Way back here, I promised to update my fibre art studio post when the design walls were done. They are!
Here’s how we built them:
The bypassing barn door hardware is mounted to the 16-foot long 2×6 that we screwed onto the roof joists while finishing the t-strap ceiling.
The steel channel that holds the rollers is engineered to carry a maximum weight of 200 pounds per 8′x8′ door. In my last studio, we used regular closet door sliders to hold my work walls, and these were not nearly strong enough – they were always sagging out of the channels and I ended up sliding them along the floors.
We made a frame of 2x2s, with a channel dadoed on the table saw for the 1/2″ plywood to slot into.
This frame is screwed onto the edges of the plywood, after the plywood sheets are butted together and joined on the door back with narrow pieces of plywood.
Two hanging brackets are screwed onto the top of each door, near the ends.
The back door is lifted and hung onto the sliders by the sliding brackets, and the bolt tightened to secure the brackets to the sliders. Then the front door is hung the same way.
Construction glue is applied to the plywood, then two sheets of Donnacona board screwed on with washers.
Donnacona is cut to fit with a jigsaw
Donnacona is a soft board made from woodfibre scraps (and maybe cardboard?) It provides a backing that I can pin fabric and quilts to, like a bulletin board.
To pretty it up, I painted the 2×2 frame white.
I had 18 feet of 72″ white felt from my old studio, so I cut, seamed, stretched and stapled it tightly over the Donnacona. The felt acts like a soft surface I can just place my fabric on to audition it, without pinning everything.
I also retained 8 feet of grey felt from the old studio, which is useful when photographing my quilts. I can pin it up when I need that 18% grey background for the best exposure level and to encourage accurate colour.
So, now it’ll be so much more convenient to work in my studio, plus it’s much neater-looking, now that all the storage is concealed behind these wonderful big design walls.
I’m a happy quilter!
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No kidding, you just have to find the time to play in your studio! And that is probably sooner rather than later.
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