Slow Start

It's been a slow start on building my new studio. Yesterday I finally began working on the floor. I repainted the whole frame and now I'm laying down a sheet metal layer that will keep the mice from getting into the insulated floor. I'm salvaging the old fiberglass insulation from the original camper. Considering insulating the walls with wool scraps left over from my hat making.

Also sold my Samurai last week and bought a little pickup truck. It's a bit more practical for farm work around here.

The Bare Bones

Day 2 of the trailer studio demolition. I got 'er down to the frame. It's a solid trailer frame with a 5,000 lb. capacity. Next step is sanding and painting it. Then comes the construction.

Tearin' Down the House

Farewell little Shasta camper. The demolition has begun. As rotten as this thing is I'm surprised it didn't collapse on me sooner!

By the end of the day I got the whole top dismantled. Lots of rotten wood, rusty nails pry bar action and curse words. They assemble these damn things with twisted nails that do not come out, even when they are from 1967. I put an add on Craigslist to give away the windows and trim. Some guy from Vancouver picked it up before dinner. Tomorrow I'll be tearing up the floor boards.

My Tiny Studio

The end of summer is drawing near and I have yet to find a solution for replacing my tiny trailer studio before the rains begin again in October. I have been working out of this old 60's Shasta camper for 2 years now. I traded it for a guitar when I moved to the country. It has served me well but it leaks in the Oregon rains and it's rotting away more each day. The winters are so damp here that my cotton fabrics literally feel wet to the touch just sitting on a shelf inside this thing. My mailing envelopes seal themselves shut and I have to cut them open to put a hat inside.

Now that it's August and the rain has finally subsided here, I am making plans to dismantle this entire trailer and rebuild a gypsy wagon on the frame. After researching gypsy wagons on the ol' google, I found out that they are traditionally called vardo by the British Romani (aka gypsies). I love how ornate these wagons are. If I do end up building one mine will probably look like a more basic stripped down version of one of these. While coming up with ideas I also came across the tiny house blog which is worth a look if you haven't seen it. Through this I also found a link to a guy's blog who is building a tiny house for free only with wooden pallets. I'm considering the possibility of me building a vardo with mostly salvaged materials like pallets, branches, old windows. I like the bow top style vardo because I could make the roof with a big PVC tarp that straps over it and will be pretty damn rain proof. In the summers I could roll the roof up to have some sunshine. I'll keep ya posted on what happens in the coming weeks.