architecture – Weave Story

Riverbend Studio – another year of work

December 30, 2014/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, studio /by bschutzgruber

At the end of 2013 the rough construction was competed for my studio space on 5 acres of woodland in central Michigan. See the November & December 2013 achieve for Riverbend – rustic beginnings and Riverbend – building the studio [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]

2014 has been a year filled with continued work.

In May steps were built….

and a contraption for maintaining the lane.

The metal roof was put on…

and a small folding table and a sideboard were added to the living space.

With the addition of vinyl flooring, curtains and rugs…. the inside space was coming together nicely.

Later in the summer came the building of a Murphy bed…

and the picture that hung over the fireplace in my parent’s house for 55 years has a new home.

In the spring and fall the overnight temperatures inside the studio can easily drop into the 40’s F…

so one thing was left on the list for comfort = getting a propane heater that would vent to the outside.

With the painting of the front door…

and hanging the nameplate made of Welsh slate…

my Riverbend studio retreat is coming along nicely.

Here’s to more adventures in 2015!

Riverbend – building the studio [part 4]

December 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, studio /by bschutzgruber

With the studio completely enclosed….

cold weather setting in with snow outside…

and only 40F inside…

it was time for one last weekend to complete this building project.

The trim was added to the exterior walls…

hurricane ties were attached to the roof and walls…

and trim was added to the rafters.

The interior walls went up to enclose what will be the bathroom area…

and this is the view I’ll have waking up in the morning.

In the Russian folktales, Baba Yaga lives deep in the forest in a tiny house that stands on chicken legs. Well… this may not be as unique at hers…. but it is MY ‘house in the forest’.

Riverbend – building the studio [part 3]

December 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, studio /by bschutzgruber

Putting on the roof… cont.

2 weeks later we were back at Riverbend with a spiffy machine that Terry designed to lift the panels.

This was a LOT easier than hoisting them up the 12 feet using only brute force. Let’s hear it for machines and the engineers who build them!

With the porch on, the roof was complete!

Next came the tar paper

but we won’t put the metal roof panels on until warmer weather in the spring so on went another set of tarps for the winter.

I could not have gotten my dream of a studio built without this amazing ‘TAG team’= Terry A Gruber & Tristan A Gruber!! Well done, Gentlemen!

Riverbend – building the studio [part 2]

December 1, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, studio /by bschutzgruber

The call came in mid October that the studio was ready to be delivered. With the 25 panels, 4ft x 8ft and weight in at about 120 lbs each, coordinating some extra ‘muscle’ to help was necessary – which meant building on the weekends. The clock was ticking to get the structure up as quickly as possible because once November hits in Michigan, the weather becomes unpredictable. It could be warm & sunny…. or warm & rainy…. or cold & sunny….. or cold & snow… you never know! Our daughter, Andrea, was not available but luckily we were able to enlist our son, Tristan, making this a ‘everyone in the family helped’ project.

Step 3 : The insulation/moisture barrier went down

then the subfloor.

Delivery the next morning brought another ‘impressively large’ truck…

leaving 4 stacks of panels with directions for ‘some assembly required’.

Step 4: building the walls
Yup… all we needed was a screwdriver & a caulk gun.

By the end of the day, 1/2 the walls were up and the piles were getting smaller!

The second day of assembly we finished the walls

and moved on to preparing for the roof panels.

Part 5 : putting on the roof
Using brute force we hoisted the roof panels from the outside and over the wall,
supported them from below, and secure them into place.

The ‘brute force’ part of this was turning out to be way more intense than expected – there had to be an easier way.

So… the third day we built a temporary rafter system and covered with a tarp.

Engineers build machines to make work easier… my husband Terry had new puzzle to solve!

Riverbend – building the studio [part 1]

December 1, 2013/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff, studio /by bschutzgruber

In researching different options for building my studio I came across Panel Concepts – a Michigan company that manufactures ‘kits’ using 4ft x 8ft panels. We met in March to see a model and I liked what I saw.

Summer was busy but we were able to test a floating foundation system (using the shed) and cleared a 16ft x 20ft area for the studio.

In September I was ready to discuss ordering a kit – only to discover that the owner was retiring, the business was being sold and would move to Wyoming as of December 1st. BUT… they were still taking orders for another week. Checking the details of exactly what options I wanted… I placed an order for a 12ft x 16ft unit.

With only 4 weeks to get the foundation sorted and floor built… having a husband who is a ‘newly retired engineer looking for a challenging project’ REALLY came in handy for all the design work and calculations.

Step 1 : delivery of 3 cubic yards of small stone/pea gravel

Spread 4″ deep and layout the footing supports

Step 2 : Laying out the frame then a LOT of ‘measure twice…. cut once’ for the 16 supporting legs and 11 floor joists! With the help of our daughter Andrea (an amazing woodworker in her own right!) we set to work….

