Preparing our table surface

... including lots of fun and giggles...and lots of glue...

You Can't Trough This!

(Think MC Hammer, people!!)

Ahem, so anyway, our trough came - yay! As you can imagine we're pretty excited about it - except Bi, who is so sick she can't even talk, and seems content enough to send us detailed emails noting the gross particulars. Bless her cotton socks. We most definitely hope she regains full health shortly! Poor sausage...

So back to the trough -

one loverly trough supplied by the very talented Like Butter team with associated paraphernalia and kitchenette...


...and from another angle with two happy ladies - Lara and Teegs

Ooh and one more thing - here is our temporary cutting table, kindly donated by Vern of William May Productions, covered in some delicious 12oz cotton duck... mmm....

loving ebay

While I was relaxing on the great ocean road and Teegs and Lara got a lot of work done...Lara realised that the kitchenette we had our eye on, on ebay, was about to expire.
We had been spying on this little beauty for a while and were loving it...plus we really needed a kitchenette for our studio. We quickly decided on a maximum bid and voila! The cute ikea sink is ours...

Lara had arranged a van (Thanks so much Tom!) and we went to pick up the kitchenette on the other side of town on Friday. It was a lovely day, perfect to pick up a - super heavy - kitchen unit. The seller helped us getting it into the van and off we were, to the studio. Now it was up to us to carry the beast up, we managed to get it up to the first floor but were totally exhausted and couldn't carry it any further.

Lucky for us there was an electrician in the building and we could 'borrow' his muscles. He was more than happy to help us carry it up one more level...super proud of us that we already managed to get it up one level. Thanks!
So this beauty is now part of the ink & spindle kitchen area :)



Of course we were really hungry after all the hard work, so we were off to the local cafe for a yummie lunch.
And this is just something I have to share with you...the view of our building walking back from the cafe. This building just makes me smile every time I walk to the studio... still can't believe we actually have a studio in such a stunning building.

Mordialloc, Fitzroy, Collingwood and Kensi

So yet another busy week has passed, with much hectic balancing of day jobs and I&S work! But we'll skip straight to the fun bits - starting Friday, the first properly warm day, post Winter! Yay!
The sun had put everyone in a good mood, and we were no exception.
As Bi and Marcel took off down the coast to Anglesea for a gorgeous long weekend away (Happy B'day Marcel!!) Lara and I took off in the other direction, to Mordialloc! Lara had been busy on the phone all week, hunting down various people, suppliers and shops we would need and had prepared us well with maps and addresses, etc, (I swear she used to be a Scout) for a Friday of cruising in style, in Lara's parents Saab!
Our first stop was a canvas supplier, and we ended up staying there for ages, hearing all sorts of 'brush with fame' stories from the lovely old man who owns the shop. My fav was how he made all the canvas stuff for the ships and tents in Steven Speilberg's Band of Brothers! I liked that series...
So anyway, we ended up getting metres and metres of 12oz, artist quality, cotton duck!
'But Teegs,' I hear you say, 'That must have been awfully expensive!'
'Aha,' says I, 'Not nearly as much as you think!'
I wish I had had the insight to call a canvas supplier back when I was at art school, because our lovely man charges only around $17 per m for the 12oz, not the $40+ that you find in artist supply stores... oh, the humanity! Learn from my mistake, people.
Ok, so having ticked that off the list, we merrily headed back in to the city to go to chiggidy-check out Dale's studio in Fitzroy. Unfortunately, Dale wasn't there at the time, but his 2IC shows us around, no wukkas, except we had to leave after only a short time, because the colour they were currently using was a deep brown and smelled, how can I put this delicately... well for the gardeners among us, exactly like fertilizer.
So we head from the studio, to the shop, which is where we find Dale, who turned out to be an amazing font of industry knowledge and really happy we're starting up - which was fab! So after some serious textile discussions, we head down to Monsieur Phillipe the metal worker, a couple of blocks away.
Unbeknowst to us, M. Phillipe was in a one way street and we had done a u turn, as we had gone past his workshop looking for somewhere to park... Short of it is, we got yelled at by an angry man in a van who screamed 'One-way, Girly!!' as he roared past us - so hilarity ensued for the rest of the day as we kept on with the 'Girly' reference, in the best manly voices we could muster.
So after sorting our metal requirements with M. Phillipe, we headed off to find some special glue which had led Lara on a merry (phone) chase, halfway across the country and back, until she found it on, of all places, Macaulay Road, Kensington!! Barely a minute's drive from our studio!
Bril!
So with the gorgeous sun shining in the blue, blue sky, we head up to drop everything off at the studio, feeling very happy and full of that-contented-feeling-you-get-when-you-tick-things-off-your-to-do-list.
Once upstairs, we hear power tool noises coming from next door, which is unusual coz thats 'the photographers' and they have been overseas for weeks and weeks!
So we pop over to do the neighbourly thing and say hello, welcome home, etc and end up scoring ourselves some of the best chocolate cake e.v.a. - turns out they are food photographers and had done a shoot with/for Real Living Magazine (the one Lara was in a couple months back) and the mag's food editor had come to their studio and made chocolate cake for it!! The photographer said, and I quote, "I was just gonna throw it out anyway", so Lara and I were determined to save at least some of it from this dastardly fate...
The beautiful afternoon wore on, and became a gorgeous evening and we decided we deserved a drink of something refreshing and summery! I might leave it there, as I'm sure you can imagine what followed... vermouth(just coz it was there), much laughter, chicken, our boys, beer, Hellboy and, of all things, Pacman & company (in decal form) now adorns my new kitchen... thank goodness winter is over!

