click to enlarge
As you can see, my studio is a disaster right now. This picture was taken from the stairway as you come down into the basement of my house. Literally every flat surface in the entire place is covered in… stuff. I’m great at starting things and not so great at cleaning up afterward. Oh, I’ll blame it on the fact that I had a mad rush of orders in December, and quite a fair amount of handmade gifts to complete. And I could even prove it by pointing here and here and here. There are remnants of many of those projects still visible. But it’s getting to the point where production is going to come to a halt if I don’t put this stuff away. Fortunately, even though it looks chaotic, in reality it’ll take me about 8 hours to get all the tables cleaned up and everything reorganized.
I show you this, because I’d actually like to take you on a tour of my studio. I thought you might like to see how things function, with all the directions my business takes on a weekly basis. So today’s post is about things being insanely messy. I’m going to clean one area at a time, one day at a time. I’ll begin tomorrow with the cane assembly table. I’ll show you a before and after picture, and talk about how that section of the studio works. Then on Thursday, it will be the Memorial Beads table. Friday is the Jewelry table, and Saturday is my office area. Then on Sunday I’ll show the storage room.
Looks like home, Cat
Seriously, after a run of working on projects (like Christmas), mine looks just like this. Makes my husband nutty, but it’s how I work. I’ll then take a day or two and go through and re-organize, clean up, etc.
Anywho, your studio looks marvelous! SO big! Good for you. Thanks for the peek. Hope all’s well in your world…
j
Wow, big surprise– haven’t talked with you in a coon’s age, Jana. Thanks for the commiseration– I appreciate it lots! Now I’ll have to go take a look at your site, haven’t been there since last time we chatted.
Hugs! Cat
Oh my goodness, I thought mine was bad! You have your work cut out for you:) Looks like you have alot of projects going on. Good luck in getting it in order. Just remember most artistic people don’t have a clean working area!
Tina
LOL Tina! Haha, yeah I do have alot of work to do. And I was tempted to get a jump start on it, so the ugly details would be less… um, revealing. But I’m holding off so that I have enough interesting stuff to talk about, LOL! I hope you can join me for the tour this week.
Wow…! I look forward to the tour and the clean up effort..! My studio is the same way…! About every month or so…I have to do a clean up too, if I don’t…I can’t find anything. My office is in the same room and right now, I don’t have space to have my PC out at all…! My problem is, I don’t put all my pieces and parts away after one project..if I could only do that..lol.
Hi Dawn! You hit the nail right on the head. A, I can’t find things without digging for them. B, I can’t start new projects because remnants of old projects are in the way. So I’m hoping that through my week of studio tour, that maybe I can help give you some storage ideas along the way that might help you be able to pull that polymer clay out and use it again!
I know it looks disorganized (somewhat:) but I LOVE your space! Yikes, what I could do if I had a basement for my studio!!! Love to see the progress you make on organizing. You’re going to be an inspiration for me, Cat.
Maria (uwib)
Hi, Maria! Hey, welcome to my crazy polymer clay world!
The reason I started the studio tour, with everything a mess, was with the thought that it could be helpful for people who want to make some improvements to their own workspace; or even just get a kick in the pants to get started in cleaning. I love the space too. Though, at first I didn’t. (And I’ll talk about that as the posts go on this week, you’ll see why I was really dreading leaving the shop we had.) So anyway, stay tuned and thanks to you and all the UWIB members who are following this tour!
At least you have plenty of room to spread out, if you need to, LOL. It’ll be fun to see the workings of Cat’s Studio. Smiles, Sue C
Hey, hi there, Sue!
Yeah there is that blessing, plenty of room. I think this space is about 6oo square feet, including the storage room. So with plenty of space comes plenty of time making piles and just working around them because… you have plenty of space! Which is exactly what I’d been doing since the beginning of November. I hope you like the tour and find something helpful here.
Is that an ironing board I see covered with stuff? I love it!!
