Oh, Hi

It’s been a special episode sort of evening here in Amyland tonight: after getting my long-lost big-ass drafting table out of my car, into the house, up the stairs, and into my new studio- by myself- I discovered I’m stronger than I thought. When did Wonder Woman and She-Hulk arrive? Who the hell was that?

I kinda can’t believe I did it- this thing is seriously heavy, it doesn’t fuck around. I’m not saying it was easy, because I almost got stuck in the middle of the stairs at the point where the table and I were on the same level. The stairs are on the narrow side, and I was briefly concerned I was going to lose my balance, but I held it. I got it upstairs and into the space I wanted, with a window to my left and a wall in front of me for pinning stuff up. Then after reattaching the table’s feet, I slowly tilted it upright and adjusted the height and angle. Then I sat on the floor, hot, sweaty, and tired but very pleased. I sat there quietly for a few minutes, just looking at it.

Zoom…

Enhance…

A label I saw on the bottom says it was “Made in West Germany”. Dang.

So Hello to my old friend I haven’t really seen in years- a Koenig ‘Panther Table’ that my parents gave me for Christmas the year I graduated from high school. I was stunned when I saw it, and spent the greater part of the rest of my time in that house seated at that table, losing myself in a project.

Years later, I would have to stop and think for a split second to remember that the table was still in the house. After getting married and sharing small spaces, it fell to the magnetic pull of my ex-husband’s studio and became absorbed, turning mainly into a storage element for crates, bins, and cases of raw material and minutiae. Sometimes an area of the lower part was a work surface, but it was mostly invisible underneath all the old growth of supplies, files, fabric, and bins of foam rubber.

So far tonight it feels amazing to have it here. I’m looking forward to using it again. Which is really good.

: )