I initially came into the studio in the morning in an inspired mood and ready to get to work. Studio 2 is closed on mondays so I am taking advantage of that quieter time. But my mood shifted when I went to my cart (i use this cart for class demonstrations) and discovered the surface had these deep gouges like someone was bracing a mandrel to it while hammering. What was a beautiful butcher block was now trashed.

I love the fact that the studio is a playground for so many people. I love the fact that people are inspired by the space. I love the fact that so many creative things come out of that space. But it bothers me when things are not taken care of.

In fact it just hurts my feelings.

I don’t know how else to put it. Discovering this kind of carelessness made my heart sink, washed away my inspiration and frankly, I have hard time not taking personally. My husband had lovingly replaced the humble top to this cart with a nice heavy butcher block surface for me to do my demonstrations on.

Now it looks like this.

And the gouges are too deep to sand out.

It is like someone came into my kitchen and used a meat cleaver on my kitchen counter.

So even though we ask people to attend the Studio 2 “Love the Tools Party”, I get that sometimes people don’t think about these things so I am putting up a page here to illustrate some of the things you shouldn’t do.

I am introducing our two friends the “tool lover” and the “tool trasher” to be icons to assist in the communication of what’s good and what’s not.

This is not meant to make people afraid to use the studio, but to be a gentle reminder of what keeps the studio an inspiring place for everyone (including me!).

SilverWorks Open Studio (both studio 1 and 2) is a unique concept and a great way for people to practice their skills. I want to keep it that way for everyone. Please help me afford to do so.