Focus on food: May 21, 2007
Sailshades by Susan Mohl Powers
Over the years many Lees customers have attended a variety of classes in our Westport Cooks Community Room. Our Community Room has hosted private functions, cooking classes and a variety of workshops. Please call us at 508-636-3348 if you are interested in booking a function.
Susan Mohl Powers conducted a series of free workshops in teaching homeowners how to make their own affordable Sailshades. This great product has been produced in Fall River for the last 28 years and can save as much as 30% of the year’s heating costs. The design of these shades is for normal size windows and can be constructed with an insulator called Reflectix used in the traditional Sailshade. All the materials can actually be purchased locally and constructed in your home.
Sailshade Studios in Fall River, Massachusetts occupies 3200 square feet in an 1860 granite mill. It has been her studio since 1991. Located at 425 Pleasant Street, Building#14 in the Durfee Union Mills, visitors are always welcome by appointment or by chance. Be prepared to climb stairs to the fifth floor.
Links:
“ Susan Mohl Powers Biography”
“ Sailshade Studios Installations”
“ Click here to learn how to Sailshade your home!”
Sailshade Inc.
P.O. Box 3935
Westport, MA 02790
1-508-677-3160
Fax: 1-636-438-3536
E-mail: susan@sailshade.com
Sailshades History:
“ Complete History Link”
In 1979, Susan Mohl Powers was presented with a problem by an architect friend. She was asked to design an insulated shade that goes over the window and when up doesn’t cover any glass? As an artist it didn’t occur to Susan to look up a roman shade pattern. Sailshade came into existence with a unique design feature. It formed a cornice-like effect when raised. Susan began calling this a “self-creating valance.”
The Sailshade design was now on track in her mind for an aesthetic look that included high performance in terms of energy efficiency. Owners began reporting more than one third energy savings when an entire house was Sailshaded.
Sailshades present an elegant unobtrusive look. They are an architectural element. Most roman shades have baggy folds that hide much of the window when they’re raised, but Sailshades nest in a compact space because of a unique proportion system. Even on a 7.5-foot-high sliding glass door, a Sailshade nests completely off the glass in a space of less than one foot, maximizing solar gain. Sailshade’s crisp, upholstered design provides immediate comfort in your home no matter what the season and its designer quality adds beauty to the space.
SAILSHADE DO-IT-YOURSELF DESIGN:
• Cut a piece of Reflectix the size of your window
Make the length 1/2 inch longer. (normal-sized windows) Reflectix is non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and environmentally safe.
• Divide the length into three panels. With a utility knife and straight edge carefully make two horizontal cuts 3/8 inch apart just barely through the first relective layer at each panel point. Peel off this very thin aluminum layer. You now have two hinges. This is the front of the shade.
• Using a glue gun (the small $5 ones are fine) glue two key rings one inch down from the top edge of the back of the shade about four inches from the side edge. Using a 4 inch piece of fabric through the rings, spread out the tab for extra strength in gluing. Line them up with two cuphooks inside the window frame.
• Cut a piece of white Roc-lon blackout fabric (available at jo-annfabrics.com .) a little larger on all sides than the piece of Reflectix. This one layer adds an additional 1.47R. and is non-PVC. Using a glue gun, glue just a narrow bead along the wrapped edge to cover the side of the Reflectix. that has the rings. With a nail scissors pull the top rings through the fabric. This is the back of the shade. This process will look neater with practice and a little glue will stop the fraying of the edges after cutting the fabric to pull through the rings.
• Now glue your face fabric to the front, inserting and gluing a loop at each side of the bottom hinge at the side edges. This entire process is no more difficult than wrapping a present. Add two more cup hooks at the top of the window to hook these loops when the shade is up.
• Your Non-Sewn Sailshade is finished. Hook it into place for evening and lift up
and hook into place during the day. Most heat loss is at night. If you Sailshade yourentire house expect at least 30% energy savings as well as much greater comfort. Thesouth facing Sailshades can be lifted off the windows completely to maximize solar gain during the day.
Sailshade Susan Fights Global Warming For 28 Years!
While doing least square solutions for astronomy class or being told by the professor that it is very important to know how to turn a screw driver with one hand, little did I know what my future would be. Jeff Hoffman was in my class. He fixed the Hubble. I later used the one-handed screw driver skill to install Sailshades while on a high ladder or on a scaffold over a hot tub with the hot sun beating through the sloped glass. It may have been one of the handiest things I ever learned. I was an art major.
How did this intersect with my life?
I was presented with a problem by an architect friend. Could I make an insulated shade that goes over the window and that when up doesn’t cover any glass? This was 1979. As an artist it didn’t occur to me to look up a roman shade pattern. Sailshade came into existence with a unique design feature. It formed a cornice-like effect when raised. I began calling this a “self-creating valance.”