Hi Ms. Pete! Nope, that’s two of the little Rubbermaid tv trays. I absolutely love these trays! They are pricey– $20 each– but they are fabulous and we use them all over the house. They fold up just like ironing boards, and they have three height settings. Very much worth the price.
Oh how fun to see your studio transformed over the next few days and see what you do in each area. When I organize I forget where I put things!! rita w of uwib
I’m absolutely jealous of just how much SPACE you have. The mess looks like what I scrape up here regularly too, just spread over a larger area…
I still haven’t gotten the last of the pictures taken for my own tour, yikes. But I can come watch the show over here while I’m working on it
I’ve often wondered if other folks have remnants of competed projects laying around…. I feel much better now that I know you do that too. Wish I could figure out what to do with them, most are to good for the scrap bin, so I just push them aside “for now”. When I clean I put them away in containers never to be seen again lol. I’ll be interested to see what you do with yours. You’ve already introduced me to Rubbermaid trays, I need several of those!! (MY ironing board is covered with stuff… drove me nuts when my son was here and wanted to use it to iron clothes sheez) I will be watching your transformation with interest.
Glad you are doing this Cat! That’s a big area you have. Good for studio space, bad for cleaning and organizing. I know it will be awesome when you get done. Can’t wait to see how it progresses. Thanks for sharing it with us. You know we all have clay messes!
I love getting to see others’ workspaces! Looking forward to the ongoing tour and watching the progress!
Rita– I do that too, forget where things are once they get put away. Labeling things helps alot though! Or maybe I need to make a map and put it on my wall with a little legend or something…
Elaine– Let me know when you get your own tour finished! I would love to see what your new studio looks like.
Betty Jo– I do have some ideas for remnants and scrap bins. But I build up alot of scrap. And you’ll get to see that, too. I don’t use it up as fast as I should so it just sits there… I’m open to ideas for using it too, so share what you do with it! Oh yes, the Rubbermaid trays! Those are a life saver and I’ll talk more about those this week.
Janie– Yes, it’s a big area with alot of storage, and I wish we had made the switch to the basement last year, instead of renting a shop downtown. Now having the shop was a good experience for six months and for that, I’m glad. But all things considered, I’m actually happier saving the money than having the prestige of owning a shop.
Thanks, Miss Kim! I hope you like what I’ll be doing this week!
I also took over my basement, though not as large, as yours. I painted the walls a soft Cappuccino. I designated a few work stations and then, since last April, I organized. You can never have enough shelves. I labelled with masking tape, because I have Menopause Memory. I found the sterilite drawer units, to be a great help. I love my studio! Its not so bad, once you get going.
I don’t know, I think I might win the messy award, not you.
Seriously, you have a fabo studio space. Thanks for the peek
Great space you have there Cat. Anyone who makes art knows that creativity & order do not go together
CatBead– You’ve been organizing your studio since last April?! Wow, I’d love to see a tour of your studio! And I have Menopause Memory too, LOL, so love masking tape just like you do.
Alice– Thanks for the encouragement– I was a bit worried about winning something in the messy category! It’s nice to know there are others who are thinking, ‘hey that’s not so messy, you should see MY studio…’ and things like that. Thanks for tuning in to the studio tour!
Ellen– Aw, I love that. “Creativity and order do not go together”. Unfortunately for me, I’ve learned from experience that I’m much more creative when my space is clean and organized. But the lazy side of me gives a “hear, hear!” to the sentiment!
Now take all the stuff in your studio and put it into a space 1/4 that size. That’s what my studio feels like.
I look forward to your studio chronicles, Cat. I’m hoping I’ll be inspired to clean up my own act.
Hi Desiree! Yeah I know exactly what you mean about being a “stuff collector” and trying to make it all work in a small craft space. There seems to be alot of drift that happens, where the stuff multiplies like Tribbles in the back of the closet: “I’m convinced I didn’t buy that. It got beamed here by mistake. Honest.” Well, anyway, I hope you do get inspired and that it spurs your creativity.