QZ qz thoughts
a blog from Eli the Bearded

Tiring, err, Tiling work


Before Covid-19 reared it's head, my wife took out a lease on what we're calling the shop-factory. For the past decade she has made money selling patterns and teaching people knitting and sewing. The space is a former cleaners. With some cleaning, and a few repairs, it was mostly suitable. Except the bathroom. That needed a lot of work.

Most of the business has been sewing patterns in the last three years. Giant pieces of osper that need to be folded to fit in a 6"x8" and booklets with instructions to be printed, folded, and stapled. Then put in a folder and taped shut for ssle.

The idea is the shop-factory would be a place to manage her business from — instead of using a room of our house — and also be a place she could teach classes. A big table for folding patterns. A row of small tables for sewing machines for students. Shelves to hold all the business consumables. A bathroom students to use, with space to change. A large mirror for seeing how garments, once made, look.

Covid-19 has put a damper on treaching classes, for sure. And shelter-in-place has interrupted preparing the space. We took the sink and vinyl floor out of the bathroom in March and then it was nothing happening for so long. Finally, Memorial Day weekend we made progress. Started with taking the toilet out. Then putting down a moisture barrier. Then tiling. Then grouting. Finally cleaning up.

Tiring work.

toilet removed
tiling begun
grouting finished
nippers and waste