Aubergine, Lime & Eucalyptus Green

It was a pretty full on Friday, Saturday, Sunday full of painting, ikea shopping, ikea-put-togethering and bruised fingers & palms. But the result was well worth it. I happened to do a complete 180 on my feelings about the colour purple about a week ago, just in time for choosing the colour of our feature wall:



We're soooo happy with how this is coming together, and are looking forward to covering that wall with an ecclectic mix of art & prints in cute random frames.


The three of us together in our new studio office. From left to right: Lara, Bianca & Tegan

feature wall...

...because I said we'd be back :)

Proudly presenting our aubergine wall...it looks quite funky and it's very hard to take a picture of. I guess you will just have to come see it for yourself on our opening night. Not sure when that is though...so hang in there, we'll let you know.


The view from our studio to our office : we love the framing


Lara giving our wall a second coat

packed to the rafters

I'm supposed to be in bed right now, after such a hectic day but I thought I'd share it with you first.

It started this morning at 7.45am when Teegs dropped their cat off at our place because they were doing their big house move to an absolutely drop dead gorgeous victorian cottage in Kensington. The cat decided that we had slept enough for the night so pretty much kept us awake until we got up at 9am (lucky me for not working on Thursdays & Fridays).

I met up with Lara at the paint shop in Yarraville at 11am to find a paint colour for our feature wall. The couple at the paint shop were so cute, and very helpful and we walked out of the door with a nice warm aubergine colour...why not?

On our way to the studio we stopped at Teegs' new place to drop off some 'move stuff' and then we decided it was time for our big trip to Ikea. Lara & I made the long drive across the city and went shopping...some good shopping :)
We bought our desks, expedits, drawer cabinets, bins, glasses, lamps and some other little nick nacks.

Next step...fitting it all in an average sized sedan...I can tell you that we did it! It all went in and this is what it looked like:



It was so funny, it took us a while to fit it all in...moving some seats here and there and in the end we could close the boot. When I finally got in the car, squeezing myself in the front seat...I had forgotten to close the back door... :( so then I had to do the story all over again, squeezing out of the seat, closing the door..etc etc. you get it.

That was the fun part, the hard part was yet to come. I was seriously enjoying the relaxing ride back to the studio because I knew what was going to come.
The two of us carried everything up to the 2nd level...everything! After that we were crazy enough to get the paint out and put the first coat of paint on our feature wall. Sorry there's no picture of that yet, because it definitely needs a second coat before it is blog-worthy...so back with that tomorrow.

more pretty table pictures...

Our yardage printing table!

This morning I received a phone call from the company who are supplying the materials for our yardage printing table. They told me that the delivery truck had left a little while ago and that I must (and I quote) "Run! Run!" down to the studio to get there before they did.

