Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.
This weeks winner is Cindy Dolezal. Congratulations!
This weeks winner is Cindy Dolezal. Congratulations!
You have won a pair of Toad Stool charms from the studio of Jennifer Heynen.
Send Jennifer an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you.
Well it used to look like a studio. Now it could be declared a disaster area.
I can get to my desk and my computer. There is a path, sorta. Yes, it's embarassing but I have to take on the attitude of my coffee mug above so I can get done what little is possible, when you have a mess like this. Blinders are on until you have time to deal with it.
I had intended to show a new design today but, I can't find it. Wonder why?
The left side and right side of the studio with a path. You can't move forward till one thing is moved so the next item can be moved and so on. The first thing to be moved it the shelf and it's stuck. I have been living like this for about a month. The good thing or bad (whichever way you look at it) I don't have a lot of orders currently. The time is now available, until the next child needs something and I have to stop. Working at home is both a blessing and a curse. They all think because you are home you are available all the time.
My actual working space where I glaze has shrank significantly. It's the shift and the shuffle when you are working to complete a project.
Piles and stacks are everywhere. I think it's time to ditch the old computer so I can use the space.
Hope no one tries to fax, it's buried in the corner.
Now that I've aired my dirty laundry...studio, I should probably try to start moving, condensing, rearranging and cleaning my studio.
Give us dirty laundry, sing it Don!
When I am finished, I am going to have a studio sale.
My question this week is:
Leave a comment and you could win the 4 buttons pictured. Because I could find them!
I can get to my desk and my computer. There is a path, sorta. Yes, it's embarassing but I have to take on the attitude of my coffee mug above so I can get done what little is possible, when you have a mess like this. Blinders are on until you have time to deal with it.
The culprit for the standstill is the blue shelf on the left. I measured the shelf and the space and it still won't fit. I guess it helps if you measure the correct spot the includes the countertop. I am determined it will fit. You can see I took a hammer to it but the front lip still won't it fit. I am determined, I will win. The photo on the right is where my little photo booth lives. Now there is loads of stuff piled on it.
I had intended to show a new design today but, I can't find it. Wonder why?
The left side and right side of the studio with a path. You can't move forward till one thing is moved so the next item can be moved and so on. The first thing to be moved it the shelf and it's stuck. I have been living like this for about a month. The good thing or bad (whichever way you look at it) I don't have a lot of orders currently. The time is now available, until the next child needs something and I have to stop. Working at home is both a blessing and a curse. They all think because you are home you are available all the time.
Hope no one tries to fax, it's buried in the corner.
Now that I've aired my dirty laundry...studio, I should probably try to start moving, condensing, rearranging and cleaning my studio.
Give us dirty laundry, sing it Don!
When I am finished, I am going to have a studio sale.
My question this week is:
How bad is your clutter? Or working space.
81 comments:
my studio looks about like yours, only probably a little worse! thanks for sharing, now I don't feel so guilty!
Well my studio looks partly like yours . I have mooved the computer to another room and try to keep everything separated. I just wish it will work.
The working space looks a mess.I know when I need to clean up when I can't find a thing I just put down...
My studio looks like yours, and no matter how much I work at it, I seem to make no progress! Love the buttons, would like to make jewelry with them if I could find my findings! Thanks for sharing!
Too Funny!! It's always helpful to know you're not the "only one" who can create a whole new disaster area while trying to clean one. My mother was a great "teacher" in creating "rat's nests" which we lovingly renamed "her work zones" and now we have to laugh at ourselves because we have 'become our mother' somehow. I even tried the layout idea of 1/4 in. equals 1 foot and drew out the room and all the furniture pieces to move around. It worked 'really well' on paper--but kind of lost something in the translation to 'real sized stuff' when I attempted to fit everything in--hence my latest motto: "I shall overcome!" HaHaHa Cool buttons!!
My studio and office space have recently been combined. Good because everything is in one place (the basement) but bad because my "organized chaos of piles" is now in the new space, not put away, and I have lost track of where everything is. I think I need a good few days of sorting, tossing & recycling, and organization in order to find my creative self again!
Thanks for sharing pics - very comforting to know there are others out there too...
Oh wait, this isn't my studio? It sure looks like it! LOL! Guess we all gotta do some spring cleaning, huh? ;-) Your buttons are beautiful!
Wow! I suddenly feel normal. Apparently there are two things there can never be enough of for a bead artist...time and space! I was just getting ready to clean my desk off so I could make some beads but then beads arrived in the mail so the project those beads are for will take center stage. Cleaning can always be done tomorrow, right?
