zwarte buis gaat van mijn werktafel naar de softbox en wordt zeker weten later weggewerkt!

On the other side of the soft box another big black tube goes outside through the window...bye bye fumes ;)

Aan de andere kant van de soft box zit ook weer een dikke die de boel naar buiten transporteerd... dag nare luchtjes :)

Well my studio is almost finished. I hope to have a proper electricity- and ventilationsystem soon but already I spent some wonderful time behind my torch again.

Spring next year we are planning to redo our backyard so it doesn't look like a building site anymore ;)

Since my last blog-entry about building my new studio a lot has happened. We had a lot of bad weather so it's not finished yet, but lucky for me also some nice dry and even sunny days (although not always on the days we didn't need to go to work). And I had a lot of help every so often but mainly I had to do a lot of the building all by my self.

So I can not help but feeling a bit like a real carpenter lately.

Anyway here's a photo-impression of the 3th building day:

After that day most of the time I was working alone because Albert had some day-shifts at work, Eric and his wife Caroline went away for the weekend and my brother in law Ben also had other things to do. But Eric got me started with the roof before he left and after that I really was on my own...

First I nailed the plywood and lucky for me this isn't a fashion blog because I absolutely look twice my size in these trousers and me telling you I had a bad hairday is about the understatement of the year ;)

On the wooden roof I nailed the roof-asphalt (not sure it's called this way in English so feel free to correct me here...)

And after that I finished the roof with the asphalt shingles:

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures from the next steps so... the roof is finished, I installed the doors, placed the window and since I'm inspired by Swedish houses we started painting the front with a lovely shade of blue, which also will be used for the sides and the back while the doors, window and the eaves will be creme-white.

This is were we left of before the weekend:

During the weekend Albert and I painted the sides and back of the studio and the front again and tomorrow I hope to finish painting the walls inside. Start with the hatches and give the doors and eaves a second layer. Wednesday both me and Albert don't have to go to work so hopefully we can put in the laminate flooring. After that it's waiting for my Dad to come back from holiday to put in the electricity.

But I do hope I will be able to at least start to move in some of my glass-stuff before the weekend and maybe just maybe I can do some lampworking using an extension reel providing the electricity needed for the concentrater that produces the oxygen for my Minor burner. I really, really want to do some lampworking soon because I so missed doing that!

After last week some very bad weather arrived around here so we couldn't start building the studio. But this morning while looking outside my window and checking the showers radar I started smiling again, because today we finally would be able to go on and start building!

Just like last week Eric helped us out again, so things went really well. We started with the impregnated beams and decided it was a good idea give them an extra coating just for sure. After that we fixed them to the concrete floor and started building the first three layers wood for the walls.

Next step was to put in the wooden floor and while Eric and Albert were busy doing that, I started painting the wood for the walls.

It's time to put in the doorjamb. Carolien (that's Eric's wife came along to see if everything goes well...

Because there still was a small possiblity that is could start raining again we decide to build and put on the first coating simultaneously.

At the end of the day this is were we ended, halfway finishing the studio and I must say I didn't think we would come this far!

I'm totally happy because finally I will get a special place for my beadmaking instead of using my livingroom as kind of a studio.

This is what we are going to build in our backyard:

Yesterday in between rain my husband Albert and our friend Eric started placing concrete bands and tiles to form a base in a corner of our backyard:

My brother in law is checking they are doing well:

This morning when I woke up Albert already was working again, bringing more sand into the garden to put under the tiles:

After Eric arrived they started placing the concrete tiles:

Some of the tiles needed to be made smaller and ofcourse they worked safe:

And here's the result of the first two days... a perfectly levelled platform to form the base of the shed:

Next step is to place the impregnated beams and the wooden floor and start building some walls...and hoping it will not rain!