I am a messy person. Sometimes this gets in the way of actually getting things done and I get frustrated. Over the years I’ve picked up tools and tricks for keeping the chaos to manageable levels. Housekeeping has benefited a LOT by having an older child and another adult to help. Even though we’re all a little messy, when we all do a bit the house stays reasonable.
In the studio, it’s just me and I cycle from chaos to just a little cluttered about every 6 weeks. One part that drives me nuts is how messy my clay table gets. Part of that is the fact that some production scraps are good to use immediately (or almost immediately) in other projects like swirls, scrap mokume gane or new colours. So, I’d leave them out on the table knowing that if I boxed them up I’d have a “look what I found!” moment six months later. Someone said: immediately separate them by colour value in bowls. So I figured, why not. It has made a difference. I may end up with a few bowls on the table or shelf but at least it’s not scattered.
Drilling beads and other dust making work is another bane. I drill on my “dry” table, on a thick plastic mat. This works fine but makes for little curls of clay and dust EVERYWHERE. And since I suck at keeping that table clear I need some strategies here too. I’m thinking a larger mat, that I could roll up when not in use and stash in the corner or a tray to hold most of the crumbs. Probably enforcing the clean table rule would help too as there’d then be less pieces getting dusty.
2 Responses
oh jeez, don’t get me started. I’m in a bit of a downward cycle right now as my studio is a disaster and I’m starting to feel hopeless!
it seems that every time around this year people and blogs start coming up with these posts, hopefully they can inspire and provide some tips on how to keep (and stay) better organized! Good luck with your strategy!
The only thing that keeps me going is that I *have* improved over the years. All the weird tips, tricks, tools must be doing something. There are weeks (in a ROW even) where this room is relatively neat.
It is a work room and I gave myself permission for it to look like that. It is NOT a storefront and I don’t have to keep it as such.