Tag: Life In The Studio

We are so much closer to firing up the kilns, that it’s actually getting exciting at this point!

Thanks to Nate’s planning and prowess, we have all of the electrical connected from the generator and to the kilns now we just need to connect the propane components. Getting all the electrical boxes hooked up required a lot of rearranging in the studio and I ended up needing to move a whole shelving unit that was loaded with raw clay work. So rather than move it twice, I just loaded up the big kiln with all of the dry work, which got the work out of the way and emptied the shelves. Normally kiln loading is a pretty mundane task, it’s been a year since I’ve filled the kilns and it felt really great to get to this point of progress.

This month has really been a steep learning curve into running an art business in Mexico. We actually got a Mexican bank account, which seems like a simple task but let me tell you, it is not. Just one of the hurdles we had to overcome was the requirement for an electrical bill as one form of proof of residency and since we are off the grid, no electrical bill. The work around for this is ridiculous but we did it and officially have an account.

And now that we have an account to manage, we hired an accountant to help us change our fiscal activities within the Mexican tax system and we are now allowed to make money here – amazing! All I have to do now is learn all the local rules for bookkeeping, reporting and taxes – in Spanish – Lol.

I also successfully shipped artwork from Baja Sur to the Pacific Northwest, not an easy feat considering that we are so rural that we don’t have an address. I was so relieved when I saw that the package had cleared customs without a hitch and shortly afterwards, that the piece arrived to my client safely. Tiny miracles happening everyday! I could not of done this without the generosity of a local art gallery that helped me through the process. But I learned a lot and I’m on the way to being able to start shipping on my own soon!

Next technical task for living abroad is renewing our temporary residency cards at immigration – we can’t believe we’ve been here for an entire year already! And at the same time we need to, keep making art, continue designing the sculpture garden, and get the studio ready for Open Studios in January. So yeah, all the things.

Just an update one of the nitty gritty projects going on in the studio these days…

Nate has been working hard to get the generator hooked up to run his welder and my kilns. Over the past few weeks, he poured the pad for the generator to sit on, planned all the layout for the boxes and conduit, mounted up all the electrical boxes and (as I type!) is finishing digging the trench for the conduit. Luckily we’ve had a few cool days for all the digging work, which would have been brutal a few weeks ago. Next up is laying the conduit, pulling all the wire and making the connections. After that, we just need to plumb in the propane. This is a huge job with a lot of components, but we’re seeing the end in sight!

And then – we will have the power!

While I wait for my generator to get hooked up so I can continue working with clay, I’ve been adventurously working with the wood from all of the pallets our things came down here on. To be honest, I’m not the most skilled at measuring and the skilsaw isn’t my favorite power tool, but I’m getting more confident using it.

I used a sawzall to dismantle all of the pallets into planks and then sorted out the super split pieces from the reusable. Despite my ability to measure accurately, I still got everything figured out to make shelves for the studio closet and a few benches for outside. The shelves also required hammer drilling into the concrete walls to set anchors for the ledger pieces, another skill I’m getting more confidant in doing and since everything here is made of concrete, I need to get better at it! The wonkiness of all the wood is great for my lack of precision and I love how funky and rustic the results are. Not only have I upcycled materials, I’ve gotten rid of the pile of pallets that’s been sitting at the front door for months.

And if you look at the little containers sitting on the bench, you’ll notice they are upcycled bottles that I cut to make small desert terrariums with a few little clay forms nested into them too. Now, the question is, what to make next!?!

I’ve rarely taken a hiatus from writing in The Dirt since starting it way, way back in January of 2015, but sometimes a break is good and I also don’t like to clog up inboxes with nada, so here we are two months later. Thank you to all of you who reached out concerned when you noticed that The Dirt wasn’t showing up – it’s always nice to know people are out there in cyberspace reading this!

To catch you up, it’s been a hot and dusty summer here in the desert. Most of my time has been devoted to the dogs these days since we officially adopted Cazadora, who then promptly needed surgery but she’s recovered and is doing great. Our morning walks on an empty beach are the highlight of the dogs days and with the water warming up, we jump in whenever we can. While we are missing the whales of winter, instead, the sea turtles have been coming up on the beach to nest, schools of rays have been swimming so close in shore that you can see them in the breaking waves and I even found paper nautilus shells washed up on the beach. Keeping an eye out for rattlesnakes and super weird bugs is also a highlight of summer. As my neighbor says, it’s not for the feint of heart but the adventure keeps you on your toes and the inspiration from nature is everywhere. Now, we hope to get through the September rain storms without issues and without hurricanes, while quenching the thirsty desert!

It’s been hard to make a lot of progress on projects because of the heat, but we have plugged away at a few things. I finished tiling the studio sink counter top, which was a bigger endeavor than I anticipated but I love the way it turned out. Little details like getting artwork up on the walls, designing curtains and making shelves from the pallets we used to move our things here, take time to do but make the biggest impact on the finishing touches of the space.

The most exciting move forward is my generator to run my kilns and Nate’s welder has arrived! It’s a beast of a thing and it needs a lot of planning for hooking up the electrical and the propane to it, but once it’s set up – we will be a fully functional ceramic studio! Wahoo! Nothing is easy or fast when you live off the grid, in the middle of nowhere, but it’s totally worth it.

I’ve realized that I’ve been fairly quiet over here on updates the past few weeks. Don’t fear, I’m still here and there’s definitely still stuff going, but I’ve also promised you that I wouldn’t fill your inbox with messages of nothing – only wanting to give you the good stuff.

So here’s just a quick visual update of the little things that have been going on in and out of the studio and then I’m going to take a break from posting for a bit, so I can focus on all the minutia of a million projects in progress and will promise to share more of the good stuff soon!

After months of collecting, cutting and planning for this bottle window project, I’m am thrilled to announce …

IT. IS. DONE.

We had over 150 bottle bricks made, laid out in the design plan, set up the scaffolding, masked off the walls, hired our building contractor to help us mix the mortar properly and got to work. It was a learning curve for all of us to install the first window, but by the second, we were a machine. I love the results and how the light changes in them throughout the day. I will definitely be building other things on the property with bottle walls again, but for now, it’s time to take a break from bottles and move onto other creative projects in the studio!

Big thank yous to everyone who keep drinking and collecting bottles for me – I couldn’t have done it without you! Cheers!