Announcing Claymonkey Studio

[Claymonkey]

I mentioned in my 'Electrical Problems' thread that my electrical problems would soon not be my problem anymore. Well when I moved backed to Boston I ended up getting an apartment with another of the sculpture majors I knew from when I went to Boston University. The plan was that at the start of this year to find a studio together and start making the move back mean something. Well, we had been trolling craigslist for months before but hit into high gear after New Years...and amazing enough stumbled upon something better than we imagined. An actual artist's loft that was being marketed as a live/work space. Now it was more than we had planned to spend but if we got out of our present lease and moved into it we would be exactly within budget.... and if we found a third artist we'd actually be spending less that we do for the apartment.

Anyway, long story short (which I'm sure I'll go into in further posts) we looked at the place, saw the potential and learned WAY more about commercial leases than we ever wanted to. Thankfully with all the research we had been doing we knew what to going rate for commercial space in the area was going for and were able to get him to lower the price by 20% (which is why we can afford it at all). We are basically allowed to do whatever we want in it and will be reconfiguring the space to be half studio and half three bedroom apartment.

I just finished putting together a VERY simple and quick website including all the pictures I took when we toured the place. We've signed the lease and started the cleanup process. The lease starts March 1st but we have keys now so we can clean up and build and that also gives us time to sublet our current place (already talked to our current landlord).

Anyway, I've rebuilt http://www.claymonkey.net to be the home of Claymonkey Studio (name was my roommates idea not mine). We'll be holding drawing groups every week and churning out the sculptures.

Let me know what you guys think.

[Jessterw]

Well you already know what I think, but good to see things moving forward.

[Tjalfe]

Looks like plenty of work to make this nice. Have fun

oh yeah, for stripping the floors, get the drum type sander, even if the rental person tries talking you into the large pad sander.. the pad sander is a complete waste of time.

[schmosef]

Certainly looks like a "fixer upper"!

Good Luck! Should be quite an experience.

[az]

Wow! That's a lot of work you have on your hands now, but this has the potential to become very very beautiful!

You'll be updating the site with pix as you renovate, won't you?

[Claymonkey]

Wow! That's a lot of work you have on your hands now, but this has the potential to become very very beautiful!

You'll be updating the site with pix as you renovate, won't you?

Oh H*ll yes!

[Claymonkey]

Looks like plenty of work to make this nice. Have fun

oh yeah, for stripping the floors, get the drum type sander, even if the rental person tries talking you into the large pad sander.. the pad sander is a complete waste of time.

That's actually VERY useful information. Is that true for the concrete floors as well? We plan on removing the existing duct tape, sand, fill the cracks, sand again if I have to, and then paint with floor paint.

[Claymonkey]

Certainly looks like a "fixer upper"!

Good Luck! Should be quite an experience.

Yeah, we realize it's a lot of work.... to the point that we are a little scared of it. However, we're under 30, single and have no kids, if there is a time for stupid chances now is that time. I only see this turning out two different ways, both requiring a LOT of work. First possibility is that this turns out exactly how we envision it and it starts me on the track I've talked about since I was 17, making a living as an artist, find my nitch in the art community and I get the portfolio I need to get into grad school made so I can teach this stuff. The other possibility is that we fall on our *sses but I can go through life saying that at least I tried and don't go what if for the rest of my life.

[gt40]

That's actually VERY useful information. Is that true for the concrete floors as well? We plan on removing the existing duct tape, sand, fill the cracks, sand again if I have to, and then paint with floor paint.

Concrete floors will usually require etching and possibly a primer in order to hold paint properly - otherwise you will end up with paint peeling. Find a good quality concrete paint and follow the directions for that paint.
I have used pad sanders before and found them mostly effective at sanding decks, where the sanding dust has somewhere to go, otherwise it just loads up under the sander and clogs the paper- their main benefit is being able to keep the surface flat.

Very nice studio - great potential!

[Gurm]

Concrete floors will usually require etching and possibly a primer in order to hold paint properly - otherwise you will end up with paint peeling. Find a good quality concrete paint and follow the directions for that paint.
I have used pad sanders before and found them mostly effective at sanding decks, where the sanding dust has somewhere to go, otherwise it just loads up under the sander and clogs the paper- their main benefit is being able to keep the surface flat.

Very nice studio - great potential!

Yes... get the super-thick stuff, too. You'll be glad later. You lay down the concrete primer, then you put down the REALLY thick paint. You can get it in plain or in "look little flecks of color" which is the kind my friend got for his basement. It looks GREAT and resists water damage.

Essentially, don't cheap out. Buy the pricier stuff. But you knew not to try to cheap out already, didn't you?

[Claymonkey]

Thanks for the advice guys. Yeah I know not to do this on the cheap. However, to be able to afford this we might be mostly focused on the apartment half for the move in date. I'd rather strip the concrete and leave it bare for a month after we move in and be able to afford to cover it right. We'll see what happens.

[Claymonkey]

Well I've updated the site to include our current progress. I've reworked the tour page to include a link to a progress page.

http://www.claymonkey.net/claymonkey_studio.htm

I'll be updating the page every step of the way. Please feel free to give any and all feedback. We're really hopeful of the progress we are making already and think that if we keep this energy up we can make it the way we want instead of just good enough.

[Claymonkey]

Looks like plenty of work to make this nice. Have fun

oh yeah, for stripping the floors, get the drum type sander, even if the rental person tries talking you into the large pad sander.. the pad sander is a complete waste of time.

I've updated the site with pics of after we stripped the floor. Thanks again for the advice on the drum sander. It did an amazing job.

[Tjalfe]

Looks good ... I spend half a day with the pad sander in my house, barely scratching the old varnish. Not sure what they had used, but it sure was hard to get rid off, that is, untill I got the drum sander, and finished all 900 square feet of it in a few hours

oh yeah, when it comes to doing the electrical installations, no more than 12 outlets per breaker, and put in lots extra, they cost only a few $ per outlet, and it is rarely a bad idea to have extras
Also run some Cat5 in the walls, before they are closed up.

for insulation, you have some pink stuff left, which is not a bad start, but roxull insulates better, is easier to cut, and does not itch anywhere near as bad as fiberglass.
You may also want to sound proof your rooms, depending on which nightly activities may happen .. resilliance channels on the walls and ceiling is the way to go for that

[Claymonkey]

we were thinking the pink stuff and homasote in the walls. The other thing we have thought of is totally oddball but might work is perma-liquid grout on all the beams before we put up the drywall as basically a float. Kind of like how you put rubber washers between harddrives and the case.