So I quickly gathered together my things (thankfully had the foresight to pack my laptop) and hurried down there.

And then waited. And waited. Missed morning tea, missed lunch. Pottered on the laptop sans internet (such agony) and did some more painting of the windows. And then, finally the delivery guys arrived.

These poor blokes had to haul sheet after sheet of incredibly heavy particle board up 2 flights of stairs which I did not envy.

But once Tegan and Bianca arrived later that day, it didn't take us long to put it together:


All the pieces laid out, and construction begins!


The frame coming together


The bottom shelf in place (yay storage)


Et voila! (like our new window colour?)

Well kinda - next we need to prepare the surface and get this baby perfectly level. Eeee!

Another week gone...

So as Bi said in the last post, we've been busy doing non-diy work, and its still happening! So we don't have any new pics to show you - sorry!
What we have been up to has still been pretty exciting - Bi and Lara are working on their fab new collaberation and I have been busy with my senior fashion design students!
Our school took part in the Myer Fashion Awards Australia last friday and much to our delight, five of our students took home individual awards, AND then we won the School's Cup - which means we got the title of Best Fashion Design School in Aust! So as you can imagine my two colleagues and I were totally excited, proud and exhausted.
So in short - busy, busy.
On Ink & Spindle news, our printing table is being delivered this week, so we promise more news and pics in the next few days! Stay tuned...

behind the scenes

I hope you're not thinking that we've dropped off the earth, because it has been quiet for such a long time...BUT we have been busy, trust us ;)

Even thought the painting is on hold, sort of, we have been busy with lots of paperwork and financial projections etc.

Real business stuff, things that we need to have ready to make this fun and exciting venture a success.

On Saturday we did a little bit of painting and cleaning but forgot to take photos, sorry. It's going to look really nice, we're definitely liking the pale green much better than the electric blue.

This week we're pretty busy with our own projects. Teegs will be getting herself and her students ready for the fashion show and Lara and I are busy with an exciting collaboration...and of course it's just really cold and we'd rather stay at home with our heater and hot water bottles ;)

We'll be back with more DIY pics soon...as pictures of financial statements and business plans aren't all that exciting for some...

In the meantime, if you're interested in renting a studio space in our fantastic building get in touch with Laura Woodward.
Here are some details:

Hi!

I am currently looking into establishing a Studio of about 20 individual spaces, and am very keen to hear from anyone who may be interested in a space towards the end of this year.

At this stage:
- each space will be an individual room
- sizes will range from 16 to 32 square metres (larger available if required)
- cost from $40 to $80 per week, according to size
- cement floors
- located 15 minute train trip or bike ride from the city, very close to station
- good street access for moving large artworks
- suitable for a wide range of artistic practices

If you may be interested in a space, or would like any more info, I would love to hear from you! I can be contacted at laura(at)laurawoodward(dot)com(dot)au.

The floor...

Oops, I'm a little late with this one, but I figured peeps would want to see it anyway!

The finish has worked beautifully, and we're totally happy with the result. Of course this post should have gone before Bi's, as we have now painted nearly all the window frames, sorry 'bout that!

painting time

Yay, finally...we made it through all the hard work of ripping out masonite and lino floors, sanding it and treating it. Now it's time for fun!

Painting the electric blue window frames and doors with a lovely soft green :)


Teegs painting our window frames, Marcel holding the paint


Lara painting the door to our office

Thanks and curing

Firstly, a massive thanks to Graeme, my stepdad, for all his ongoing help and direction over the phone, while we have been attacking our floor! He's a total font of knowledge and the best resource we could hope to have! Thanks Graeme!!

So time for a quick update on the floor. Bianca and I checked in on it last night after work and the Boncrete had not quite cured, probably due to the last couple of cold days we've had, so we turned the heater on and sat admiring our hard work for a little while, eating some honey-coated cashews Bi had bought! BTW they're delicious, I highly recommend them.

We're going to do another coat of the Boncrete this arvo, so I'll put more pics up tonight.

Nearly time to paint...

More Floor Shennanigans

After fleeing work as early as humanly possible (for once I think I was even more eager than my entire period 6 Yr 9 class, for that final bell to ring! No mean feat, let me assure you) I made my way to the studio, keen as mustard to get the sealent on the floor - and managed to complete the entire office area with the first bucket of Boncrete.

