washer-driers on the road......

the washer-driers have finally gone. there will be no washing of smalls in my studio, or anything else of a sweaty clothy nature for that matter! i'm sorry if this disappoints. there are a few who've tried to encourage me to keep 'at least one dryer'. but no....... NO! penryn is now bereft of any community washing and drying facilities. but as one door closes, another one opens. there are plenty of empty shops in penryn. an opportunity for someone who fancies a dabble with other folks dirty washing to fulfill a latent laundry ambition hovers unclaimed upon the horizon. but hey - that's not me. not my calling in life. 

i do have a great book i found at a car boot sale called 'the art and practice of laundry work -  for students and teachers' should anyone wish to borrow it? like most of my things it's not exactly contemporary. it doesn't reveal the most modern of practices but i find many of the old ways are often the best. it's nicely illustrated and tells you how to do just about anything laundry-related.

the laundry lovers bible

well done maud!

the premier box mangle - for those who feel the need for a BIG mangle 

how to clean your beaver hat with petrol and flour! but beware if your beaver is dark gray.....

some of you will understand why i had to include this......

just how have i lived for so long without one?!

but what of the washer-driers? well, they have moved on to pastures new and what exciting ones they are. this isn't just a figure of speech. they are bound for a breezy outdoor existence of festival wonder in the fields. while i spend the summer working stationary in their place they will be hitting the road and touring to glastonbury, womad, the green man and the end of the road festival to launder towels for saunas. i'm envious. they will also go from john o'groats to land's end for the cycle race. i'm not sure what they will launder there - maybe more towels. so where festivals are concerned it seems we've swapped lives. last year was my first summer without any festivals. i used to go to lots but now i just go to a couple of local smaller ones and the summer doesn't feel complete without them. but my exhibition was at the end of august and will be the same again this year. with the studio to complete and a huge volume of work to create it's unlikely i'll make it to any. but, just incase, or so friends can go and find them, with the point of a screw i etched a little 'jo' on the back of all five machines! this gives the impression that i felt sorry to see them go, which couldn't have been further from the truth. their new festival existence just amuses me and that out of all the people who could have bought them (they also had nigeria on the cards), it was a guy who used to live in a truck right next to where i used to live in a boat in west yorkshire. so it's all worked out well.

i no longer feel as if i'm trespassing in someone else's launderette, i'm unlikely to discover any more stray knickers, can let go of the amusing but slightly worrying soap opera that's been slowly unfolding (which unfortunately i can't write about here as it'll get me into trouble!) and can begin to see the building as a space at last. and this is incredibly exciting.

nearly washer-drier free.....