Studio Stroll - Creative Critters

Post by Creative Critters

I was going to wait until I had my craft room cleaned up, but since that's such a rare occurrence I just took pics of the "real" craft room ;-) I consider myself very lucky to have an entire room dedicated to my crafts. This is a spare bedroom and gets lots of light all day long.

This is where I do all of my clay sculpting. Just about everything I need is within easy reach. I have plastic boxes filled with all sorts of molds, two lazy Susans full of sculpting tools, texture plates, an organizer with all my clay cutters, a metal box full of stamps, and of course my pasta machine is clamped to the table. This was an old computer table I got for next to nothing at a garage sale.

There's a little printer stand on wheels that pulls out of the desk, and that's where I store all my jewelry tools. I used zip ties to attach a metal rack to the top and the handles fit quite nicely. On the shelf above that is a box with all my acrylic paints, which I use quite frequently on sculptures. You can see one of the lazy Susans loaded with tools and paintbrushes. Next to that are some of Lisa Pavelka's foils, which add incredible color and shimmer to unbaked clay. I used these on a few projects so far. I cut off the top of a large cereal box and store all my texture plates in there.

This plastic dresser sits next to my clay table. On top I have a few of my larger molds, my sewing thread, and a plastic box where I store my clay. I make sure to put any opened clay in plastic bags. Sometimes certain types of plastic can react with the clay, so the bag keeps everything safe (and clean). The drawers of the dresser have some of my fur fabric and plush animal fabric in them, along with with all my trim. I often cover the bottom of my sculptures with fabric, so it's handy to have everything in one spot. Sometimes I'll use fabric trim on my pieces, and some of the fur fabric can make really cool hair.

This rack, which I got free from from a relative, is mounted next to the dresser and holds my Gallery Glass, Pearl Ex powders, fabric paint, embossing powder, and glass containers. I've used Gallery Glass with polymer clay with some very nice results, and I adore the shimmer of Pearl Ex on clay. The glass containers can all potentially be covered in clay to make vases, candle holders, and other things.I keep a lot of glass of the landfills like this!

And this is where I have all my craft books and magazines, as well as pictures I cut out of magazines for inspiration. I have books on human and animal anatomy, clay sculpting, jewelry making, fantasy artwork, knitting, sewing, dollmaking, stuffed animal making, and much more. I'm self taught, so books have played an important role in furthering my skills. When it comes to polymer clay, some of my favorite authors include, Christi Friesen, Maureen Carlson, Lisa Pavelka, Katherine Dewey, and Boris and Dinko Tilov. They're all amazing artists and wonderful teachers.

This dresser (which Gramma gave me) is filled with beads, findings, wire, candy molds, buttons, and all sorts of things I might have a use for someday. When Gramma gave me the dresser she left all her vintage beads in it as well. I store my sewing patterns in the bottom drawer. I have a fluorescent light hanging over the dresser, and I use the top to photograph my items for sale. I use different colors of scrapbook paper as backgrounds for my smaller pieces and large pieces of fabric for the larger items.
And here's a picture of the work space in use ;-)

Thanks for taking the grand tour of my craft room!

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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.


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.


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.


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

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Studio Stroll - averilpam

by averilpam

Here are a few photos of my work areas. I've not included all my storage as it's all over the place so would be too many photos I think!

The desk was originally my computer desk until I got my laptop, then I used it for my sewing machine but as I've not been doing so much sewing lately I've now started to use it for my polymer clay work, which is much easier than using a lap tray (I still use that for jewellery making) and means I can leave stuff out.

computer table-1 by averilpam, on Flickr

tool boxes by averilpam, on Flickr

desk-2 by averilpam, on Flickr

desk-1 by averilpam, on Flickr

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gamekitty's studio space

by gamekitty



This is the general gist of the garage/studio area. I had an indoor studio before but it is hard to keep it indoors when your in-laws move into the place in a hurry.



This is my clay desk. I specifically have the office glass desk so that I can keep the clay cool.



... and this is a random view of the clay desk!



This is my toaster oven. It lasted about 2 years :) Very happy with it.



I don't do drawers, I do bucket of polymer clay. It is mostly premo but lately I have been trying to either leech the stuff out so I can use it or simply mix it with fimo classic or kato, but even they are not immune to the softness!



I guess you can call this my creative mess while I sort things out to find tools, miniatures, etc... Things get lost so often in boxes I am glad I can take them out and sort them now.

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DesertWindDesigns Studio Tour

by DesertWindDesigns

Here are some pictures of my main studio space. It is a 10' x 10' room and I have a lot of stuff in there (Oh, to have only one hobby!) I have space in the garage as well that contains the toaster oven and some metal working supplies.

This first picture is of the north wall. This is my beading corner. I've been playing with seed beads and they are pretty much everywhere. Shelf unit has beads and supplies, books, magazines and random doodads.



This is the east wall with my area for doing small paintings. Next to it is a computer desk that is currently set up to take photographs. I have a second computer there, but it is not set up on our home network so it gets used very little. I so need a shelving unit on this wall!



The window on this south wall looks out on my backyard garden. This is my polymer clay setup. I have a little p/c tidbit sitting there on an acrylic sheet that I haven't quite decided what I want to do with. Note, my oven for curing is in the garage.



Last wall is the east wall with my sewing machine, serger behind it and a bit of my storage nook.



Last picture is a closeup of the storage. Here is a close up of the storage space. Includes yarn, fabric scraps, small painting canvases, beads, sewing patterns, pillow forms, and more than a few "UFOs".