…and 3 days later we had the base completed.

In mid October I got the phone call that my order was ready = on to the next step!

Weaving in Wales – Off the floor and onto the bench….

September 8, 2013/2 Comments/in Interesting stuff, Projects, summer school, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

With my landscape finished plus a spacer in place….

Thursday morning I ‘moved up in the world’ — from sitting on the floor to sitting on the bench = YEA! This bench is designed so the seat can be moved higher as the weaving moves up the loom.

In designing my next project, I wanted to continue working on achieving a sense of depth to the tapestry, plus I added working on being less literal in my interpretation of my starting photograph.

One of my favorite photos is one I took from the castle rooftop of the market square in Norwich England.

I love the shapes, lines, and colors but have never succeeded in getting a good starting sketch because there’s so much going on in the photo. I decided to focus on one set of rooftops, outlining the basic shapes, tracing a cartoon, then transferring those shapes onto the warp yarns.

I started weaving using a range of colors which really helped me to be less literal and stay focused on the shadows and angles of the roof lines – moving from ‘Norwich rooftops’ to simply ‘Rooftops’.

Friday…..

And by Saturday morning I was weaving the final section to finish the piece.

Rooftops 4″ x 4″

A Frame for ‘Day Dreaming’

March 19, 2013/0 Comments/in felt, Interesting stuff, Projects /by bschutzgruber

After looking at the wall pieces in the AAFG exhibit at the Village Theater, my felt piece ‘Day Dreaming’ needs some ‘drama’ before I submit it again to anything. This morning I got an idea = actually frame it using an old window frame!! Did a test print on paper to see how it might look = I like it!!! Checked out the local Re-use/Re-cycle place and yes… they have old window frames for only $5 = woo-hoo!! Next step figure out how to actually do it.

So much to do… so little time!

February 23, 2013/3 Comments/in felt, Projects /by bschutzgruber

The good news is… it’s been a busy 2 weeks.
The bad news is….. it’s been a busy 2 weeks and there are only so many hours in the day!

A dear friend of 30 years passed away on her 90th birthday. Jean was an amazing woman – a teacher, master gardener, weaver and storyteller who was always up for an adventure and road trip. She’s the one who connected me with my very first weaving teacher – Gloria Teeter. I’ve been helping her family inventory and organize the sale of her loom and spinning wheel, plus all the equipment that goes with them! [The loom is still for sale so if anyone is interested in the details – send me an email.]

Last weekend I was the emcee for the Storytelling Festival at the ARK here in Ann Arbor with Donald Davis, Carol Birch, and Laura Lee Hayes performing. The stories told on Saturday night for adults and Sunday afternoon for families were a spellbinding blend of humor, poignancy, rich language and imagery.

Plus I was working on a second felt wall hanging to submit with ‘Heron’ for the AAFG show in March at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill in Canton, MI. I decided to do a self-portrait. Now I struggle when it comes to sketching/drawing and being a ‘process’ artist/‘experiential’ learner … oh this was going to be an adventure!

Because I don’t ‘draw’ I take a lot of photographs and use those as my ‘jumping off’ point when it comes to design.

Here I am in the lantern tower windows of Ely Cathedral, England.

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This is the view from the floor below!

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I cropped the photo…

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…enlarged to make a 36″ x 43″ pattern.

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Take #1
I laid out Merino wool fiber, black silk chiffon fabric and then backed it with Romney wool – the only black wool in my stash. I felted it – rubbing/rolling using soapy water. End size is 29″ x 24″ but the Romney was too ‘hairy’ so it did not felt the way I wanted and worked it’s way from the back to the surface = oops!! Even after giving it a ‘shave’ with an electric beard trimmer, this was not going to work…..

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…but it did give me a piece I could practice adding the facial features….

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Take #2
12″ x 18″ sample while I waited for my order of black Merino fiber to arrive.

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Third time’s the charm!! “Daydreaming” (29″ x 33″)

OLG Festival Exchange bag arrived!!

December 10, 2012/1 Comment/in Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving /by bschutzgruber

My Festive Exchange bag arrived today!!
It was made by Brigitte Liebig a weaver from Germany – near the Swiss border.

The ‘walls’ are woven with cotton warp and handspun linen weft and the towers are woven in a shadow weave pattern to represent the very narrow spiral staircases in three of the towers. She used commercial fabric for the sky (blue) and the bottom/base (brick pattern)

Her inspiration came from a visit to Castel de Monte in South Italy. The guidebook suggested taking a photo from the ground of the inner courtyard up to the sky.

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