Where The Magic Happens

I got a new to the studio desk and decided it was time for a big clean out so 4 large garbage bags and 4 days later this is what it looks like. The walls are actually a very nice color yellow, not sure why the color is so off in these. 

The last few years I have realized that although I love tiny drawers they really don't work for me so I have gone to items in clear pencil boxes (second row from the top), divided craft storage boxes (third row from the top) and clear shoe boxes that are located on most every other shelf in the studio. You may wonder why I like all these little single storage solutions instead of drawers and the reason is if I'm working on a project I can pull just the storage tubs I need and they all have lids so they can be shuffled and stacked in what ever order makes sense to me for the moment. It's also easy to add in more to the collection. 

You can see my bucket of recycled copper waiting to be twisted into something fun. 

The gray piece in front of my chair there is a huge piece of marble my brother gave me when I started making jewelry, it makes the best work surface. This desk use to be able n our family room but it never really worked for my husbands huge road plans so he now has a huge drafting desk we got from my friend Bethany. 

This is my collection of glass rods, torch table and the ever important ventilation the vent goes out the basement window at the top of the photo and uses a big cast iron fan motor that my brother hooked me up with. 

This shows the whole work table with the double ventilation. The right side of the bench is often set up for soldering. 

I have a new feature on my phone called panorama and I used it to take a sweeping view of the whole room. I am in the basement but since it's a walkout it was easy to get all the furniture into the room. 

I had to keep telling myself it was really going to get better because this is what it looked like mid way through moving the new desk in and the old one out. 

I am a SLOB

There it's out and I feel so much better after my confession.  When I get wrapped up in a project my studio always looks like a tornado has gone through and left nothing untouched.  Why is it that all the projects I like involve so many different parts and pieces?  Everything gets pulled out to work out of and then nothing gets put back.  I think I could have a poll barn full of counter top and still be able to leave a mess on every inch of it. That may also have something to do with how much stuff I have??? Ya think? This huge mess always happens before a show, I always have tons of things started that need to be finished so they can be sold.  Funny thing, folks don't want finish it yourself jewelry. What started this whole confession was my friend Dawn who had to go and post a photo of her beautifully clean studio,  I had not even wanted to be in mine it was such a dump so after seeing her photos down I went to start cleaning.  Here are the before photos.

It was either a tornado or and earth quake???

Yes there is counter under all that mess.

After 2.5 hours spent in my studio cleaning, washing and dumping I can now see the tops of things.  I even got brave and put my new/used kiln up on the bead making table (Thanks Lenora).  This means I now have to figure out how to program it before I can make beads!  I think this new kiln will be a whole lot more efficient than my old one since it's all sealed and all brick,  it also has a whole lot more space and I won't have to lift up the corner to get the last few beads in like before.

Now for the big reveal photos.

Notice that beautiful kiln behind the exhaust hood.

Looks like it's time to mess it up again.

No Special Effects

I decided to show you the bad side of working at home, that would be the mess I tend to leave everywhere I sit.  Posting this is going to make me clean or so I hope. I need to be able to find my goodies and make more items for the show in Lansing December 4th and 5th.

So here are the incriminating photos I have used no special effects to make it look this bad :)  The only good thing is you can still walk through it.

This is my double torch table, one side I use for lampworking an the other side is for soldering right now.

Yes, that is a roll of paper towels stuck in my vent hood.  When I'm not using the hood I plug them up in because the cold air from outside runs in and can freeze me right out of my favorite space.

My desk where all the magic happens with my giant piece of marble under there someplace.

The spare table because you can never have enough counter space

The soldering side of the table, also used for cleaning beads.

I will take after photos Sunday, wish me luck!

Where I work

The table I work at is counter top height so I can sit or stand comfortably.

This is my bobcat torch with a special glass filter shield so I don't have to wear glasses.

This is my glass storage it's much fuller now :)

I have two torches a bobcat and a minor and can have both of them hooked up at the same time but most of the time I have a soldering station set up under the second ventilation hood.

I thought I might show you where I work today.  This is NOT what it looks like today, today, right now it looks as if I was hit by a tornado but I do clean up quite often because I find it hard to work in a mess.  Makes ya wonder why I keep creating them?  For me it seems like my most interesting jewelry makes the biggest mess unfortunately and while I am creating there isn't time to pick up  those two things just don't go hand and hand.

This isn't the only place I work and it drives my husband crazy but I do love to create in my favorite chair while watching TV in the evenings.  He just hates to see my stuff spread all over the place and thinks it should be contained in my studio but I don't want to spend all day and all night in there!

Do you have a dedicated room that you create in?