Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Studio Stroll - Bewitching Dreams

Post by Bewitching Dreams

My studio is rather small. I have commandeered the "dining room," since a normal dining room table and chairs no longer fit into this space with all of my other furniture I have inherited.

My main workspace is on my antique desk that came out of my grandparents' Maytag/gift store in West Virginia. I spent many a summer sitting at this desk, "helping" with floral arrangements, setting up my own items to sell on the main street sidewalk or eating chili dogs delivered from a local establishment.

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DSC02328 by Bewitching Dreams

The fact that I can now use this desk to continue my business, 20 years later, is something I'm very proud of. I know my grandfather would be very pleased to see his desk being utilized in this way. Oh, and see that chair? That is the "chair of death." If you lean too far back, you can flip it. I've done it, my grandfather did it...it's family tradition. It tries to kill us all until you learn how to properly "tame it."

The desk drawers are very deep and store a lot of my supplies out of sight. This includes the majority of my polymer clay, all of my paints, pearl powders, as well as my Dremel, thank you tags and other items.

I have multiple surfaces I use to work on. Everything from that small glass dish, to the porcelain coated butcher's tray that is stacked on top of the white three drawer chest (hidden by my multiple bead stringing boards). I save every pie pan to use as a baking platform and every takeout dish to use in an attempt to remain organized. The white drawer chest stores scrap clay at the bottom and finished projects in the top two drawers, so they are protected from dust and accidents.

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DSC02330 by Bewitching Dreams, on Flickr

My pasta machine is always ready-to-use in a single moment. All of my jewelry finishings, pendants, etc is stored and labeled in the gray multi-drawer set. That was the best purchase...ever. I can quickly grab a drawer and retrieve what I need, inventory what needs to be purchased next and if traveling, dump it into the proper storage container and I'm ready to go! Sitting on top is my letter organizer, with address labels for packages and other important items. Also keeping watch is my owl from ColtPixy

All of my paintbrushes and clay tools are stored in a Marjolein Bastin cup, whose work I love and find an inspiration. My beading tools are stored on the smaller blue cup, along with scraps of tinfoil and clay.

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DSC02329 by Bewitching Dreams, on Flickr

To the left of my desk, I have a three shelf unit. The top shelf consists of my polymer clay oven and then my collection of rubber stamps that I've had for too many years. On top of that, sits my stacks of organizer trays, where I keep my stone beads and other random items that I think will look great in projects.

The second shelf has my light box (converted photo storage box), more storage containers and small trash can.

That is the tour of my work area. It isn't much, but I love that it is organized (mostly) and on (almost) every occasion, I can sit down and find what I need when I am working. Unless someone has borrowed something, then I have to tear apart my house to find it.

By the way, these photos were taken in between projects, right before I had guests coming to visit. Trust me...the top of the desk is barely visible when I am working on items LOL

5 Smooshing Thoughts:

Unknown said...

Great workspace and lovely to have your grandfather's desk :)

Roberta Warshaw said...

Thanks for sharing your space with us.I have a small space as well. One thing about a small space is that if one thing is in the wrong place, the whole thing goes bad very quickly!

Valldawn said...

What a great space to have & so wonderful that you can put the desk & chair from your Grandpa to good use, always nice to work with great memories!

Anonymous said...

Great use of small space & I love all the memories connected with your desk & chair.

I spy Chococat drawers & trash bin, which I love, love, LOVE! I'm a huge fan of Chococat!

Rhiannon said...

Thanks everyone!

Yes, Roberta, I agree. If something gets misplaced, it's extremely confusing and can throw off a creative mood! This is the only part of my home that I actually ~attempt~ to keep organized.. :D

I love Chococat too, Dawn! He became my favorite years ago and I remember a Sanrio store was going out of business..I was in there with all of the tweens trying to grab the good stuff! I even had tupperware type containers at one time ;)