Studio? what studio? I started working at my dining room table, but people actually wanted to eat there. So I moved everything upstairs to my computer room - you cant use the computer so I bought a laptop which is now on my dining room table - we just eat around it. I have a wireless printer for my laptop - the printer is on the floor - thinking of getting rid of the desktop computer which is no longer used and then I will have a little bit more space. I also have a desk up there somewhere and a toaster oven for my polymer clay items.....so instead of organizing today, we took my grandson to the park! The mess will still be there, one day one day - I will tackle it...Love those buttons...
I only wish my creative space was only cluttered. MINE IS TRASHED. Yes there is a path, but it does limit my motivation. Ugh.
Gosh, I'm so glad I'm not the only one with a studio like that. I even started a support group to help me get a handle on my clutter, but it still seems to breed like bunnies or coathangers. My support group ends each meeting with the prayer of St. Francis with a littl addition: you know the part "Where ther is hatred, let me sow love, where there is ingury, pardon" We've added "where there is chaos, order".
My husband refuses to enter my studio space because things are stack up like at the dump. Yea, it's that bad -- but apparently I'm not alone!
Emanda
As of right now our work space is pretty clean. Mom did a major cleaning yesterday and today (becaue it was driving her crazy) and we now can find the torching table. Now whether I can keep it clean or not is up for debate. I hate putting stuff away and mom is after me to clean up the workspace. It is interesting having two different personalities working together in the same space. I am surpirsed we have not killed each other yet. Love the buttons!
Well,my working space,can't call it a studio,looked like yours,until my family rebeled at eating on the sofa,could not cook(I had glass and beads in oven)but I bought a toaster oven for them,and at night no one could sleep because the cat loved to find lost beads and chase them around.So,they bought nice storage drawers and such and put everything up and I haven't been able to find a thing yet.Those buttons are swo wonderful.I could start all over with them!
I have plastic bins instead of a studio - the contents are currently spread all over the floor of our spare room in the basement (probably some bits on the futon too). There are several piles on the dining room table, including another bin which includes everything that was on the kitchen table. it has been like this since Christmas...perhaps this would be a good time to clean up.
I am proud to say that my studio is organized. Which is to say I can fit it all on the dining room table and find the stuff that falls off. Now, my office....outsiders call it a living room. Bead stuff is mixed with craft stuff and sewing stuff and the remotes and books and videos and musical instruments. I think the piano (bookshelf) takes up more room but it is closely seconded by SO's 4-foot drum, made out of a hollow tree (coffee table). We're not going to talk about the photo area (spare bedroom and HIS computer).
Thank you for giving me something to chuckle over.
Hahaha, work space, that's funny. Well, my desk got taken over by junk before I carted all my beading supplies up to Virginia for Christmas... and when I came back, I just kept them upstairs. So now my workspace consists of two end tables. It's cluttered, but not cluttered in the sense that all my supplies are everywhere - because it's in a common area, everything has to be put away when I'm done. Instead, it's cluttered because other people are trying to use the end tables, so there are books and assorted junk all over my beading boxes, and the table that I do the work on regularly has to be cleared for me to use it for my laptop OR beading. I can't decide whether I'd rather go back to having a desk (which was a mess because I never really had to put anything up... ever.) or whether I'd like to keep working up here. I "watch TV" while I'm up here, so at least I get other things done while I'm losing brain cells.
lololol that looks familiar... it's just like my desk that's all messy to the point that I move my stuff out to the living room to do my art and work =D
I almost wish I had your problem! I have so little space to work in it's imperative to keep it organized. It does get messy and strung out when I'm in the middle of a project but soon I'm working in a 4x4 inch space! So, everything back ti it's little spot. Maybe you need to enlist the help of your most organized friend to really get after it!
bad - my table has all kinds of stuff out on it (because i might need those beads/components/materials, or might forget i have them if i put them away)... i often have more than one project going on so it grows... and resin is curing on the kitchen table... and, and... i did get a wine storage rack from target with lots of 'cubbies' that actually is pretty helpful...
My first thought was, "OH I would love to help her go THROUGH all this stuff!!" :-)
MY stuff? Um... yeah it's all there--somewhere!
Funky fun buttons!
I for one would feel very much at home in your studio -- it has a very familiar feeling to me...! I must admit however I am very envious of your spacious space! Plus so much natural light, ahhhhh.. Well in any case, I look at the photos of your studio, and see the workings of a creative mind -- besides, life's too short to spend keeping everything spotless all the time ;-)
--Patience
Glad to see I'm not the only one!!! Love the beads and glad you could find them.
