Bespoke Tea Towel (and extras)
The Studio at Cleveland Place
We’ve been gathering on Sundays this year at a pal’s house in the next village who was seeking camaraderie of community in the winter doldrums with good food and company. Naturally, we were delighted to be included, and as usual I managed to dominate the conversation by bragging about my studio, my plans, what fun I have there, and the variety of “stations”, equipment, resources, and materials I have. I know. I can’t help it.
But this last week in particular, it sparked some terrific conversation about the meaning and significance of certain things we have in our homes, work, and play places. Nearly EVERYTHING has a story in our home – including the one I told Sunday about a simple wooden peg.
But I’ll get to that in a minute. First, here’s a lay of the land of the Studio at Cleveland Place…
When my folks lived here, it was just a cement basement with storage, a musty set of old encyclopedias, my dad’s workbench, my mum’s picture framing bench, and the furnace. I well recall the single hanging cobwebbed light bulb, worthy of Albert Hitchcock, scurrying spiders, with sawdust, soldering iron drips, and stray nuts and screws embedded in the white shag carpeting. I know, I know…who puts white shag in a workspace??
Then my folks got me a stunning weaving loom and bench and cleared out space for it, transforming the basement and inspiring the potential for some major projects. Next to it went the rug-hooking frame my dad made. When we eventually took over Cleveland Place from them, and ALL my equipment was moved in, Stephen transformed it completely: put in proper lighting, ripped out the shag, painted the floor, hung racks, shelving, and handbuilt units for paints, glazes, and pigments, added wiring for a pottery kiln and wheel, cleared ductwork, made room for screen printing, added a jug sink and drain, assembled equipment for weaving bobbins and cones of sewing threads, and connected a TV for my favourite DVD series. It’s now an a
A project of a very different kind in the Studio at Cleveland Place. Sorting, organizing, identifying people and places of the oldest family archive photos.
Eager to welcome you in —-
The gate is open, the music’s playing, the lights are on, the shade is up, and I’m just about to get my first cuppa coffee — the Artisan Shop at Cleveland Place is open! Gee, some coffee cake is all that missing from this scenario… hint, hint….
With the dreary-grey weather outside, it’s so pleasant to be in the studio saturated with colour! What brings colour into your world?
Four done-more to come!
Here’s The Harvey Hall tartan tea towel reveal on one of the looms in the Studio at Cleveland Place for National Tartan Day!
