Bead Studio Redo

Since we moved in to this house a few years ago, I've been using the smallest bedroom as my office.  Unfortunately, I'm a messy person and over time the mess had gotten so out of control that I was working on a small space on the floor.

Old messy office

At one point, I had the room somewhat cleaned up enough to sit at the desk again.  That didn't last long.

So Colin and I sat down one day and discussed swapping my office with the guest room.  The guest room only gets used a few times each year so it seemed a waste of space.  We pulled all the furniture out and repainted the guest room a soothing blue (it was an ugly yellow).

We then made a few trips to IKEA for some new furniture, including this great desk!

IKEA desk

I'm hoping to be able to keep this one relatively clean (hahahahahahahaha).

Scenes from the desk area

On the right side of my desk, I have my vintage dress form and some jewelry hangers.  I'm still loading lots of jewelry on them but they are a fun way to keep everything visible.  I also like to keep special trinkets and gifts on my desk.  They make me happy and keep me inspired!

New bead storage

Also to the right of my desk is one of my new bead storage units.  These are two Alex units from IKEA stacked and they hold three bead tray inserts in each of them.

A peek inside the ALEX units 

I spent several hours emptying all my bead boxes and filling tray inserts.  I also have my leather, ultra suede and photo cubes stored in this section.

More bead and craft storage

On the other side of the room are even more bead and craft supply storage units.  If you're wondering about the giant pig, it's a vintage chalkware piggy bank.   One of my favorite weird finds.

  

Scenes from the cabinets

This is the area where I keep all my art beads, cabochons, resin, paper crafts, rubber stamps, fabrics, ribbons, millinery and more.

Commercial and handmade rubber stamps

Ooooooo beads!

Organizers and printing area

I'm still working on getting all my organizers and artwork hung on the walls.  There are still shelves waiting to go up and decorative tiles and framed prints.  There's also a pile of boxes on the floor waited to be sorted.  Once all of that is taken care of, I'll be ordering a small recliner and footstool.  That will be my place to do bead embroidery or read my craft books.

I can't wait for the room to be finished.  I now have the type of office that inspires me instead of making me want to turn and run!

Have you recently redone your studio?

Dressing your hammers!

Some time back, I promised to show you how to dress your hammers…. and then I never got around to it. Today, I’m trying something a little different by showing you the process in a video instead of trying to explain it in writing. I hope you like it!

A few notes:

• This is my first full-length process video. I see this as something I’d like to do more of, so help me make it as effective and beneficial for you as possible! We’ll get better at sound and camera angles, but in the meantime I’d love your constructive feedback and comments.
• A huge thank you to Letty Wilde of Silver Leaf Artisan Jewelry – Letty is one of my students, a dear friend, and my assistant in my studio one day a week. She operated the camera and warned me about “resting bitch face” more than once!
• Please excuse the horrific state of my working space – the entire Roadhouse Arts studio and classroom area is in transition right now, and we had just gotten back from BeadFest when we shot this, so everything looks like a bomb went off.

Thanks for watching!

Until next time –

Freeform Friday: A Room of One's Own...

"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Virginia Woolf  

“Women need a space to be creative -- creativity thrives in solitude.” SARK

I can't imagine a more inviting scene: calm dog, sunlight streaming in... (all the clutter is out of this view. )

 Virginia Woolf penned that famous line 86 years ago. And while the status of women's culture is much improved in regards to education, voting... the quote still resonates with me. I have a room, where I can create in solitude, and abandon. I can make a mess and not clean it. I can leave work strewn about until the Muse returns to guide my hands. My studio is more than a room though. Its a sanctuary, a safe haven, a hide out. Its a treasure trove of gems and art supplies to rival a dragon's hoard. Its filled with memories and potential, and its 100% me.

We have been discussing workspaces of late on the blog, cleaning, organizing... and I was sadly missing mine. Before summer I was working in THIS studio a few days a week, alternating with the ceramics studio; achieving a creative balance so to speak. Then an intensive teaching and show schedule, and a bout of sick derailed me. Wednesday and Thursday this week I was back in the studio. Oh how I missed it!

Vignettes and a WIP: Beads by Susan and Karen nestled in a teacup, my abandoned daily art journals, new materials to play with from ICE Resin, a beaded bezel in progress, seals and mermaid treasure waiting their turn. 

I started to panic. WHAT was I going to work on?! WHERE to start? SO MANY things I want to do/try/finish/start/create.... I started with cleaning a little. It was so nice to BE in the studio that I relaxed into the small chores. I am organized, a Virgo trait I embrace, and it makes me feel calm and receptive, ready... when things are put away and I have space to work. Its cathartic. 

Antique watch crystals. Vintage images. Polymer. Stay tuned for BeadFest 2015

This is the place of creative incubation. At first, you may find nothing happens there. But, if you have a sacred place and use it, take advantage of it, something will happen. (Joseph Campbell)

The gorgeous kiln bounty from the wood fire. Shrines awaiting interior elements. 

People who aren't artists seem to not understand exactly what a studio is. It's not a store. It's not a factory. It's not a theme park. It's my personal space and their company is not so invasive. (Eleanor Blair)

Recognize the adorable critters from Rebekah? Mixed media pocket shrines inspired by her beads. 

Room service? Send up a larger room. (Groucho Marx) (See video at end of post)

An artist's studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it. (Leonardo da Vinci)

I think it wants to be a wall hanging, Lesley. With cobalts and iridescence, and stars and swirls. 

Does it sound silly to say I feel better having spent time with my stuff? Because I do. I did little more than clean and organize on Wednesday; hope to actually work on Thursday. But I had missed my little room so! I still have a million things to do. I still panic when the emails remind me that Bead Fest is 7 WEEKS away!!! But I feel ready to tackle it, a bit more grounded, a bit more in touch with my self, my Muse, and all that...