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DreamWeaversDesigns Studio Space

I must say, looking at everyone's work spaces, I feel a certain sister-ship with my disorganized organization.





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valldawnsjewelrydesigns Studio

pictures of both my work area in my room & my large studio. Both are very messy right now because I'm trying to get ready 3 shows in July!! I have 2 areas to work in, one when my mom is having a rough day & I need to be close, & one when she is having a good day.







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Janie on Storage Solutions in the Studio

No matter what medium you work or play with organizing supplies is a must. Janie has two shops in the Polymer Clay Smoosher guild, mypolymerclaycanes and Lifeartdesigns. Over on her blog she gives a tour of her studio and shows many wonderful solutions for storing supplies.


Click here to head over to her blog and take the tour.

ClayItAgain's Studio part 2

by ClayItAgain (you can click images to see a larger photo on flickr)

Shelves and bins and trays, Oh My!...
the more bins you have the more stuff you can stash :)



plastic meat trays make great (cheap) storage trays





For hard to reach shelves, I use lazy susan's, load em up, then I can spin the things around to me and not have to try and reach to the back of a shelf. That's a huge beige one on that shelf.



A small tv and vcr/dvd combo so I can watch craft tapes all day long if I want to. I used to be a HGTV junkie and have 100's of hours of craft shows taped. Wish there was some way to share the gold mine I have in tapes.



My polymer clay books above and see that tote marked 'material'? It's overflowing with fabric I "had to have"...and I don't even like to sew! I've used old drawers as containers and store them on a cart, and they still pull out like a drawer.

and FINALLY the Pièce de résistance



a multi speed heated massage chair...

Hope I gave you some new inspiration. Just because it's a basement with no windows, doesn't mean it can't be tranformed into the coolest room in the house. Seriously! In the summer, my studio is the place to be...always a cool 65 degrees. My clay never gets overheated, stays fresh longer,and when working the softer stuff, the cooler temps help me out ALOT. And I didn't spend a fortune to do it. I got the wallpaper remnants, desk, claystation, cassette cabinets all at the thrift shop for less than $50. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of paint for $30. The linoleum remnant was the most expensive thing at $90. The rest was all elbow grease I put into cleaning and brightening it up.



One quick shot before I go...I love my studio.

ClayItAgain's Studio part 1

by ClayItAgain (you can click images to see a larger photo on flickr)

We have a very tiny house (762sq ft) and part of that footage includes these stairs that lead down to my studio/our basement...



BTW, those stairs were painted over 5 years ago with cheap acrylic paints I bought at $1 store. I covered with a coat of Future floor wax and I have never touched it up. And we have had a series of plumbers,gas men,and repair guys tromping up and down those stairs with muddy boots and equipment for the last 2 years!
Welcome to my world :)



The entire space is 16 feet x 8 feet. At chest level is an additional 16" ledge all around the entire room which I use as book/storage shelves. My studio is just right for short people ..all others have to



I wish I had a pic for you to see what I started with, but imagine dimly lit, spider webs, dirt, coal dust, and everything creepy crawlies love. Half the basement is dirt (called the 'darkside') and the other half has an uneven unlevel somewhat cement floor. After I had cleaned everything out, I painted all the walls white, I stapled light colored wallpaper to the ceiling slats (here's a small before/after shot on the ceiling).



What a difference a few wallpaper remnants did to brighten things up.
Next I layed a years worth of newspaper over the bumpety floor, and bought a linoleum remnant for my flooring. The newspaper padded the rough floor so that the linoleum isn't broken to bits when I roll my chair around. Everything is bright and I can see a spider coming from any direction...although not many have made it past the 57 spider traps I have under and behind everything :) sorry spidey lovers

My main work areas are at the easel (painting) ,which you saw earlier, and at my "ClayStation"



It is a used computer desk that has pull out shelves.





I bought used cassette cabinets to store my opened clay and canes. I can store flat pieces in stacks on parchment paper in the drawers and I don't have to bother with as much plastic wrap that way.

Smoosher Studio Stroll - HaffinasCreations

Welcome to a glimpse into the workspace of a polymer clay artist! This is where the clay play magic happens for PCSG member HaffinasCreations and BeadsByHaffina. That's right, one artist with two shops. She is also the guild master for Art Fire's Chainmaille Guild.


'my' part of beading table, as you can see, right next to the computer!


'mum's' part of the beading table, as you can see..over run with my stuff, including the homemade, somewhat crushed lightbox. My daughter sat on it!


Mantlepiece where I kept my bust, new hand, keyrings and mum's beaded ornaments. The Dragon lady is mine ..although I didnt make it, but I did do the painting of the mandala..represents my own rebirth after the birth of my daughter.


About half of my polymer clay 'stuff', the other half is in the cupboard under this stuff.


New storage drawers under our beading table.. already filled most of them up with stringing supplies and packaging!


My 'resources' and a jewellery storage area. Under the bag, behind the 'bagged' stand, in the cane basket and under the brown cloth are most of my 'creations'. They are covered to protect them from dust.


The majority of our beading supplies, with a few scrapbooking things too... we had to keep buying new storage cos we keep filling them up!
I should point out that this is also our dining area..there is a table directly opposite the bookshelves..which sometimes gets used for crafting, but I tend to just move stuff on the beading table and set up for claying there..the pasta machine 'attaches' better to the beading table!
And yes it really is this messy most of the time... I get it cleaned up and then start making things and it just gets messy again..but I can find things even if noone else can! Not long after I took these photos my daughter attacked one of our bead mats with a pair of scissors..so it now has huge cut marks in it!