Workshop

Today I sent some workshop pictures to Trish from Grains of Glass, for a new page with pictures of enamelling workshops. I thought it was a great idea, I look forward to see other enamellists workshops. Meanwhile, I thought I would elaborate further in my own blog.

 

This is a view of my workshop room. It is a small room of about 12 square meters. The big windows are a must since this part of the world (Belgium) gets rather dark for about half of the year. I like to have plants and cats around. The laminate floors are really good for an enamel workshop, in my opinion. They are easy to clean and more resistant than it might seem, and soft and bouncy enough to save a good percentage of the enamels that invariably get dropped onto it...

To the left is the bench with the machines (covered with plastic bags when not in use, to protect them from dust) and behind it my desk, and to the right my jewellery bench and the kiln area. Lots of drawers for storage.

This is the bench with the machines on top. It is a big Ikea kitchen cabinet, rather heavy and with three very roomy drawers, for storage of enamels and many tools. To it I bolted the rolling mill, a grinding wheel, and a bench vise. On top is a bead cabinet, and the repoussé/chasing tools, my lastest pet technique:

 

Everything gets put away when not in use. I like to keep it protected from dust and tidy, plus with two cats, one of them young and very playful, I must, or else everything is suceptible of becoming a cat toy.

This is my desk. It is a wooden beech desk that I had for many years, I like it so much that I brought it back all the way from Barcelona. Here I enamel, and any other activity that needs to be done on a desk, like for example here I was lacquering coppers for etching champlevés. To my left I have my enamel palettes and containers with clean enamel to start enamelling. My cat Loki is to my right in his basket. 

And this is my jewellery bench. Self explanatory. I also brought it back from Spain, since these are my favourite benches, very solid (80 kg!) and with a drawer lined with stainless steel, easy to clean and good if you drop something hot. It also has many big drawers for storage. I love my tiny Brazilian torch!

 

These are my Emisón (a Spanish brand) kilns. The one on the left is very old with big isolation (asbestos! hah), so it is rather small inside. It heats up in less than an hour and keeps the temperature very well. Since I make small pieces most of the time, I use it the most. The bigger kiln is taped down, since Loki has learnt to open it and make a mess!

In the drawers under the kilns I store a lot of workshop things: trivets and kiln fibers, copper, brass, pickle containers, etc.

I have not included pictures of the wet area because it is a regular bathroom (the door to the left next to the machines on pic 2). The only workshop thing in it is a big jug with a tap for distilled water.

So, this is my workshop. If you have any questions, just ask!

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