Other People’s Studios

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Elaine

Since I moved from a small apartment to a house at the end of June and picked up my own office-studio-cave in the process, I’ve been a tad obsessed on how it should get set up.

Part of that obsession has resulted in me stalking the studio, home office and craft room groups on Flickr. And then there’s the results for a simple Google image search on ‘craft room organization’.

I found a book in the library – amidst the other house decorating books – called: Where Women Create: Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women by Jo Packham.

Overall, the studios are overdecorated and cutesy for my taste but you could easily just pick and choose ideas to take away. I was happy to see a whole, contemporary, book devoted to professional craft artists work spaces.

I have to admit that I haven’t got my little space quite how I want it yet – it will require some more TLC and different wall shelves but it has gotten good use even as it is. I am hunting up textiles at the local thrift shops after seeing a few of the amazing simple sewing projects Lisa has done with such the last two years.

Post Move

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Elaine

I have this whole series of studio building posts in mind but moving has resulted in more mess than I was able to imagine. And my imagination is excellent! So here’s a little clip from the garden where I had ladybugs earlier.

The last of my furniture and shelves came with my stepdad yesterday. That means the bookshelves and racks are here which will help with the unpacking since the stuff will have a place to stay.

My studio thus far – and yes, the first functional spot is the computer station – is chaos. In two weeks when Lloyd gets back from scout camp he promised to help me out with wall shelves and I should be ready to put baseboards and window trims in then too.

Bowl Goals: Beady Weekend

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Elaine

Funny story. This morning my Mom phoned me to make sure we were on for doing errands together and said she’d be over in 30 minutes. I said that was perfect as I had stuff coming out of the oven then. When she arrived she asked what I was baking. Of course, at that point, she realized it was clay.

We were back in town by mid-week and the end of Easter break marked the Calgary leg of the Oasis Bead Show. This year there was less of what I was looking for – a good selection of base metal findings – so I didn’t break the bank. I did pick up a few strands of stones and pearls in my regular colours. Chloe picked up a lampwork cat bead similar to Sam, our future house cat. The cat bead is made by artist Fran Davis of Dragonfire Beads.

I believe next year I will make a serious effort to have a table at the Bead Show! It was a candy store of goodies even if I was on a strict diet.

Bowl Goals: Happy St. Patricks

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Elaine

There’s nothing green in that bowl of beads except a few leaves on some of the caned pieces. St. Patrick’s here meant that my daughter made sure her tshirt had some green bits on it and she put a green skin on her Shuffle (which made me think, can I make a clay Shuffle sock? Anyone done that?).

I cheerfully went greenless today, I’m sorry. Here’s the bowl of beadies for my weekly checkin:

They’re off to join the other friends they just came out of the tumbler with to get holes, layers of glossy goo, photo sessions and generally fondled and appreciated as all beads should be. Expect to see them up on Etsy and environs soon.

Those UFOs

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Elaine

And by UFO I mean the (in)famous Unfinished Objects of the crafting world. My current one is more of an unfinished project. See, last year I scored a nice big chunk of clay from someone who was selling off her supplies. What’s in the picture is just a small portion of it. The rest is partially used, so in plastic baggies and less pretty to pose.

The problem is that this is all old Fimo. By old, I mean mid 1990s. It predates the company making ‘Fimo Classic’ and ‘Fimo Soft’. Every single pretty ounce of it is rock hard.

So I am writing about it to goad me into finally get processing it. I don’t have a food processor and I haven’t found an old, second hand one in my price range that didn’t break two minutes in. So I have to do this the old fashioned way. Dice it up, toss with mineral oil and softer clays and let sit. Blend. Repeat. Eventually I will have about 30 lbs of good clay but it is going to be a while.

Anyone else have some tedious craft projects waiting for them?