studio story 2

my current studio view

Last two weeks, my husband and I have revamped my studio floor. It was a big job as we had to move everything off the floor including the kiln and all heavy stuff. Like the photos here, we used all the shelves to store things temporarily and moved things out to the gazebo propped in the garden. 

So how come I’ve decided to do such a thing now? 

If you are my blog reader for a long time, you might remember where it started. All of my studio has been built by ourselves one by one going back to 2007! Yes, it was ten years ago when we first started! You can view my old blog post for what was like (→ read “studio story”). I wasn’t working as a potter, doing a totally different day job. The pottery studio was a big dream. 

I remember we laid the concrete floor and painted the surface in 2011. It was winter, which wasn't great to lay concrete. Also we had a tight budget, we used a rough surface finish, which was ok to start with but soon the problem has cropped up. Clay contains scilica, which is hazard to your health if you breathe in. So it is important to maintain the studio clean and free from clay dust as much as possible. Unfortunately the rough cobbled floor surface was very good at collecting the dust, no matter how much I tried to sweep or mop it. Even I mopped the floor, I felt dust in the air. I got lazier and lazier due to the lack of time so I neglected a proper cleaning. Over the years it got worse and the surface painting started to come off too. 

I know by then I should have chosen expensive smooth surface finish or asked a professional to do so, but I wasn’t working as a potter and it seemed to be a very luxurious option. 

Since my daughter’s arrival, I I’ve never brought her into my studio because of concerns over the dust. Now she recognises that her mummy works in the studio and makes pots. I really wanted my studio to be safe for her to pop in, so she can see what I do. That was it. I’ve decided to go for the luxurious option. 

before

after

So here are before and after view. Isn’t it brilliant? I was very pleased with the result. On the top of that, I spent little more time to reorganise the studio wall etc. Now it’s much easier to use, move stuff and most of all clean too (even for me!) My girl would be happy watching me working one day I hope.