After - literally - years of paralysis on the studio construction, I finally got some work done down there this weekend. First my stepladders came out of storage, and took a position under the stairwell hole:
This hole was hammered out for me shortly after I bought this place, by a couple of local handymen. Here's a snapshot taken when they were done:
If you had told me at the time that it would be ten years - to the month! - before I moved forward on it, I would have looked at you like you were nuts ...
Anyway, here we are, with the rough concrete edges nicely boxed in:
You can see how the 'box' is held in place by cleats screwed into the back faces. These rest on the flat surface of the concrete floor. (I will mix some mortar and fill the empty space between the rough cut concrete and the back of the boards, to help give the thing a more solid feel.)
Here's what it looks like looking up from below:
It was fun getting all the angles worked out to try and give the maximum amount of headroom.
There is no getting around it, this will be quite a steep staircase when it's done. That will come later though. The immediate priority now - I'm being 'pushed around' here by the two printer ladies - is to get the room insulated. So I'll cap this box with a temporary (insulated) cover, and turn my attention to finishing the insulation in the workroom. Perhaps there'll be another update tomorrow ...
We're just a few days away from the beginning of November, and that means that it's almost time for the annual Gift Print season to begin. For the gift selection each year I usually pick one of the prints that I had previously used for my own personal New Year print, and this year is no exception - I've chosen the print I sent to collectors as a present for the new year of 1996. It was very well received at the time, later made an appearance in the 'Small Print Collection', and now everybody can have one!
The 'official' opening day is November 1st, but everything is actually all up and running now, with four prints available - this image, and three of the Gift Prints from previous years.
As for the price ... for many years now, I have kept it unchanged at $30 (print and gift packaging, postpaid anywhere on the planet). But since this time last year, the yen/dollar exchange has moved (against me!) by around 15%. So if I were to keep the price at the same level this year, I'd be losing that much.
Those of you who know me though, can guess where we are going with this ...
Yes, no change in the price again this year!
In addition, you may remember that last year I ran a special offer through the month of November - one in every five orders would win a free one! Do I really dare do that again?
In a post I made yesterday over on the Mokuhankan Conversations, I included a photo of the two ladies working away. At the top of the image, you can see one of the (many) places where the construction of this workroom has been stalled for quite some time - one of the roof beams still not insulated:
If we tilt the camera up just a bit, we can see right through the hole in the ceiling up to the level above (this is where the stairs will go ...)
While the three of us were working the other day, our discussion turned to the topic of the approaching winter. Both of them are already thinking that this room is a bit 'chilly', and as this is only mid-October, they are understandably concerned about what is coming up.
I then made a bit of a mistake by recounting an anecdote about some left-over coffee in a cup one day last winter, and what happened to it overnight ...
The upshot of our conversation is that they both made it pretty clear that there are limits to what they are willing to put up with in order to keep their jobs, and working at near zero temperatures isn't one of them!
Well of course, I haven't been expecting them to work under the same conditions that I myself have done, and this is actually another of the reasons why I moved ahead with the idea of opening up this place to other workers. It'll provide a push to finally get me moving forward with the construction ...
So I got on the 'net and started ordering some of the supplies I will need for the next steps, and things have started to arrive. Blocking the entranceway this evening is a big fat pack of fiberglass insulation that will wrap that beam we just saw:
Down in the B1 level are a few boards that will make up the 'box' of the stairwell:
And standing at attention down in the workshop is a giant package of pressed fiberglass 'boards' that will be used to panel the concrete ceiling in the printing alcove, as well as the remaining exposed concrete surfaces on the support pillars.
I'm sure the ladies will be very happy to see this stuff. Although just when I'm going to be able to cut these open and get to work I can't say. I have another 2~3 days of Gift Printing still to do, and then it'll be time to get started on Mystique #17, hopefully before the waiting collectors give up in disgust.
Cross your fingers that we have a nice long extended warm autumn!
