Monday, May 25, 2015

Master the Mess: Following Up!

About a month ago, we at AJE decided that some of us could use a good cleaning/organizing session in our studios. Lesley wrote a post about it that you can find here. In the time since that post some of us have made progress, some of us have done little to no work (some didn't need any) and some of us have regressed (oops).

Here's a few updates from some of the team members:

Lesley: "Well there has definitely been an improvement - the clay bench is now clean...all though to be fair this will always be a mess when I'm in the middle of production."
Clay bench

"The clean up/process area has also has a thorough overhaul..."
Sink area

"My work table is so much clearer but sadly all those trays and pots are full of miscellaneous beads that need to be put back in their rightful homes - a job I loathe so maybe...sometime...never..."
Work table

Jenny: The main/central work table. Always in flux. Yesterday it was set up for polymer. Try to keep it under control."
Central work station

The Sketchbook/Journal table is surprisingly clean since the shelf above crashed down and I had to clean up the carnage."
Journal station

This may look organized. But i have at least 5 things in progress in tiny piles. And when the muffin tins are stacked two deep it makes me crazy. Toe that's cluttered!"
Lots of projects

Caroline: "Same as last time, but with more stuff. I did tidy up, but I couldn't find anything. I'm also getting ready for a show next week!"
Caroline's work area

A peek in Karen's studio:  Since I am preparing to move in a few days, I have not had time to even think about a studio clean-up. However, these three areas are not bad.
Glaze racks

Desk
Shipping area

Linda: "The top left picture shows what was supposed to be my clay table, but there was no space to work there. I wanted not only to reduce the clutter, but also to make my space visually appealing so I would enjoy spending time there. I put up shelves and a rail with storage cups. The sign was a gift from my husband that had never been hung. My smaller glaze bottles fit perfectly, 2 deep on the shelf. Just above the glaze, I hung an abstract silk painting that I had done years ago and a Lunar Hare tile by AJE team member Jenny Davies-Reazor."
Linda's studio


Me: "The floor is getting better and I'm actually able to sit in my chair now and work on a small corner of my desk. Still a LOT of work left to do."
Before and After
"Some of the organizers and artwork I've added since the clean-up began."
Organizers and artwork

So there we have it!  Progress after a month.  I wonder where we will all be in another month.  Have you been cleaning and organizing your work space?  

Happy Beading!

4 comments :

  1. I absolutely love seeing work spaces and how organized (or not) they are. I just find it interesting and inspiring no matter what. So thank you for this post. I had my space all cleaned up after a blog hop by Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, and it stayed organized for quite a while. But then I broke the two rules that keep it clean, so I need to get back to doing those. 1) When you get new materials, but them away as soon as you are done gazing at them for a few days. 2) Clean up after a work session.

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  2. When I saw the original post I was going to clean up along with you all. Well, I DID finish some pieces on my table and that cleared up some of the mess, LOL. I'm hopeless.

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    1. Don't feel bad, Lee. Most of us got started but didn't completely finish our studio overhauls. But at least we kick-started the process.

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  3. It is always inspiring to see the workspace of other bead artists. Thanx so much for sharing. I have a board that I bead on which sets across the arms of my lazyboy. Well now have 3 boards full and have just moved them on to another space. To be honest going back to school took all of my time. Now that I am done I will clean off my boards and get back to normal. This post helped me to get in gear.

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