Making Mugs

This Thanksgiving week Bill has had enough time off to make ceramic mugs for the seasonal studio show and gifts this time of year. He has also managed to finish a second tall "sister" sculpture.


The Open House Studio Show will be Saturday, Dec. 8th from noon until 6pm at 1177 Croton Rd., Flemington, NJ.

Heating The House

This Jotul F 3CB wood stove burns over night and all day during the weekend to help heat Christian's 2,000 sf farmhouse. It is the world's best value for heating dollar and best selling small/medium cast iron wood stove in North America. Before getting it installed much work went into digging out from under it, rebuilding the foundation, creating a hearth topped with old bricks and installing a new chimney liner. Bill and Alex drove to Maine to purchase this stove (used six times) for half price. It came with all parts for installation and some we sold, besides fire tending tools.

Bill also helped Christian install an efficient Weil McLain six zone gas burner system which runs PEX hydronic floor and modern Runtall cast iron wall heat, as well as forced hot air in new duct work.  Christian spends about $100/mo. for heat during the winter here.

 

The air handler is installed in the new crawl space under the dining room, fireplace and oldest part of the house. Left are the PEX lines installed 6" apart instead of the usual 8", to create more heat in the bathrooms. The carved out return boards came from a company in Montana and the solarium to the right has a Runtal cast iron wall heater.

Maya Lin Coffee Table

We have been using our Maya Lin Stones around the newly painted barns and now have a coffee table from this Knoll collection. They are lovely shapes and colors together while easy to move around the lawn and then store or use in the barns.

This week was the dedication of Maya Lin's two Princeton University installations, "The Princeton Line"; an earth sculpture commemorating Princeton's Dinky train, and "Einstein's Table"; a granite water table paying tribute to Princeton's resident Albert Einstein. I went to hear her speak about the works and her focused environmental approach to art and life. What a brilliant artist and architect who grew up playing with clay and exploring the southern woods of Ohio. 

Barn Cupolas

Venting a barn with a cupola is critical to cool, stop dangerous condensation and reduce the hazard of spontaneous combustion. The small animal barn was missing its' cupola top above the hayloft, so I found a classic "Manchester" style made to order with premium grade cypress and a 24 gauge copper roof from Good Directions. They are lovely and we have installed two of them now on both parts of this barn; one with an "Avon" finial and the larger has a refurbished weather vane on Good Direction pole parts. This is a terrific company with wonderfully crafted products, and outstanding employees!

Installation was easy with expert advice.

Repairing Clay Work

The new year has also had Bill cleaning up and repairing some pieces in his studio. This tall vase is repaired with liquid fiberglass. Earlier, the Moon Pots below were repaired with Fiberglass tape and liquid; then filled with a two parts silicone to make them solid.

This garden seat is now in the midst of repairs.

So Long Summer

It was a wonderful summer full of warm days painting barns, watching the fields and napping in the hammock grove. We are lucky that it does not feel quite over...and we are still painting.

Barn Windows

Our barn windows span many years of basic design, purpose and restoration. We are now repairing the last wall of windows in the small animal barn which is part of two adjacent horse stalls. The top window of the hayloft had a heavy piece of cloth stapled to its' top and I have found the six pane window with top hinges to remount there. The bottom two windows have new pieces of trim after removing large sheets of press board nailed to this wall; protecting it from horses.

This is the last barn wall power washed and just painted as well as the last group of windows "outside" to repair. The left window slides open with iron bars behind it and the right window has side hinges and four glass panes which need a new muntin. The impact of repairing all our barn windows has been remarkable and great fun.