June 22, 2008

Putting Things In Place

I'm finally out of my old studio and getting things arranged in the new space. It has been slow because of a couple of busy work weeks. Still some work to do before I can start making.

Drilling for water. The building manager says we can drill through the floor to plumb into the water pipe below. I need to price that out and get official written permission first. Brant thinks it should be pretty easy. We also have to let the guy below us know. In the meantime I have been using the hose on the roof to fill a bucket when needed and the floor bathrooms are right outside our doors.

The floor is a big issue because the dust really gets down in the unsealed cement floor. Brant and I are going to try and figure out a way to mop the floor without actually using a mop and bucket (since it really doesn't work). I've looked into an autoscrubber and that might work if it's not to expensive to rent. If we can't do that we're just going to polyurethane over the dirt, not really what I want to.

We're going to put a 10' wall between the two pillars to have a bit of privacy as well as a work wall for each of us. I'm also going to put up a cornered wall on wheels that will cover up the windows on my side. But I can always move it around if I need some light. Still not sure about this part. I might hinge it in some way instead. It feels a bit wrong to cover up the windows.

As things progress I get more and more excited...

June 9, 2008

Studio Move

Moved into a new studio this weekend with a guy named Brant Lavalla that I met via craigslist.org. I'm really excited and exhausted (long work week as well). The guy in the picture is the building manager, Mark. He's standing on the side I chose, divided by the 2 pillars in the center.

The place looks pretty clean but lemmie tell ya, it's way dirty inside, pigeon feathers and just general city dust. Spent some time today setting things up. Bought a shop vac and started vacuuming all the corners and sills on my side. Brant and I decided to polyurethane the floor so I thought I'd try to mop the floor in preparation. After getting about 50 ft2 mopped my bucket was black, and the hose to refill it is up a flight of stairs. So I called it a day.

Which leads me to the water issue. We have bathrooms right outside our door but no sink inside. Brant says he can drill through the floor to pick up the line below and our landlords says it's cool. We just have to let the guy below know. Hopefully it won't be an issue. For now, the hose up the stairs on the roof will do. And oh yeah, the roof is huge! With a gorgeous view of the city. I'll get pic of that up here soon.

So the big reason I can afford this is twofold. A studiomate to share the rent (1870 ft2 @ $1137.50 per month / 2 = 935 ft2 @ $568.75) and the fact that it is on skid row in east downtown LA. I'm used to being in rough areas but this is much worse. What makes it doable is that it's mostly homeless people who pretty much ignore me. The building is bordered on 3 sides by homeless shelters and a police station on the other side. The building also has a drive in loading dock with a garage door so you can load/unload without the fear of someone grabbing your shit. Of course, I still have to park about two blocks away and skate in.

All in all I'm ecstatic that I finally have enough space to work in at a cost I can maintain. My last space was miniature and if I made more than a peep the couple living upstairs would ask me to quiet down. That won't be a problem here.

I'm working on were to set up walls as well.