Ginny's Small Studio

A Little Break

We went to a fabulous party last night.  There was the usual great food and drink and interesting people and talk, but where this party differed was it was all about family and music.  The party was at Chris and Gayle Pritchard's. Chris has been singing and songwriting and strumming the guitar his entire life.  He has passed on this passion to his two childrem. Even his son-in-law is musical. I asked if one had to audition to be in the family.  The SIL answered a resounding and quick "YES!"

So last night, even though the only thing I play is the radio, John and I were invited to be a part of the Pritchards' "Fam Jam". John and I got to hang out with the cool kids.

There were not one, not two guitars in the room...below is Chris and Dave known locally as the "BackBay Boys".

No not just two but five guitar players and singers.

There was Chris and Dave plus son Brian, son-in-law Rob and the well known blues singer, Cletus Black.

Not shown is daughter Hailey who also sings and strums a bit of guitar.It was a great time with great music and definitely interesting people.

How fun to watch one guy start just playing a few chords and then everyone else picking up on the chosen tune. The passion for music was thick in the room, the non-musicians singing along and wishing we played too. 

Chris and Gayle are good friends and many of you may know Gayle from Art Continuum and the Creative Block workshops,  She is a wonderful instructor for quilting, collage, assemblage, etc. She also is a generous friend.  She introduced Susan Lenart Kazmer to teaching at the first Art Continuum. Gayle will be teaching at our new store.

 

Speaking of stores, I was thinking this morning about how it was so easy to build out the stamp store years ago.  You know: the average stamp is so wide, I have shelves so long, multiply that by the # of shelves and order accordingly. This store is so different because the merchandise is much more varied.  Yesterday I realized that I really need a huge table of some sort in the middle of the room, maybe with a second surface above. John is at the groaning stage.  "More projects?", he asks with a deep sigh. How lucky I am that he is ready and willing to help me with all my ideas.

Happy New Year to all of you out there. Thank you for all your comments and encouragment.

 

 

Day 30

I wanted to clean everything up before I took photos for you, but we just didn't have any energy left. It was a great two days thanks to Josh Lorian our handyman angel. He came to the rescue for us. He is young, strong and full of energy.  He and John knocked out the other display units and the classroom tables and Josh put together classroom chairs.  Note to other entrepeneurs: Only buy furniture that is already assembled. We spent this entire week putting together stuff and we have the aching joints to prove it.

We couldn't have accomplished as much in two weeks as we did in 4 days with Aimee and Josh's help. Thank you from the bottom, middle and top of our hearts.

So now we have tables:

Chairs:

Trash:

Countertops:

Installed paper racks:

Installed paper racks with some paper (premature, but I was just needing to see some product in the store)

And more trash.  It pleases me that everything is so well wrapped.  It upsets me that there is so much waste paper and boxes.  This is off to be recycled.

Thank you for your comments!

Day 28

Former employee and friend, Aimee Kluiber, has spent the last two days helping us out at the store. She and I got our tool belts on and started building displays and tables.  Nothing cements a friendship like a few power tools.  I cannot thank Aimee enough.  She is stronger, has great stamina and reads directions far better than I.  And she is fun to be around.

We got quite a bit done while John continued the never ending paint jobs.  We also had the lights over the cash counter installed.  Love them!

We had a visitor yesterday, Wilson, who just wanted to get out of there.  The power tool noise scared him.

Tomorrow, the countertops get installed and maybe the sign in front of the store.

It is moving along.  Excitement builds for us.

Yikes Twins!

Nine years ago my son Wes and his wife Wendy had twins. Ryan and Rachel are wonderful kids (as all my grandkids are), but Ryan and Rachel created such a change in the life of Wendy and Wes who up to then had only Alli, that Wendy started a business and named it after them.  At Yikes Twins, the inventory includes many different hooded towels for babies and kids.  There are super heroes, animals and princesses.

Wendy has worked very hard at making her company a success and it definitely is.  Yikes Twins Towels can be found in stores all over the country including Barney's of New York.  Vogue (magazine) just named Yikes Twins Hooded Towels the NUMBER 2  2011 TOP GIFT FOR KIDS!!!!!  Congratulations, Wendy.

Day 20

It has been 20 days since we took possession of our new store space.  We have had a few ups and downs, but things are turning out to be running along fine again.  We were not able to postpone delivery of our display units and most of them arrived today.

Paper Racks....check...built by Josh Lorian

Display Units and workshop tables...check...these have to be put together and there are 23 boxes.

Beautiful big distressed display tables and really tall display units...check

Here is a peek at one of the lovely legs:

John is still painting.  He has started doing all the cabinets.

We cannot unpack the boxes and build the display units until the carpet is laid.  The carpet can't be laid until the new wall is finished  and that will hopefully be in a few days.  The inventory cannot be unpacked until there are display units to put it on.  And on it goes. Excitement is building for us.  We are seeing progress and we are having fun.

Thanks again for all the interesting comments.  You are the best.

 

Bobby Hansson

I met Bobby Hansson about ten years ago through a mutual friend, Keith Lobue.  Bobby had been a mentor of Keith's and Keith was very fond of Bobby.  Lucky for me and a number of students, Bobby taught metal art at an early Art Continuum event.  He brought some heavy duty equiptment and several of the students worked all night, long after the workshop was over, learning from Bobby.

