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Part of my frustration with my studio was not having any open space on my worktable. The magazines and books I’ve been reading for inspiration over the last few years often show pictures of art tables with interesting antique containers used to hold and display a variety of supplies. I like the idea of getting to use unique and interesting containers this way, so I’ve been collecting jars, bottles, and other containers I like from the local thrift stores and using them to hold brushes, pens, scissors, glue, and anything else I thought should be available for use. The only problem was that all those containers were taking up a lot of space.
Lots of supplies, but no place to work
My lightbulb moment was realizing I didn’t have to have all those supplies within reach all the time. I just needed to be able to get to them when I needed to get to them. So I decided to move most of the supplies off the table and into storage on my shelves, in containers that could be set on the work table for easy access when I actually needed those supplies. For example, I put all my markers and pens into wooden silverware trays which stack nicely on the shelf, are easy to bring over to the table, and store the pens horizontally, which is supposed to be better for them anyway. I also had six jars of brushes, sorted by size/use, sitting on my table. I got them all into a single container that maintained the categories while taking up a lot less space. I still have one jar of colored pencils and one of crayons on my table, and some pencils in with my brushes, but gel pens, markers, Sharpies, etc., are all in the trays.
Moving my pens and other supplies onto shelves gave me the space I was looking for.
The few jars and baskets I still have now sit on top of the drawers that hold my “embellishments” – bits and pieces that I want to use in my art but often haven’t. Now that they will be in my line of sight while I am working, I expect I will make much better use of them. The drawers line the back of the table, taking up only some of the space that all my supply storage used to, so I still have more table space than I did before.
Letting go of “the way everyone does it” really helped me to make better use of my space. Now I have a table with plenty of open space on it, and I still have the option of using all my different supplies whenever I want to. I also have a couple boxes of empty containers that will probably be heading back to the thrift store…
Tomorrow: My favorite storage container.
So, I have finally got my studio in the shape I was hoping for. The majority of my supplies have been sorted and organized and I know where they are. I’ve been trying to get to this point for months, but the reason it has finally happened is that I got a copy of Julie Morgenstern’s book Organizing from the Inside Out three weeks ago, read it, and followed through.
Morgenstern’s book was full of ideas and advice that really worked for me. She recommends planning and writing things down, talks about the many things that can get in the way of being organized, and offers a great way to think about the room or area to be organized. Then she gives you specific steps to follow in implementing your plan.
One thing that was really different from any other method I have ever tried is the detailed analysis she has you do before you get started. She has a set of questions to work through before you do anything else, so I sat down and wrote out my answers.
One of the questions is: what is already working? This proved to be a valuable question for me to answer for two reasons. First, it’s positive. As much of a disaster as I had on my hands, it helped me to realize that there were bits of organization I had put in place that were actually working. The second thing it did was encourage me to really try her ideas. It turns out that what was already working actually followed many of the suggestions she makes (like assign everything a specific home, group items by activity, and use an appropriate container). Finding out that I not only was doing something right, but that the things she was suggesting were already working for me made me much more eager to try her system.
When it comes to planning, she looks at a room or area with a kindergarten class room in mind. In kindergarten, there are certain activities that happen in certain areas. Everything you need for that activity is located right there, in easy-to-use storage that makes clean up a snap. So I applied this concept to my studio.
My studio has an overwhelming amount of material to deal with. I quilt, paint, draw, bead, collage, make books, and make art dolls. So I needed areas that would allow for the different sorts of things I do. I wound up with three “activities”: sewing (which includes cutting and ironing fabric), paper arts (drawing/painting/collage/bookmaking), and embellishing (beading and construction of dolls and their props). I decided to use my long work table for paper arts and embellishing, since some of my work combines the two. I put all the paper arts supplies on shelves off one end of the table, and the “embellishment” materials on the shelves at the other end. The other side of the room is sewing, with my sewing desk, cutting table, and notions storage.
My sewing area with cutting table and sewing desk
Having this plan really helped me when it was time to go to work.
Tomorrow: The hard part
For the last three weeks, I’ve been putting serious time into getting my studio re-organized. I’ve worked roughly every other day for 2-4 hours at a time. Yesterday, I hit a major milestone – I found the floor. At least, it seems like what I did. What actually happened is that everything I’d been sorting and piling finally had a container and/or home. All of a sudden, my studio was clean.
(For before pictures, click here.)
It feels like a complete and utter miracle. Not only do I have surfaces to work on, but I know where everything is. In the last 24 hours, I’ve done two projects (start to finish) in record time, without frustration. In both cases, I had an idea, could lay my hands on everything I needed to complete the project, and was working in no time. Clean up was easy because everything has a home. Every step of both projects was easy and fun! Wheee!
I’ve decided to spend this week blogging about the process involved in getting from studio hell to studio heaven. Tomorrow: The secret to my success!
Inspire Me Thursday did just that this week. The theme is “Positivity” and having it in my head as I looked around the last few days has helped me to see lots of positive changes in my life. So I decided to make a page in my journal in honor of the things I have done/am learning to do. Thanks, IMT.
