It has been a slow and frustrating week involving wormwood killer in the eye, the cutting of the hands upon glass, the spectacular smashing of another piece of glass by a tile-cutter, (very bad idea to introduce the two to each other) some substance reactions resulting in tacky-for-days ick on the windowsills and some major delay on The Studio.

Still – the room is painted and yesterday I replaced a window pane in the old frame. I love putting glass into windows. The materials are so beautiful, so inert and so effective that they remain unchanged in spite of the chemical revolution that appears to have engulfed the rest of the world of home-improvement. Glass, linseed putty, a wooden frame and some pins. Some pressure, some pushing, some gentleness, some waiting and eventually, a window.

I plan on painting everything with reclaimed weathershield (again from The Scrapstore) to ensure lasting protection from the elements and to render the fresh building work durable. In the meantime, all the last week spent working on the mix of old and new surfaces, I have been appreciating the qualities of faded paint, peeling paint, rusting hinges and all the textures time puts upon a place.

Thanks so much for all the comments on Monkl’s outfit – I thought the whole contest was loads of fun and it was great to see what other people had made also.

For me it was a brilliant way of dealing – on a small scale – with some design ideas I have been noodling over for a couple of months!