I had a very productive few days when my parents decided to come out and help me work on the studio. Our main objective was to get a 12' x 12' space built within the shop. I wanted to build this for a couple of reasons. One is to have a clean area that I can do my finer work in (fine metals, engraving, drawing, etc.). As much as I try, that coal dust seems to make its way on to everything! The second reason is to have a smaller space to heat during these lovely Cleveland winters. It is a large space with 14 ft. ceilings, so closing in a smaller area to heat it is going to make a big difference in my gas bill. Otherwise it will be nice and toasty right in front of the coal forge, but other than that, no so much!

I would have been happy to just get the walls up, but we managed to crank the whole thing out, get a couple coats of paint on, and still had time to spare! I had my mom refinished three work benches, which look fabulous now, while my dad and I put up the walls, ceiling and floor. Liz kept us fed and put in some time with the paint brush. Thank you all so much for the help!

One of my bench vises getting mounted on a beautiful maple top that Mom brought back from the dead!

Not too bad for three days worth of work! I am currently unpacking my tools, and I hope to get the coal forge up and running this week. I am very excited to get back to making!