The office area with a fresh coat of almost touch dry Boncrete

Bianca, Marcel and Lara soon joined me and after only about an hour we had the floor of the main area sealed.

In the middle of mopping the sealant on

And yes, it is white, but it dries clear. For those wondering, it's actually quite similar to watered down PVA glue.

So now we're just waiting on the seal to cure. We'll check back this arvo to see if it needs another coat.

Hope you're all enjoying the pics!

A few extra pics

Just a few pics to add to Bi's post - too tired and achy to type... but so elated the sanding is over!

Lara and Bi in our office, doing the last bit of sanding. Those pine boards threw up a heap of really fine dust, and by the end of it, the girls were looking rather gray haired! It was so bad we had to keep the doors closed, hence the terrible photo though the glass.

Industrial vacuuming...

This is a sneak peak at what we expect the boards to look like when we've sealed them.
Pretty, huh? Though they are quite different in colour to the untreated floor, we're quite happy with them!

this is...

our Sunday (joining the this is theme, hosted by Angela, for this week)
Another day of hard work, sanding the floors of our new studio.




the hard wood floor of our printing studio

We are absolutely exhausted...not much to say for that reason...but...we finished sanding the floor and it's beautiful.


the soft wood floor of our office

Back next week...off to bed now ;)

Studio Prep; End of Week One!

My best mate, Sam, arrived from Darwin via Moe on Friday night (yay!), and so I of course put her straight to work in the studio! It's ok, she didn't mind too much! ;) So Saturday morning saw us begin a frenzy of sanding.

Teegs and Sam dressed in their moonlanding gear, sanding that hardwood floor board by splintery board...

After a few initial mishaps in the form of the sander sheets exploding in a puff of torn paper (or as Brendan delighted in referring to them: "catastrophic failures") Sam and I soon got in to the swing of things and the floor was on it's way. We tag-teamed with Bi and Lara at lunch time and they took over the hard work while we located some eats in Kensi.

Lara and Sam replacing a "catastrophic failure"

The tag-teaming continued throughout the afternoon and into the early evening, though we had to call in Brendan and his brute strength to tackle the floor edging machine - that thing was crazy hard to control, we wouldn't have been able to do it without him! Thanks Bren!!
Lara got in to her groove with the sander, and so we pushed on to complete the entire floor area with the 40 and 80 grade's of paper. So now we're ready for the final, 120 grade paper! Go Team!!

Lara and Bianca replacing yet another sheet of sandpaper

Exhausted and dusty, we said goodbye to Lara then Sam, Brendan, Bianca and I picked up Marcel from work returned home to a delicious meal of spaghetti bolognese (again thanks to Bren!), a glass of Ninth Island Pinot Noir and Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. Thank goodness for small comforts!
A very tiring day, but the results are so totally worth it - the colour of the boards range from a pale blond, to a warm honey, to a pinkish red. Truly beautiful.
Now for a bit of sleep before we head back to the coal face tomorrow :)

All fixed and back on track

Yesterday we found out that the mysterious hole was indeed above the staircase of the caretakers flat. Yikes! At least we got our safety goggles back that we dropped down ;)


Brendan & Lara cutting new floor boards

Thankfully it's all sorted now. The great sawing skills of Brendan, chiselling skills of Teegs and floor laying skills of Lara fixed it all up. Thanks guys!


Lara laying floor boards


Teegs finishing it off

We're on to sanding the floors now, which I can't really help with unfortunately. It's quite a dusty job and with the masks on, my glasses get fogged up so I can't see... Booo! I will clean up after it's all finished :)


Sanding the floors...don't they look pretty...

The Good, the Bad and the Holey

This evenings stint in the studio saw the end to us crawling slowly over the floor, pulling out tens of thousands of staples! Yay! One step closer... however we did encounter a minor hitch in the form of a mysterious dark hole. Yes, a hole.

Here we see Lara trying to figure out just what is down there.. to no avail! We went to the floor beneath us, but it's blocked off with a new wall. We have a sneaking suspicion it could be the caretaker's flat... eep!

Anyway, aside from that, the place is looking great!