I was delighted in how the insulation I began using was not soft and puffy, but more stiff which solved another traditional roman shade situation. Most roman shades have countless sets of rings. The insulation would behave like interfacing in a collar. Because of the stiffness, a shade that might otherwise require 20 or 25 sets of rings would only need 3 sets. At the beginning I bought solid brass rings from Germany for 23 cents each. When I finally found a sail hardware D-ring for 2 cents I discovered profit.
One of the first entire home projects was for an engineer. I expected a high-tech response to the Sailshades. He put his hand in back of a shade and said, “Wow! You can really tell that these work.
I met at Harvard University the author of an early book on the subject. William Shurcliff had written the book Insulating Shades and Shutters. He described to me when we met the popular insulating shades being promoted in the marketplace. They would do wind tunnel experiments to advertise the edge seal. The shade would billow out when there was a hole in the window and a 25 mile per hour wind. He laughed and said, “Why not fix the window?” He said that a lot of insulation in a window that included a “sloppy fit or with even a hole in the middle” would do a lot more good saving energy than a small level of insulation and a tight edge seal as long as “the window was pretty tight.”
Sailshade design was now on track in my mind for an aesthetic look that included high performance in terms of energy efficiency. Owners began reporting more than one third energy savings when an entire house was Sailshaded.
Over these many years I have maintained a 3200 sq. ft. studio in one of the 1860 granite mills of Fall River, MA I describe myself as an “architectural artist,” collaborating with architects in developing spaces. My art often solves problems. Many installations have been health care related and a few have been in restaurants to increase coziness and reduce sound. One friend said that Sailshade is just one more of my sculptures and Sailshade projects have often been architect collaborative projects. Working with Acorn Structures architects led to the installation of Sailshade in all the Acorn Structures model homes in the 1980’s.
My work has always integrated science and art beginning with my studies at Mt. Holyoke College.” The astronomy and fine arts were for me a perfect combination before going on to receive an M.F.A in Visual Design from U. Mass. Dartmouth. Running the open houses for the public at the Mt. Holyoke College observatory, I most remember the aesthetic experience. Focusing on a binary star, I was as surprised as the visitors in the fact that one star was a vivid red and the other a vivid blue.
Sailshades are “Green.” They pass many sustainability tests. Sailshades are engineered with Reflectix, a state-of-the-art reflective insulating material and Roc-lon, an out-facing non-pvc black-out lining that has its own laboratory tested R-value of 1.47. . Www.reflectixinc.com insulation is non -toxic, non-carcinogenic and environmentally safe. Sailshades can be recycled, refurbished and reused for up to forty years. .The Sailshades in my own home were made in the early 1980’s. I am thinking of recovering a few of them. The glue used in manufacturing Sailshade is not hazardous. An analysis of the R-8.65 insulation value that includes a double glazed window is available upon request. By eventually establishing manufacturing capability across the country the “local” component of “Green” will be maintained.
Natural 100% cotton twill or canvas with no chemical finishes and 100% hemp linen are offered as basic choices and the customer’s own material (C.O.M.) is also available. I was introduced to a face fabric called Kanvastex by one of my first customers. This decorator 100% cotton canvas available in almost 100 colors is of such a high quality that I have stayed with this fabric line as well.
Sailshades present an elegant unobtrusive look. They are an architectural element. Most roman shades have baggy folds that hide much of the window when they’re raised, but Sailshades nest in a compact space because of a unique proportion system. Even on a 7.5-foot-high sliding glass door, a Sailshade nests completely off the glass in a space of less than one foot, maximizing solar gain. Sailshade’s crisp, upholstered design provides immediate comfort in your home no matter what the season and its designer quality adds beauty to the space.
Raised during sunny winter days, Sailshades allow the interior of a home to be warmed by the sun’s rays. Lowered during winter evenings and nights, Sailshade creates a wall of insulation. A Sailshade installation can become a wall of original art also, with many installations having unique appliqué Susan Mohl Powers designs.
On sweltering summer days, by lowering Sailshades in the eastern windows in the morning and the western windows in the afternoon, a home can remain cool and comfortable greatly reducing exorbitant air-conditioning costs or maintaining lower temperatures when there is no air conditioning system in the space.
Sailshades are much more durable than most window coverings. I have always purchased my 69 weight 100% dacron thread from a shoe supply company. There are current references on Sailshades still in use after more than 25 years.
Sail hardware, called “lift-the-dot” snaps, make Sailshades easy to install. The hardwood headboard is screwed into place with a few Phillips head screws and then the Sailshade is simply snapped into place.
I invite small manufacturers across the country to become part of this story. Anyone interested is welcome to contact me. I have also developed a non-sewn do-it-yourself version of Sailshade. In 2005 I gave twelve workshops throughout New England. The instructions are available at www.greenbuildinghomes.com. (via insulation)
For further information on the insulated roman shade Sailshade go to http://www.sailshadeyourhome.com . The architectural art including Sailshade with art appliqué designs can be seen at www.sailshade.com.
Contact:
Sailshade Inc.
P.O. Box 3935
Westport, MA 02790
1-508-677-3160
Fax: 1-636-438-3536
E-mail: susan@sailshade.com