I built this website and now it’s time for me to go back in the studio. I built that too, but truth be told, I moved into it three years ago. And since I’m in the mood for truth telling, I just installed stairs in February. Until then I climbed in the door from a stump. I did that because, um, it made it feel more like a treehouse. More about treehouses later.
The ladder up the tree you see in the slideshow was not my entrance, but rather the means by which I put up the front wall. The wall was built flat on the floor and then sheathed with plywood. At 8×20′, framed with 2×6’s and sheathed with plywood, it weighed a bit more than I could lift by myself. So I attached a come-along (a hand cranked rope winch) to the wall and climbed the tree with it. A few cranks later I had a standing wall.
I built the whole studio by myself and count it among my proudest accomplishments. I have to give my neighbor Jonathan credit for helping me carry up the big front window though. Everything had to come up a steep slope from the driveway and be carried across the hill (including about 8000 lbs of concrete), and I dropped my end of the window as I lifted the unwieldy weight above my head. Luckily the window frame hit the stump instead of the glass and the window survived.
I tend to be a bit fanatical about my projects. It’s rather an all or nothing process. For the last two weeks it has been this website. Before that, the treehouse (more later–I promise), and before that I spent my whole life writing my book. So it seems. As a result, I haven’t had much creative time in the studio. Now that is my new project though. Stick with me and see what comes out of it!
September 20, 2007
What a great space to create, poised between solid ground and space, between ‘here’ and ‘there’. And I fully understand the stump entrance….
September 21, 2007
Good grief, that’s just amazing.
What a beautiful space for creating – you have every right to be proud of what you’ve built.
September 24, 2007
Grant, your studio is wonderful. You are definately multitalented. Can’t wait to get your book either. Great website.
September 24, 2007
Thanks everybody. It is a wonderful space. My previous studios always suffered for lack of light. For two years I worked in a windowless studio, then one with one spray painted frosted plastic window that opened on to an alley. So when I built my 200 sq ft studio I put in seven windows and a two skylights. The morning sun right now is fantastic.
December 6, 2007
cooooool.
I’d love a custom built studio but would want someone else to construct it to my specs! Looking forward to your book – if that was one of your single minded focuses for a while (and this studio was another) then I have awesome expectations of it. (o:
Haven’t been working with polymer for a little while so am expecting your book will spark it all off again. In the meantime I’ve been burning everything with a blowtorch and soldering stuff and making groovy textures and hammering things and throwing paint at stuff and then spackling resin all over it and then using my flex shaft for as much as possible and then drilling loads of holes in things and sqishing lots of PMC and collecting bit of bark and broken stuff…. its so much fun.
Is that studio in the middle of nowhere? Cant wait to see what you do next. Ciao for now DIY guy. (very snazzy website grant, very snazzy indeed.)