Creative Spaces - Drinking for Art

I am the only female in my house. I have 1 husband, 2 sons and 2 male dogs. Needless to say there isn’t a lot of pink happening in our home, so when we enlarged the laundry room to make studio space for me I could not wait to go to the paint store.

I have always loved Mermaids and this is what greets me when I walk into my studio.

I have various stations for my glass work and was thrilled to be able to introduce so many colors into my space.


And just to make sure nobody forgets, this poster is prominently displayed.



written by Leslie of Drinking for Art

Creative Spaces

Sometimes when I am in the studio working, I think of how much more space I could use. I do love my little studio, which is conveniently located in my home, but with 150 oddly-shaped square feet to work with, sometimes a little daydreaming is in order.

Like what if I had this space:


Look at all that natural light! This studio belongs to Moop. They sell their handmade bags on Etsy.

And what about this studio:


I am drooling over the worktables alone. This studio belongs to Spudnik Press Cooperative in Chicago.

And finally:


Talk about convenience and accommodations and that view! This studio is above the artist, Chris Orilkowski's detached garage.

Even though I may continue to fantasize about life in a larger studio, I am still content to dream big in my little space.

written by Erin of Holler and Whistle

Creative Spaces - Starflight

When we bought our house almost 2 years ago, I knew I would need an entire room to store my crafty things. Being a full time graphic designer, I also needed a place to work. Thankfully, my workshop serves both purposes. It is very relaxing to sit amidst the cool shades of blue surrounded by photo of my pets...even though they may hang a bit crooked.

Written by Michele of StarFlight .

Creative Spaces: Atelier-Beads

The top floor of our row home is flooded with light. It's the perfect
place for a workshop, and my husband and I created one for me last
year. One whole wall of the room is devoted to PegBoard storage.


I hang and store strands of beads, vials of seed beads, wire and
cable, and tools--all sorted and ready for use. I like having my
entire stash spread out, and the PegBoard helps me to do that. I have
two large tables placed at opposite ends of the room. One is dedicated
to bead work. It becomes cluttered and disorganized while I'm working
on a project, but tidying-up is easy. Everything goes back on the
PegBoard or into any one of a large number of compartmented plastic
boxes.

My second table is entirely given over to the
computers and all their electronic bits and pieces. I'm
blessed with a modest walk-in closet, and I've devoted one side of it
to mailing equipment and supplies. It also houses display equipment.


That's my vintage Singer sewing machine in the foreground.
A large system of open shelves from Ikea houses all my plastic bins,
boxes, drawers, catalogs, and old magazines.

My best buddy, Spencer-the-Beagle, has a cozy spot near the shelves where I keep my
books.



Written by Anne of Atelier Beads

Creative Spaces - Jenny Jen

Over my winter break I decided to rearrange my entire third floor. My jennyjen42 business had a very good year and I needed more room for all of my supplies as well as my inventory. So, the smaller office turned into my new bedroom, my old bedroom ( my largest bedroom) converted into my new "sweat shop". A new coat of paint in a beautiful shade called "Rain wash" by Sherwin Williams and voila, a beautiful new space. I now have more space to put up my extra cutting table and plenty of space for storage. I'm anxious to see how my new environment effects my new spring products!

Creative Space-Where Jill Popowich Designs in Metal

Much to my husband’s dismay, three years ago I set up a makeshift workspace in “The Man Cave” and for three years he threatened to move me back into an unfinished work area in the back of the basement. Cold, dark, dirty and lonely. About two weeks before Christmas he started construction on the back room finishing the walls and floors, adding lighting and installing storage and work surfaces. Then it arrived, my BEAUTIFUL Christmas gift, an actual jeweler’s bench. Oh how wonderful it is not to be working on an old table hunched over with absolutely no organization at all. Now I have everything at my fingertips, stored nice and neat with a place for everything and everything in it's place.


Since we were working with a clean slate and we share the space (he is a boy with wood working tools) I was able to work a few essentials into the space. We included a vent in the ceiling, a centrally located fire extinguisher and the most important of all, a partition so I can curtain off my space in an effort to keep it clean and saw dust to a minimum.

It won't be clean for long, I've got some creating to do!

Creative Spaces – Spa Therapy Works

Before Colgate and other companies like it set up industrial shop, soapmaking was a home industry--and for me, it still is. I’m lucky enough to have a space totally dedicated to run my home business. And the best part of the space is the fragrances infused in everything, which makes coming to work an enjoyment every morning. It is seriously the best smelling room in the house!

After the holiday, I did some re-organization of my soap room to find a better & more effective layout, and here it is:

Pots, pans, molds, scales, cutters and other tools of the trade are stacked up on the top of the shelves, where I also keep the mean & dangerous lye-caustic soda (Oils + lye (with some water) = soap + glycerin). On the middle shelves, I keep cured soaps that are ready to be wrapped, other finished products, and raw materials. Soapmaking vegetable oils and butters go on the lower shelves.

I use the cold process method of making soap, which means that I don’t cook the soap over a heat source. Rather, I stir the soap until it thickens, pour it into molds, and allow it to sit quietly for 24hs before I remove it from the molds and cut it into bars. Then, I allow the soap to cure for several weeks on the curing racks.

Curing racks above. When the bars nice and firm, I put them on another shelf until I'm ready to wrap them, opening space for more soap to cure. I make most of my soap in small 3-pound batches and I do this so I can make many different scents and still have room to walk around my workspace. (On the picture above you also see a bookshelf filled with fragrances and essential oils, followed by storage units packed with containers for my body products)

I keep the “assemble table” in the middle of the room so it’s easy

to grab products from the shelves, pack them up and fill orders The packaging shelving is right there, too. (below)

And finally, a picture of my worktable (below). This is is where I house my microwave, mixer and utensils used to prepare lotions, creams, whipped body butters, deodorants, etc.

Creative Spaces - The Broken Plate

I'm sure you have seen my stack of unbroken plates, now I get to share the rest of my glamorous work space! Above is "where the magic happens." (Sorry, I have always wanted to say that.) This is my breaking station where I smash plates and separate the pieces into different piles depending on what I can use the piece for. The green box is the flat center of a plate, blue box is the rim, red box is filled with half plates and the brown box is trash.
This is the soldering station, more magic happens here. The orange thing hanging under the paper towels is a Mr. T Soap on a Rope, he is my little mascot. "I pity the Fool who interrupts my solder!"

This space rarely looks like this, but when it does, I do some finishing and packaging here. I love my work space, but sometimes I just hate being in the basement. Sometimes, I can't help but bring everything upstairs and solder on the island in the kitchen (shh, don't tell Mr. Broken Plate.)