The Studio is Finished!

It's been quite a few weeks since I wrote about my studio mess here. Since then I have worked hard on it off and on. I told you what an odd room this is but what I didn't mention is the ledges going all the way across three walls of the room. The first wall has a ledge about a foot off the floor and about two feet wide, the second wall has a ledge that is two heights, one of about two feet and the other about one foot and about 18 inches deep, the third wall the ledge is only about 4 inches high and 6 inches deep. I am not sure what the purpose of these ledges were but they make it very difficult to place furniture in this room.

I really have a lot of plans for this room but right now I have to hold off on everything. Since two of the walls have to be rebuilt, the third wall has to have a door set into it and the fourth wall will hopefully have new windows put in it, I was told no painting right now. No anything really, since it will all change. 

So I cleaned the room thoroughly and did the best I could for now. I had two big pieces of lightweight wall covering and my bulletin board to work with so I simply covered the damaged part of the wall with those. It works great for a temporary fix. I have lots of my WIP's hanging on the board and they make a nice display and serve as a gentle reminder that I need to finish them. I also have my keyboard tucked into that corner so when I get a chance I can enjoy a bit of music.

Under the window I set up my dye area. I use the big black desk to mix all my dyes, the nice slide out tray is perfect for holding my soda ash mix. I can soak fabrics in the bin and have it tucked away safe while doing so. 

The sets of drawers next to the desk hold all my dye supplies, clamps, dye, masks etc. and the small chest of drawers holds all my dyeable fabrics. It is nice to have it all contained in one area and it gives me a lot of surface area to work with also. 

I set up this back corner as my work area. This is where I use the computer, sew, work on jewelry, etc. I was told long ago when I worked as a reweaver that if I continued bending over a desk I would do irreversible damage to my neck and back. I quickly trained myself to reweave in a recliner. It was hard at first but I caught on quick and since then it has done wonders on my neck and back pain. I was also told at the same time by my eye doctor that with the type of work I did that my eyes would also deteriorate rapidly. There is a reason there are few reweavers in the world! He suggested that I watch TV while I worked so I would look up occasionally, therefor exercising my eyes. Since then I have always worked with a TV or computer going in the background. Here I have my computer, and it is a large screen. I like having my screens away from me. It's better for eye strain and for any kind of EMT emissions. 

Since I have these strange ledges I tried to work with them. I made this one a nice shelf for all my drawers full of beads, threads and tools. I places another shelf above so I have a place to various other things, 

The bank of file cabinets in front of me is full of more tools, beads, wire, pencils. All the goodies I need to make jewelry, do graphics work and do embroidery. This is the perfect set up for me and I love it!

Here next to my red drawers is my little desk. This fits just right next to my computer so I can work with my graphics tablet. I can also add my portable drawing table to the top and have a great design area for graphics. 

I set up a nice long table here as a work table. It is right next to my sewing area so I can use it as a cutting table, lay out my pieces here as I work and also use it for other projects. Right now I am in the middle of sorting, wrapping and readying some of my trims for the shop. the folding table sitting in the back is the nice portable drawing surface that I use at my chair or on my drawing desk.

This is my sewing area. I have plenty of room here to sew and lots of storage within arms reach.

My little needle felted cottage rests among the baskets of wool.

The shelves above hold my wool for needle felting and yarns, threads and other goodies.

I put these shelves next to the sewing table and also an old kitchen table that we had no room for when we moved here. It works perfect to hold my projects I am working on now and has some nice storage area beneath for patterns and other odds and ends. The shelf next to it holds all my hand dyed velvets and cottons plus various other fabrics for ongoing projects. 

The large armoire next to this holds all the rest of my fabric and old clothes. I use a lot of old clothes in my work. I like to reuse and recycle as much as possible. Most of my fiber art incorporates these used clothing items. I rarely buy new fabrics unless it is to dye!

So this is the finished room. I know it is only temporary and I really can't wait to redo this room how I want it, with bright walls and lots of light but for now I think it will serve me very well. I already feel so much more comfortable and ready to go. All my things in order, easy to find and within reach. This is making my artist heart sing!

Hope you are having a wonderful week!