Setting up the studio

As mentioned before I am staying in the gallery which was originally part of Ganna Walska’s private residence.  It faces into a lovely courtyard which is where my studio is set up.gates from the garden to the courtyard

 

the logia space outside my front door

this is my front door.

a ball

not sure what this is but I like it.

right outside my doorway

and this is where I decided to set up my studio.

robert adn rodge  setting up my studio

 Raj and Robert were great and set everything up for me – tables, boards to cover walls and the brick and tile floor.

layers of board and paper to cover the tables

Raj placed plywood on top of the tables and then we layered paper and I layered parchment.  I wanted to make sure the tables would be protected and also the  other surfaces.

florr of the courtyard

Beautiful brick and tile flooring.

studio

I couldn’t wait to get going as I was aware of how long everything takes and how short my time really is.

wax from San Diego

 the wax had arrived and now we placed the different boxes under the tables so I could get at it easily.  This wax was from San Diego and came in convenient bars.

beautiful brown wax 2

 This lovely dark wax came from Ohio so too some very nice yellow beeswax.  Most of my wax comes from Manitoba.  The day I melted the lovely brown wax I soon had at least 40 bees visit.  I thought it would be a daily occurance but the next day I was melting something else and had maybe 5 come for a visit.  Each wax has a different fragrance.

big hunk of wax

I started melting wax right away and pretty soon I had the assembly line in production.  I wanted to establish a colour pallatte before I started mounting tiles and objects.

lotus pod full

These are the 17 lotus pod moulds.  I have learned a little from the past beeswax rooms -always make more moulds than you think you need… I can’t believe that when I did Parois in France I took only one mould for each motif!  What was I thinking?

gallery space

The gallery is made up of four rooms- three large and one small room.  Each room has its own charm from having been a residence.

The gallery space I have been allocated was a small dining room.  The walls were prepped before I arrived to protect the mouldings  from the wax and silicone.  They also painted he room to my specifications… a colour called oiled cedar and it does the trick.   Raj and Robert set up four tables to cool the wax tiles and objects and covered the floor.

inside the set up

 So you can see I am in business.

I  wake up early everyday to the light and for those of you who know me… you know I like that.  So I am outside at about 6.30 am turning on the hot plate to get the wax melting,  making my coffee and then starting the casting process…a perfect way to start the day.

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