New Studio Up and Running

[RSimmons]

My new studio area is finally up and running after what seems like an eternity. The floor is acid washed concrete and fairly bullet proof. Supply air for the hood comes in from the window and is ducted up through the table top (white squares in the back). The outside supply keeps me from drawing all of the conditioned air out of the house. The hood exhausts through the roof. My glass is stored in PVC pipe stacked in the metal cube system that I picked up from the Container Store. Getting used to the NG flame after so long working with propane has been quite an excercise, but I think I'm getting there. I still have more than a few things to do before I'm finished, but I can light a torch again at last. My wife has all of her bead stuff in the other half of the room, so we spent much of the weekend working together in the studio. It's much nicer than when I worked in the basement by myself.

Robert
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[Beyond the Bead]

What a great space!
How nice that you and your wife can work on these things together!
Very jealous of your beautiful work space and ventilation system!
Michelle

[kentaymom]

Very nice! It must be so nice to be in such a nice bright space after being in the basement all by yourself!

[Bellagirl]

Really nice set up Robert and everything is within reach of your torch. Doesn't it feel good to have your new space.

I have a hood similar (but smaller) and it seems to cast a shadow while I lampwork. The built in lights for it are rather low watt and my shop light on ceiling above doesn't help under the hood. How is the light with your hood?

I think it is awesome that you can spend time with your wife while you both create. Perfect setup. Congrats

Jolene

[pam]

Fantastic setup, Robert. Congratulations on being able to finally torch again.

[RSimmons]

Really nice set up Robert and everything is within reach of your torch. Doesn't it feel good to have your new space.

I have a hood similar (but smaller) and it seems to cast a shadow while I lampwork. The built in lights for it are rather low watt and my shop light on ceiling above doesn't help under the hood. How is the light with your hood?

I think it is awesome that you can spend time with your wife while you both create. Perfect setup. Congrats

Jolene

I found that using coiled fluorescent bulbs (100 W brightness/daylight) in clip on shop lights works really well. I had them clipped on to the ends of the hood before I expanded it and it gave me plenty of light to work. The other really nice thing is that they don't throw off much heat - almost none compared to an incandescent bulb. The new hood is much brighter with windows close by and skylights in the ceiling, but I'll use the clip on lights when I work in the evenings.

We've been working on getting this room built for over a year now - it's great to finally get all of our creative endeavors in the same place.

Thanks all,

Robert

[debkauz]

Gorgeous space! Me want! Can you give us some information about your hood? It just looks perfect.

[Bellagirl]

Thanks for the lighting tips Robert. I am going to try what you recommend.

Jolene

[RSimmons]

I started off with a regular GlassCraft hood in my basement work area. It exhausted out a window and I built a blast gate to close it off when I wasn't working. When I moved to the new room I called GlassCraft and got an extension section for the middle of the hood. That meant that I needed a new fan for the larger face area. I bought a modest squirrel cage blower from Grainger, built a vacuum plenum for it and hung it above the hood. Supply air comes in through the old blast gate in the window and is powered by the Suncourt fan that was on the original configuration of the hood. It's all really very quiet. I spent a monumental amount of time figuring it all out and building it, but in the end having good ventilation has been worth every bit of it.

Robert

[debkauz]

Robert it looks fabulous! Me want Me want! LOL