You are a brave lady to post these pictures of your studio. Mine is in very similar shape right now. There are piles everywhere! There is only a 4 x10" space right in front of my chair where I could possibly do some work. The rest of the whole room is piled up high!
Heather, I think all creative minds have organizational issues! No guilt allowed, this is a no guilt zone! :)
Thanks for stopping by!
Louise, I so need to get my computer away from the clay dust. It kills the equipment. I spend way too much time out here to put it anywhere else.
I have to admit, I can't find things I just put down. That happens often.
Thanks for visiting!
Pixybug, you are cute as a bug! Not sure I can find my findings either!
Thanks for visiting!
There must be a club for those of us with studios like that! My new space is twice the size of my old and yet I seem to have filled every inch! I do have more than a path, but my computer and work tables are a disaster area. Makes me very uninspired to work there. And I don't have the money to put in the studio as I would like (once the other house sells and we don't have 2 mortgages, maybe). But my hubby told me to go ahead with my dream organization and we can adapt it as the studio comes together...so next week I am ordering the wall o' stainless steel from my heating guy and then ordering about 400 small tins with clear tops and rolls of adhesive magnets to apply to the bottom. I plan to have entire wall of beads in easily accessed containers! Yippee! Then I will have no excuse not to create...yeah, right!
Thanks for being so brave and sharing your space. Seems you are not alone! Enjoy the day! Erin
cjvierow, I look in the mirror often and scream "I've become my mother!" Except she doesn't have purple hair.
FYI, I did win. The shelf is now where I wanted it to be!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Marsha! I guess we'll cut you some slack on the organization issue since you have a new baby. When are we starting the artists 12 step program?
Your babies are beautiful! Thanks for vistiting!!!
Cindy, I kinda thought I wasn't the only one. I knew it was bad when my 12 year old said, "I wish your studio wasn't such a mess, I can't walk through it." Gotta love kids!
Thanks for the comments!
Mikki, there's a normal out there? I think most of us are ADD. You can hold my attention until the next "ooo pretty, shiny, pretty, shiny" shows up. I'm going with Erma Bombeck on this one...You won't be lying on your death bed saying, I wish I had cleaned more.
Thanks for stopping by!
BeaderBubbe, I didn't always have a studio. It is convenient to be able to close the door with the mess behind it. I obviously have a BIG mess!
Thanks for your comments!
Elizabeth, take my hand, keep repeating, take no prisoners, take no prisoners. I am getting rid of a lot...OK, I keep telling myself that.
Thanks for stopping by!
EB Bead and Metal Works, I wish my mom would volunteer to clean my studio.
I think I would just get tisk sigh noise followed by "Tari Lee!!!!!!" Interpreted into how could you let this happen and live like this! With the voice in my head saying, I guess I'm a pig mom and you raised a heathen. I digress.
Hats off to you to be able to work with your mom!
Thanks for visiting!
Emanda, you are never alone. We are all beads in pod or buttons on a string....something like that.
My second husband threatened to lock me in the basement till I used up all my art supplies. I said fine, you won't be seeing me again.
Thanks for stopping by!
Susanm, it is so hard to get motivated after Christmas. Which is why it is March and I still don't have the things done I wanted to have done in January.
You can't see everything if you don't spread it out. It's the picking it back up that gets me.
Thanks for your comments!
Gail, you had me laughing. Beads in the oven, wow! Tell the family to quit whining you bought them a toaster oven! They can't have it all.
Thank you for the comments!!
Carol Tannahill, I am jealous you are organized. You fit in with the rest of us and all our personalities that participate in different creative art adventures. Wow a four foot drum, wow.
Thanks for visiting!
Amanda, stay upstairs so you can hide. I like it when the kids or husband can't find me. I don't know why they are always whining about being fed!
Have a great day!
Meekiyu, I'm with you. Besides organzation, cleaning is overrated!
Thanks for stopping by!
Mary Newton Designs, I have a couple of friends who want to "help" me organize. Which really means they want to throw most of the contents of my studio out! Don't they know I might need that 4 inches of ribbon or empty box for something one day.
Thanks for your comments!
mairedodd, multiple projects for our multiple personalities. Why doesn't our family understand that we need all this stuff and it has to be visible!
Thanks so much for visiting!
Beadygirl Beads, if you saw it in person you would probably run screaming. Especially when you realized that everything is covered in a layer of clay dust + cement dust. Before I decided to build a box to raise the shelf to the same height as the footer, I was attempting to grind part of it so it was even. Our contractor was an idiot. I don't suggest the grinding part. I couldn't lift anything with one hand for a few days because I held onto the angle grinder for so long.
Thanks for coming by!!
Patience, you are too kind. Come over and have a cup of coffee with me in my messy studio.