So tell me -
Do you have a room of your own? A space for creativity? Solo space? Shared space? And how often do you get to go there?!

I leave you with a song by the White Stripes. A tiny little song, but its so true! Give it a listen - Im off to the studio! 

Master the Mess: Following Up!

About a month ago, we at AJE decided that some of us could use a good cleaning/organizing session in our studios. Lesley wrote a post about it that you can find here. In the time since that post some of us have made progress, some of us have done little to no work (some didn't need any) and some of us have regressed (oops).

Here's a few updates from some of the team members:

Lesley: "Well there has definitely been an improvement - the clay bench is now clean...all though to be fair this will always be a mess when I'm in the middle of production."

Clay bench

"The clean up/process area has also has a thorough overhaul..."

Sink area

"My work table is so much clearer but sadly all those trays and pots are full of miscellaneous beads that need to be put back in their rightful homes - a job I loathe so maybe...sometime...never..."

Work table

Jenny: The main/central work table. Always in flux. Yesterday it was set up for polymer. Try to keep it under control."

Central work station

The Sketchbook/Journal table is surprisingly clean since the shelf above crashed down and I had to clean up the carnage."

Journal station

This may look organized. But i have at least 5 things in progress in tiny piles. And when the muffin tins are stacked two deep it makes me crazy. Toe that's cluttered!"

Lots of projects

Caroline: "Same as last time, but with more stuff. I did tidy up, but I couldn't find anything. I'm also getting ready for a show next week!"

Caroline's work area

A peek in Karen's studio:  Since I am preparing to move in a few days, I have not had time to even think about a studio clean-up. However, these three areas are not bad.

Glaze racks

Desk

Shipping area

Linda: "The top left picture shows what was supposed to be my clay table, but there was no space to work there. I wanted not only to reduce the clutter, but also to make my space visually appealing so I would enjoy spending time there. I put up shelves and a rail with storage cups. The sign was a gift from my husband that had never been hung. My smaller glaze bottles fit perfectly, 2 deep on the shelf. Just above the glaze, I hung an abstract silk painting that I had done years ago and a Lunar Hare tile by AJE team member Jenny Davies-Reazor."

Linda's studio

Me: "The floor is getting better and I'm actually able to sit in my chair now and work on a small corner of my desk. Still a LOT of work left to do."

Before and After

"Some of the organizers and artwork I've added since the clean-up began."

Organizers and artwork

So there we have it!  Progress after a month.  I wonder where we will all be in another month.  Have you been cleaning and organizing your work space?  

Happy Beading!

Evolution of a Working Space

As some of you who follow my personal blog may remember about 18 months ago I had my garage converted into a purpose built studio which I thought would accommodate all my creative needs for the foreseeable future. It seems I may have been wrong on that score.

Before the conversion I worked from my tiny 9' x 6' ish box room which didn't have the spare capacity to swing the proverbial cat.

These pictures were taken after a major clean up operation and most of the time there would have been far more clutter and far less space!

There was definitely no room for a kiln in here so that had to live in the cold, windowless garage that was also full of the usual household junk...not much fun enameling out there in January I can tell you.

So in the summer of 2012 I bit the bullet and called in the builders which resulted in this bright and breezy little studio. All my jewellery making paraphernalia, beads and work table live under the window...

I have two work benches for component making and all the various mechanical and production processes that go into my work, lots of storage...

And a wet area for all those messy jobs...

And lovely it is too so what more could I want? Well judging by how it looks today either more space or a cleaner...

Just as well I have no kids to nag about cleaning their rooms...not much of an example am I. To be fair this is the aftermath of a rather long and concentrated period of jewellery making to meet a deadline which left no time for clearing up as I went - my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

However this little haven of creativity has already had to adapt in its short life. When I planned it I hadn't yet discovered the joys of working with clay or the amount of space that requires. My rapid addiction to this medium meant of course that I had to buy another kiln and be able to vent it and run it while I was working. And as for office and shipping space, no chance so unless I was going to keep clearing things away before starting the next task something had to give and that something turned out to be other parts of the house.

I've spent the last few months doing up the rest of the house and while I was planning that work I started thinking about how I was using the available space. I live on my own in a small three bedroom house and I've always had it set up quite traditionally with a dedicated dining area and guest bedroom that only occasionally got used. The dining table acted as an overspill work area and was always covered in clutter and I was beginning to take over the  guest bedroom for shipping but it was very impratical. So in a long overdue light bulb moment I decided it was time to make the space work for me and my needs.

The bed from the guest room has now gone and the table from the studio has been moved in to make a proper office area with all my shipping material close at hand.

And a lovely new sofa bed takes care of visitors and gives me space work to on admin and relax.

I was delighted to find that the dining table fit perfectly in the studio which now means I have a much bigger and better work table (currently buried under all that mess) which can be wheeled back out should I need to entertain formally, which is rare.

The dining area now has seating that overlooks the garden where I love to sit with my coffee in the morning and do my online work. I don't always get my preferred seat though as you can see.

I've also installed a bookcase with many of my creative books...beading, jewellery, ceramics, art and art history, travel and cookery which makes it a great spot to chill out and be inspired.

And what about that little box room where I started out..? Well that is now my kiln room, storage area and occasional gym....the kilns get used a lot more than the rower does! Hard to believe this is where it all began.

 

So I now have about half the house set up to cater for my business needs which is fine because that's where my passion is and it's working really well because the living area is no longer full of work clutter. I guess now I just have to resist getting into anything else that requires it's own dedicated work area.....oh dear!