Monday, February 21, 2011

Studio Disaster

A film of gritty, oil dust covers everything in the studio

We will never forget this last Saturday, February 19th, 2011. A tree fell and took down the power lines on our road. It was a cold and windy day and with no hope of the power company showing up soon, Peter lit the kerosene heater in the basement of his studio to keep the pipes from freezing.

A couple of hours later, I went to check on the heater and when I opened the studio door, black, oily smoke had filled the building and bellowed out the open door. I called for Peter and we opened all of the windows. Our nostrils and the creases in our skin were filled with black dust. Our clothes smelled like kerosene and were gray and smudged.

When the air cleared, we could see the damage. Everything in the studio, every nook and cranny of which there are many, everything was and is still covered with a film of gritty, oily dust. It's overwhelming.

3 comments:

  1. Oh man, what a drag... sorry to hear that.

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  2. Peter, that's how the Mantle family kept warm. Black dust, get the leaf blower and badabing, all clean.
    Now you can charge more for the antique patina on you work, seal it with Krylon crystal clear.

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