The light is wonderful.
Have a great day!
quiltingjewel39, we are all kindred spirits with the mess monster.
I think everyone should post photos of their spaces. Air our dirty laundry!
Thanks for visiting!
thank you for sharing your clutter, now I don't feel so bad about mine(which is comparable!)Some of those tidy, beautifully decorated studios reallybring me down.
Doreen, I believe I am getting braver as I get older. Or is it I don't care? Maybe we need to start a "Pile High" club! It would be bursting with members!
Thanks for visiting!
Erin, I would for my studio to be twice the size it is now. My husband and I decided we needed 2 barns, one for me and one for him.
The metal tin and magnet organizations sounds so cool. Post a picture when you get it finished!
Thanks for sharing!
Boot ~C, I going with those studios are only organized and clean for the photoshoot. It's impossible to be neat while you're creating.
Thanks for stopping by!
I am an interior designer that is very good at space planning and organizing--- everyone but myself. I recently moved and got rid of a lot of craft items to justify keeping all my beads. During the move I have mislaid my zipper pack of pliers. The flat ones, the needlenose and the wire cutter ones! Yikes! Every box I go through I hope and hope!
Maybe I should hire myself out to organize everyone's studio. I work for beads!
Ann
mycriticaleye.com
My studio is a disaster. I can not find my computer desk. I just kind of nudge the mess over to get to the keyboard. I could put it all away but than I would drag it all out. My creativeness does not come from organization. Thanks for sharing your studio! Now I can go back to work
My studio follows me from room to room... until I've taken over the entire house. Since we just moved, a lot of my stuff is still packed in boxes (and will be until we can build our new house - now we're in a rental). The desktop computer is set up in a hallway, my beads are stored in cabinets in the dining room, and my work area is my big comfy chair in the living room. Someday I'll have a studio... really. :-)
I am not as concerned with your mess as I am about the mug. Where do I get one..........
Donna Davis
I would like to propose a swap. I have many jaspers of inferior quality which I would like to replace with perfect uniformed color ones.
You may see the picture. Imagine the possibilities if we all get the best we can find for our useless pieces.
I do wish I had a studio to get cluttered! It looks like fun lol. It must be nice to find something that you've forgotten about ;) I have to make do with the computer desk at the moment which means I've no choice but to keep it clean! Your buttons are lovely
Oh my goodness! I always feel better when other artists let on that they're just like me!
My "studio" is everywhere-- I think there is something in every room, outbuilding ect. I think it all started off in one room, when we first bought this house? It's all fuzzy how it actually took over.
My kids had a party this week, so my week was more about clean-up for the folks who have never seen my mess before :-) Now I get to dig it all out again, and get some work done!
My studio is also our dining room. My jewelry biz must be easily packed up and moved when we have large dinners or when I have a home show. One would think it would be fairly neat and orderly because of this. Not so.
The table is cluttered with unfinished projects, tools, photos and ideas of projects I want to try, paperwork, supplies, and of course, beads. Beads are also stacked in boxes around the room. The room shares space with our new recycling project, as our city just now provided bins for us to dispose of these things. Although I'm excited that they finally jumped on this, I don't know where to keep it all. It's not a pretty sight.
I long for one of those spacious rooms I see in magazines, but then I would probably just fill it too. I go in cycles of clean until it shines, then slowly building up clutter until I must clean until it shines again.
The buttons are sweet!
LOL - I have to giggle when I see the photos of your studio. My "studio" used to be our formal dining room... until I became addicted to beading & jewelry making. Now our beautiful antique dining room table that seats 12... seat no people, but thousands of beads and all their friends. :)
Of course in my desire to get "organized" I found some handy upright drawers, started putting things away and found empty space. Well empty space is a magnet for more "supplies!"
And so my addiction continues... but it's oh so fun! LOL
Luckily, I'm not hosting Easter this year~
Have an Egg-ceptional week everybody! I think these buttons are adorable!
Dawn
www.DesignsByDawnMarie.ME
Oh yes, creativity in the midst of chaos? It ain't going to happen! Which is why I started cleaning my studio yesterday and now have a clean table to work on. Now I have no excuses!
Oh my God I'm so happy to see I'm not the only one who "works" like this!!! I know they say it's never too late to change but I wouldn't bet on me changing my horrible piling habits.
I was going to post on my blog pictures of my room as sort of a challenge to myself to clean it up as there would be "witnesses". Maybe I still will...
he he... looks normal to me. Before I moved and got a room devoted to my studio / office, this was often my whole APARTMENT.
These days, I'm neater because I have regular visitors to my studio / office space. And because the rule is nothing goes in without some thought. Ever.
