Pages

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Studio Spaces and Work Places

Well I don't know about you, but my studio / workroom becomes a dumping ground over the Christmas holidays, all that stuff you have to remove to put up decorations, make the house look tidy etc. all goes into your precious space because you know you just won't get to play out there anyway. Now the decorations are down, the house returning to is' t usual state of chaos, it's time to go and clean up that mess and get you space back in order. With that in mind I thought I would share with you a couple of cheap household objects that I have found very useful to store and create with. Beware there's a couple of ugly photo's here, not for the tidy sort of person !!

The first is one of those wire herb holder thingys you can get from the dollar shop, they make excellent scissor storage units. This one is screwed onto the wall right next to my work table so I know where my scissors are at all times, well not all times, because in one of those creative frenzies they get spread out all over the place, but at least they have a home to go to when I have a tidy up. If you are anything like me, you will have numerous pairs of scissors, your fabric ONLY ones - those that are fabric but can be used on other things - ones for paper only - ones that are for paper and all sorts of things, Embroidery scissors, your newest sharpest embroidery scissors, pliers, needle nosed pliers, haemostat, the list could go on and on but you get my drift. Don't try and use the rack the other way up, it just doesn't work.

My next little gem of wisdom is to make one of those clothes drying racks into a paint table. I started using this when I was doing the Textured Surfaces workshop. I have put one of my printing boards on top, which is just a piece of MDF covered in sweatshirt material, this gives you a good surface for applying modelling paste ect. and allows you to pin the piece down if need be.  Ok it's not the steadiest of things, but you're only applying paint and such so don't need a really firm surface, but as you can see, it's very light and portable so you can move it around easily to get out of the sun, wind rain or whatever is plaguing you while you work, it's the perfect height to work on and you can peg up you pieces to dry as you go. 


My favourite, most used piece of equipment I have has got to be my Horn craft table. I only have a small work room so use it with just one flap up, but, when I need more table space I can swing it around and open it right up, these things are just brilliant. while I was looking for the link to the craft table I found this storage cabinet, going to put this on my wish list, look very useful.

I would love to hear about your favourite thing in you Studio/ Workroom and if you have any clever storage ideas to share .

7 comments:

Susan Italo said...

The drying rack turned paint table is genius!
Thanks for sharing such good ideas. It was also reassuring to know that other people shove house detritus in their studio in order to make the house tidy. My studio looks like a volcano (of fiber) exploded in there.
But the house looked neat over the holidays....

{Daydreamer} said...

Here are a couple of my storage solutions. I have a shoe organizer on the back of my studio door that stores a lot of stuff in an area that would normally be wasted space. I also have some metal wire linen towers lined up on a low coffee table (more storage underneath) and I have these containers that stack with lids that snap on/off that fit perfectly on their shelves. I have them all neatly labeled and they're see thru so I can find things easily.
H :)

Robin Mac said...

I have the Horn table and it is absolutely wonderful. I used to have it with only one side up, but now I can do with less floor (walking) space so I can use every inch of horizontal work space. I wish I had room for the drying rack to hang pieces on. Mine have to sit flat and when I run out of space, I need to curb my impatience and wait for something to dry! Cheers, Robin

As Seen Thru My Eyes said...

Great ideas, Tracy! Thanks so much for sharing these.
Wishing you a happy new year.

Wilma Simmons (Empress Wu Designs) said...

Hi Tracy
Great ideas - no matter how careful I am to pack up as I go, my workroom always looks a mess - but an artiistic mess! The most useful piece of workroom equipment I have bought recently is a solid but light, fold up step ladder - this means that I now can put things away on the top shelf and reach them safely . Amazing - it has made a big difference. When you're height challenged like me, avoiding high shelves is undestandable but it means more stuff gets dumped on the floor or on easily reachable surfaces until there's no work space left!
Wilma

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks. It's amazing how adaptable we are at making our space work for us, using all those hidden corners and doors for storage, and I don't think it matter how tall you are Wilma, we all have a least one shelf that is just out of reach LOL.

Shirley Anne Sherris said...

Hi
Just found your blog as I saw that you had visited mine. Scrolled back and came across some dye resist work you did with 'soy wax flakes'. Would love to know more about how you did it please. never heard of them before and usually not much to experiment with gets by me!! I love experimenting.

Good idea using a drier in this way especially for outside - light and easy.
Cheers
Shirley