Monday 30 April 2012

Slide show

When Stephen was closing down his surgery (he was a dentist before he retired to be our full-time handy-Dad) Jon and I went to help him move things. Actually we were there making a film and we wanted to go and pick cool stuff for our new house but let's pretend we were there to help. While there I found these really nice x-ray holders, to keep x-rays of teeth. I thought they would be fun a fun way to display some of Jon's massive, and basically pointless, slide collection. I think I was right, here's one in my sewing room.


Sunday 29 April 2012

Fixing stuff makes me feel like a real man.

In my studio post I alluded to our broked angle-poise (Anglepoise©?). It sort of clicked on then made a crackly sound and cut out. Because electricity is safe for amateurs to tinker with, I thought I'd have a go at fixing it.

 I diagnosed a switch problem and proceeded to disect the specimen.

As I suspected, the switchy contact bits were dirty and needed some elbow grease.

 Unfortunately, oaf that I am, I busted one of the L-shaped contacts, but the weakness in this area pointed to the nub of the matter: Metal fatigue. The contact needs to bend upwards to... well... make contact, and that bendy bit is where the snap occurred. I needed to rejoin and strengthen!

 Apparently, at school, we did something called D&T, which was sometimes cookery and sometimes soldering and stuff. There was a person who showed us how to do it (a teacher, if memory serves), and apparently this one was a cut above, because I kind of remembered how to do it. I think I also used to help my brother modify Tamiya Mini-4WD motors. Anyways, I own a soldering iron and dagnabbit, it's fix-it time.

 So I fixed it. No great shakes. I just did it. Got skills.

 Lit light bulb on bed is OK, because it's an energy saver and doesn't get so hot, maybe.

Then I arranged red things on my bedside table because my JIIG-CAL said I should be a window dresser. (it's a balloon with an LED in it, for emergency parties in the dark).

p.s. Yes, Peter, I'd still like you to bring in your cream Anglepoise next week. Thanks. I will also e-mail you, in case you don't read this.

Saturday 28 April 2012

The sewing/spare room

So we realised that sharing a room* wasn't working for me and Jon. Basically Jon has too much stuff. And whilst the music/spare room combo didn't work (keyboards don't make for a restful sleeping environment) the music/sewing combo didn't work either. So there was only one thing left to try, merging my sewing room into the spare room. And I think it's worked out rather well. It meant I couldn't keep the big table but luckily the Lloyds had this rather nice blue number knocking about in the garage. I also get to have a day bed, which, quite frankly, has been a dream since I was a small child, it just feels very decadent.

artwork supplied by Jenny Lloyd, more wall coverings to follow

* I should point out that we still share the bedroom (we're only 30).

Friday 27 April 2012

Sewing room pictures.

Apart from the washing line of postcards/ideas/hopes&dreams, Hannah's sewing room was looking a bit bare. Luckily, Nell and Paddy gave us each two super prints reflecting our hobby-time interests (n.b. "hobby-time" is not a scheduled part of our days and does not appear on Google calendars; these are ad-hoc amusements fitted in between planned activities). Hannah's are of sewing stuff and mine are of a camera and a record deck. I'm not happy with the current placement of mine in my new stu-stu, so you'll have to look back here to see them.

Hannah did the hanging, whilst I did the up-a-bit-down-a-bit.

Having perfected the hang, Hannah did proud-face.

And then decided to take a picture of herself in the mirror, that also highlights the terrible paint job I did on her cupboard doors (because I thought they were my cupboard doors at the time, and I just don't give a damn about such niceties.)

Wednesday 25 April 2012

washing line

No, not for laundry! This washing line is for cards and things. It's in a very similar vein to our pinterest wall in the kitchen. Somewhere to put all those things you don't want to throw away but don't want to put in frames, and you can add and move things about too.








Monday 23 April 2012

Cockland Studios!


We had a mental move-around this weekend. Studio and sewing room swapped places (!) because my things take up more room and are better and more important than Hannah's. This is a temporary solution before we can afford to expand into the loft and build turrets and stuff.

This is how the room looked before.

Hannah wasn't sure she needed Michael's table anymore, so, jealous of tinkermuffin's studio big table, I used it to put my stuff on instead...

...so that it looked like this. I did it like this because that's probably how you're supposed to have this kind of stuff.

Close up of the digital side (+ electric ukulele). Digital stuff is necessary in this modern world. I really think it might revolutionise the way we live our lives.


The (mostly) analogue side. Analogue stuff is better because it just is.

I also have a record player, cassette twin deck AND 4-track, because... well, if you don't already know why, I shouldn't really waste my valuable time explaining to the likes of you.

Finally used one of the Ikea lamps we got before we realised actual Angle-poises are just better and nicer (notwithstanding the fact that one of ours is an electrocution hazard). This clamps on nicely to the worktable though.

And then I wasted hours in there, because I can.
And Hannah spent hours in her sewing room, which you will see shortly.

p.s. Also insanely jealous of Mark Metaverse's studio build.

Sunday 22 April 2012

More space for marmite

A last minute midweek visit from the parents Lloyd gave us an unexpected opportunity to put Stephen to work again. After putting up some shelves in the kitchen, we promptly filled them with stuff. So we needed more shelves, especially for Jon's expanding Marmite collection.



The latest addition to the collection


Monday 16 April 2012

The end garden

Oh yes, our house and garden are so MASSIVE that we have an end garden; like we live in a manor house or something. Some people may just say it's a crappy bit of our normal garden that used to be covered by a shed but they would be wrong.

Our end garden is going to be a place where I grow things that don't quite fit anywhere else. Also where I can grow experiments, so if they don't work, or go a bit crazy, it doesn't matter - because they're not in my real garden, just the end garden.

In the meantime, I will grow lovely wildlife attracting flowers that I can also pick to fill my MASSIVE manor house.
Digging....

...more digging...

An iron pig tail. Using my archaeology brain I deduce that this means that Walthamstow was once populated by robot pigs in some sort of post-Orwellian sci-fi dystopia, but in the past, like.

raking

more raking

sowing the seeds



Sunday 15 April 2012

les fleurs

It seems like an age ago that our garden looked like this. There's so much growing now.


Grape hyacinths from Kay that were only planted a few months ago.

This came with us all the way from Acton.

We're copying Eat 17 tonight and making some rosemary popcorn.

Radish pushing up through the soil.




Meanwhile in the mini greenhouse