I'm still working on construction in my studio, as well. So some of the lack of clutter is because it's not yet safe to put everything I could want in here! So who knows then.
I knew I wasn't the only person who worked like this. Thank you so much for the brave manner in which you've exposed yourself.
Beadily yours
Susan Feldkamp
Night Beader
Thank you so much for opening the door to your studio and letting us look inside. Now I've seen with my own two eyes that I'm not the only one with a messy room. It's amazing that such beautiful work can come out of such chaos. It's kind of like giving birth, it's messy but the end result is wonderful.
Thank you for shining the light for all of us beaders who are organizationally challenged. My 'mess' is confined to one room of our home, my beading room! I can find things because I know where things are, but if I organize the room, and I do so very 6 months or so at my husband's urging or we have company staying over, then I cannot find what I need, and soon things get back to where I can find them and i can work! Love your buttons, have a great week.
Sabine, you're hired! Actually my husband and I went to Ikea today to find some solutions to this mess. First one being take everything out of the cabinets, purge, put back organized...ha ha.
I have loads of buttons!
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Beverly! I feel the same about the mess but it's kinda out of control. It's getting a little better but we spend too much time at Ikea today and I didn't make any progress.
Now get back to work :)
MaryLou, I am excited for you building a new house! It has to be hard having everything packed up. Guess you just need to buy new ones for now so you don't have to search through the boxes. Oh darn, twist my arm and make me buy new beads!
Thanks for stopping by!
Donna Davis, I was waiting for a comment on the mug! It was a gift from my daughter. One of my favorite mugs. I did the research for you and here you go, http://www.gallery19.us/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=370_402_676_470&products_id=31423
I also have this one, http://www.gallery19.us/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=370_402_676_470&products_id=33183
Thanks for visiting!
Littletreats Lou, I am envious of a clean desk. Mine is clean only when I decide "I've taken all I can takes and I can takes no more."...Popeye
Thank you for the compliment and visiting!
Kristie, we are clay artists, how can we stay clean! I know what you mean about cleaning when people who don't know you and your messes come over. You don't want to scare them too quickly. My kids friends and parents are now used to it. The part that scares them now is holes I cut in wall as soon as walk in the front door. I got bored, plus I've always wanted more light in the stairway. Someday I'll finish the rest of the holes and frame them out. No hurry, it's just cutouts in the drywall.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your messy story!
Alice, cleaning is overrated! I totally understand the many different projects going at once. Packing up too often must wear on you after a while. The good thing about a studio is closing the door so no one can see your mess. Plus you can hide from the kids and husband.
Thanks for your comments!
Dawn Doucette, at least the beads don't eat much for dinner. Only if they bring their human friends. Until my current studio, my others were always in the basement. Who needs to keep that clean!
Beads are a good addiction.
Thanks for stopping by!
SharonP, create on paper in clean room and execute the design in the organized chaos. I am happy someone has a clean studio!
Thanks for visiting!
Oh Michelle, come to the dark side. Post your pictures, it's cleansing. OK, I just want company on airing my dirty studio.
Have a great day!
Elaine, congrats on a new studio. Those pesky visitors take the fun out of our messes.
Thanks for visiting!
Night Beader, I think there is a cult now for messy working areas. I guess I did expose myself pretty good on this one. Look at the new people I've met with the same problem.
This is fun! Messy artists unite!
Designs by Jenean, I've given birth enough in my life! I promise, I'm working on it. My life is always chaos with 3 kids still left at home and 2 grandchildren that visit often.
Thank you for you great comments!
Regina, I like that organizationally challenged. I ususally is a problem when you clean you and the remember where you put.
Thanks for visiting!
Ive been so busy so here I am now to drop in my post! I had a room to work and stretch out in! But some family members moved back home so Im on the kitchen table now. My mess really looks like yours. And forget when anyone wants to eat lol.
Mines really bad. And then I have stuff all over the floor bc Ive had to take it out of boxes. Not fun but atleast I can create somewhere I say...Your buttons are lovely!
Janet, glad you could drop by! My son moved out and back at least 3 times. It's makes it really difficult to work around. Good luck working around everything.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tari, you made me chuckle, I try to keep all the clutter in the basement but sometimes it sneaks upstairs, I need to clean the family room because of that bad habit - at least you keep it contained in one room!
Hi Lynn! Those clutters that sneak upstairs at night while we are sleeping! I was blaming my daughter all this time. Mine has spilled over to the garage. Today is one of those irritated moods where I'm mumbling, just get a dumpster, just get a dumpster.
Cleaning is overrated!
Thanks Lynn!!!
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