Studio Tour - Work in Progress

A while back I posted about the relocation of my upstairs studio, swapping out with my hubby's office space in the basement.


For the last few weeks I've been working and making jewelry and ornaments around the unpacking and rearranging.

I turned on all the work lighting and the overhead lighting to take these pictures. And yes, that's a space heater next to the beading desk - the patio door is right across the way and there's a definite breeze! Gusts and puffs! BRRRR....

Most of my workbenches are on casters and rollers, so I move them around as I need them. The industrial carpet on the basement floor makes it easy to push them here and there. When I'm working in polymer clay, I roll over the desk with my equipment on it, and when I'm done I roll it back against the wall.


I said I'd post some photos of the new space. And I kept trying to find a time when things were tidy and clean to get some good pictures. I'd clean up, get everything all arranged.

And then I'd need to work on something really quickly and get everything back out again.

I fnally decided there was no perfect time to show you some photos of the new set up, so I went ahead and made some quick snaps on the weekend. So please pardon the mess, I was right in the middle of making some ornaments.

I enjoy the candles, and have a group in front of the fireplace when I'm working and it's dark outside.
During the week it's always dark when I'm in the basement studio space, either very early in the morning or late at night. These photos were taken on a weekend during the day, and you can see I have a lot of focused lighting around the room.

You can see the computer desk with the scanner is right next to the little photography bench.

I keep a ladderback chair next to the tripod for the camera, sometimes I'm taking photos for a long time and need to sit down to focus.

It's hard to focus the camera when your hands are shaking!

The jewelry and bead desk has a huge top on it, but I still manage to cover it with boxes and organizers of beads and findings. I keep things on trays, so I can easily lift them and carry them into another room if I need to take them on the move.


The desk doors in front open and I have both sets of drawers in the sides, so I can put things away when I'm not using them.

The work lighting is color daylight corrected standup lamp, I can pull it around to where it's needed.


I don't have a closet in the basement area so I use industrial type metal shelving to hold the supplies. The clear shoeboxes are full of supplies, sandpaper and things that I need. Tools and materials right there in plain view, since for me out of sight is totally out of mind and forgotten. I'm very visual, I need to see what's there for projects.

And when I'm not using the buffer, oven, tumbler and other equipment, I store it on the shelving units next to the window.

There are two rolling typing tables that I use when I'm doing buffing on beads. They have swingarm lamps attached right to the typing table, so the light source goes right along with the work surface.

That keeps the space very flexible for me as I change from working with metal, fiber or glass. I can get out the supplies and equipment I need right then, and then put them away when I'm finished.

It's a generous sized space, I spend a lot of time in the studio on the weekends and at night. I have music and a television there I can watch if there's something special I don't want to miss. And the radio on the weekends, I listen to a lot of NPR shows.

There's a whole wall of shelving. And I've managed to fill it with books, jars of buttons and a scale for weighing things.

And there's room to grow, which is good because I love to buy books and add to my little library.

This is the dry and semi-clean section of the basement studio. The other side is where the glass is cut and fused, where the metal is etched. The soldering station and all the messy parts of the creative process are in the other side of the basement, keeping it all away from the sewing machine, computer, camera and other sensitive equipment.

Sorry for the mess, hope you enjoyed seeing the workspace. I believe that making things and being creative is messy!