Bobby Hansson'smedium is the tin can and he is a master of the art. You might be familiar with Bobby through his best selling books, The Art of the Tin Can and The Fine Art of the Tin Can.

I haven't seen Bobby in years, but tonight he will be on American Pickers at 9PM EST on the History Channel.

A New Day

My new contractor, Hunt Hooker, has performed a few miracles. I think he feels our disappointment and I think he is just one of those great guys who likes to be the quiet hero. The new wall is up and has been approved by the inspector.  Now we have a week of drywall guys coating, sanding, recoating the new wall to prep it for painting.

It may not look like much to you, but it is beautiful to me.

The inspector was really kind to us, too. He could have been otherwise, but we were very lucky.

We were treated to this lovely sunset out the front store window.  Life is good.  Oh, and I finished the Christmas shopping today.  I am woman hear me roar!

Thank you for all the wonderful comments you have been leaving here and on my email. I really appreciate it all.

 

Back on Track

Yesterday morning I was seeing such a change in the store.  I was getting a sense of what the store was going to eventually look like. The carpet guys were scheduled to arrive in the afternoon to begin the prep for the carpet installation. I was getting excited. Then out of nowhere a huge problem arose at the store. The contractor had not used the right materials to pass inspection.The new wall had to be torn down and rebuilt! This meant a 10 day delay before we could move on to the next phase. This meant the carpeting could not be laid as scheduled. This meant that the display units that were to be delivered next Tuesday would be in the way of the carpet guys when they finally were able to get the carpet down. When I relayed this blow to the contractor, he quit.  I was so surprised that he would leave me in this mess. He had other jobs and could not work for me. What was I going to do?  This huge problem kept me awake all night trying to figure out how to resolve it.  By 6AM, I had a plan and couldn't wait for 8AM when I could start making calls.  Five phone calls, one interview and one amicable confrontation and the problem was solved, although it shot a hole in the budget and has put the schedule into a bit of chaos.

So tomorrow a new contractor will begin to build the new wall.  The carpet guys will lay carpet in just the office tomorrow so that deliveries can be made and kept in there out of everyone's way. The wall won't be ready to paint until after Christmas when the carpet will also be laid in the rest of the store.  I will lose the help that I was hoping to have during the holiday break, but the good news is that John and I will enjoy Christmas without feeling the need to work on the store since we can't. See how everything always works out? 

The Entire Color Wheel?

No, but close.  

Years ago, I went to teach an art workshop at a store in another state.  I worked diligently to be prepared for the students, but nothing prepared me for the store's classroom. The walls were gray and the cement floor was painted gray to match. The tables were fold-up tables with folding chairs all in the same color of gray. There wasn't any art on the walls, in fact there was nothing on the walls.  The store did not provide anything to inspire the student in that classroom.  I felt every bit of creativity drain from me.

My last store, The Creative Block, had a riot of color in the classroom including eggplant and cantaloupe.  Maybe the painter and I were hungry that day. This new store will be no different from the old one when it comes to color. only this time we have reds and yellows and greens.

John has been working hard trying to get the painting done before the carpet goes in.  There is now color in our new classroom.  The students will either be inspired or suddenly long for mustard and ketchup. I hope it is the former.

We also have a wall now to divide the front store from the back classroom.

I have been busy while John is painting. I am learning the program for our cash register which is actually an IPad and really fun and easy. Putting product into the system and tagging it all is very time consuming, but it is moving along.

There has also been a bit of shopping and Christmas decorating thrown into the mix.  Putting together a store and a new lifestyle all set to Christmas songs makes for a happy experience.

Today and Yesterday

We have the first color on the walls! Yesterday John began the giant painting process.

I am the luckiest woman to have John who actually loves to paint walls. Who knew when I married him that he brought along this bonus.

The plumber was there yesterday, too, and plumbed in the new sink for the classroom where there was none. Progress.

Today, as I write this, John is still painting and the drywall guys are drywalling the new framed in wall.

Me? I am watching soaps and eating bon bons. HA!

Progress on the Store Front!

Yesterday's rubble has turned into today's promise.

We have a wall...well the beginnings of a wall. This creates a classroom for us and you!

Cabinets were installed today, too.  These will be workstations for workshops.  We are ready for Keith Lobue and Michael DeMeng to come and put us all to work with tools.

Now this is beginning to be real fun!

For Better & Worse

You know that old saying that sometimes things need to get bad before they can get better?  Well, that is definitely true in the case of fixing up the new store. 

We actually got possession on Dec 1 and that is the day that the floor guys came to remove the old carpet and much damaged floor.  As often happens, they ran into trouble and did not finish until today. So the construction crew that was scheduled for today had to be rescheduled.  In the meantime cabinets, a sink and faucet have arrived ready to be put in place for work stations in the soon to be classroom.

We have ordered a few display units.  An IPad based cash register system is on the way.  Paint colors have been picked out and mixed, tables for the classroom have been ordered, but we have not found chairs that are both sturdy and reasonable priced.

And two Christmas presents have been purchased.  Before you clap your hands in approval, take into account that we have 31 people in our close family that we like to gift.

Be happy!