Finally, Back in My Studio

My heater is finally installed!  I feel like I have been in exile for years.  I have now had 2 days in my studio and I feel centred again.


So, here she is.  This is  my new heater.  She looks very pretty and heats the studio well.  Sadly, she does not light as easily as my previous one and (although it takes the edge off the cold pretty quickly) takes a full 1.5 hours to reach a cosy room temperature.  My old baby ignited like an oil well and had the whole space heated in half an hour.  But I knew nothing was going to compare in that respect.

See that ugly grey wall behind the heater?  That's cement sheet waiting for wall tiles.  I have done an elaborate islamic tile design and intend to paint the tiles myself.  It's been more than 2 years since I finished renovating the studio and moved in.  Why haven't I done the tiles?  Well, at first I was working like crazy to amass the works for my solo show, but the real reason is that I haven't gone into town to buy the tiles!  Having the new heater in has made me determined to have the tiles painted and installed over the coming summer.

This is the design that I have planned.

The installers did a lovely job and it is nice to have proper flashing on the ceiling and on the roof.  The last flue was a bit home made and didn't have a very nice (or even well fitting) flashing on the ceiling.

And above is a picture of my old heater.  It was hand made from an old cast iron boiler.  This photo was taken before I renovated the studio.  She cleaned up a bit better than in this photo.  I loved her steampunk styling and she worked like a dream.  But, I can't get her back and time moves on.