Studio Layout & Winner Announcement

Carol Dekle-Foss

First of all, thank you so much to all who participated in my giveaway. Your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated! The winner announcement is at the bottom of this post. 

First, I thought I would share with you my studio layout.

I dream one day of having a cottage style studio with little flower pots flanking double french doors, skylights for ample lighting and built-in cabinets galore. To be honest though, I am very grateful for the studio I have now. I never thought I would be able to pull off working from home and living an artistic life. I feel very blessed when I have the opportunity to spend time creating here.

My studio is set up in sections or stations used for different activities. 

I spend most of my time in front of this hand-built workbench, which is the heart of the studio. I did a post here about building it with my husband. Also, here are the instructions if you would like to build one yourself. I am currently in a creative dry spell, so the top of my workbench is clean and patiently waiting my return.

The top center drawer is my favorite because the tools I use most are right at my fingertips.

The three center drawers house things like chain, wire and metal scraps

These drawers are usually left open while I'm working. Each drawer holds 96 favor tins from Michaels. It took me quite awhile to amass them all. I would use their 40% off coupon each time I bought a can of tins. It amazes me how one can have so many beads but never find the right one needed for a project. It might be time for a destash soon!

Right behind the workbench is my pathetic solder station, cleaning area and a belt sander. No sink here. That will be a must for my dream studio. 

Another workbench is used for my rolling mill, metal sheer and 2 flex shafts. I have my foot pedals elevated because, well, I am short and it's more comfortable that way. I know, it's weird.

A massage chair is an absolute must in a studio! My stump doubles as an ottoman.

The other side of the studio has storage, clay work area and sandblasting equipment. On the corner of the workbench, barely visible, you can see my metal saw area. It's the perfect height for sawing. One day I wold love to have a metalsmith workbench. I girl's gotta dream right?

So how do you organize your work area? Do you have different section or stations? How do you store your tools and beads? What has most benefited you in the studio as far as organization and placement?

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

Aaand the winner is....Strega Jewellry! Congratulations! I will send you a message on Facebook for your mailing information.

 Thank you to all of those who left valuable feedback. I have yet to discover a buyable pin and decided against using promoted pins, for now anyways.

How to make bookkeeping and taxes FUN!

Carol Dekle-Foss

Ok yes, that was just a ploy to get you to read this post, but stay with me!  I'm going to review an indispensable software program called Jewelry Designer Manager by Barbara Carleton. It's not only amazing for keeping track of finished jewelry, but it's also great for keeping track of handmade components as well.

I have been using it for 3 years now and absolutely love it! There are just so many unique ways you can utilize the program. I'll be honest though, you have to enter all you data and that can be a bit time consuming. But once that's done, you have a powerful tool that can track and manage every aspect of your business. Seriously, this program rocks! 

Ok, so here are the top reasons I use this software.

NUMBER ONE. Inventory! This is where the genius comes in. You input your beads and other components into the Jewelry Parts section, and then when you make a piece of jewelry, you build your piece in Jewelry Assembly. (See next pic)  You select the parts that are included in the finished jewelry piece and the program adds up the total cost of materials. 

NUMBER TWO. Pricing.  Basically the program does this all for you. It takes into consideration all your raw materials, your labor and any other costs, and recommends the price according to the mark-up options you have set up. It helps you calculate your prices so you get paid for what you are worth, and also so you are charging a fair price to your customers.

So now, not only do you have raw inventory data for all your beads and components, you also have finished pieces data. This comes in very handy during the dreaded tax season when you are calculating your COGS. Now that's fun stuff!

NUMBER THREE: Keeps track of customer purchases. The above pic is the field where you enter customer data. Below is the invoice field.

You can also print detailed invoices to send to a customer.

NUMBER FOUR: Lastly, the software creates comprehensive reports. Being a detailed person, ok, obsessive, I like to track things. You can manage your sales, parts, customers, create PDF catalogs to send to customers via email, and create professional labels.

This program keeps me organized and on top of things so I can then spend more time in the studio. Well that's the theory anyway. Now if I could get it to feed my animals and do the laundry that would be great! 

Check out the program for yourself here and see if it's right for you!

I would love to know how you track your inventory. What works for you, do you use spreadsheets or Craftybase? 

Here's a collage of some of my recent studio creations.

 I hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday!

Ceramic Flower Disc Beads and Organization

I love that I have my creative studio space in my house.

I dream of having a secondary building somewhere where I can run my business and hold artist retreats, but right now with young kids, it's just not something on my horizon.

I try to sneak in an hour or two of clay time a week.

I remember those days where I could work all day and night on my work, but having kids, those days are long (LONG) gone. And even though I miss it sometimes, I really enjoy where I am right now in life...

And sometimes when I work on new pieces in series, I should listen to my brain that says:

"Hey! WAIT!!! Now that these are drying in groups, you should immediately sort them into smaller bisque containers for the bisque firing NOW instead of having to sort through all of these pieces after the bisque firing!"

Did I listen to my brain?

Not at all... (kicking myself)

So I had to spend (waste) an extra 20 minutes to sort through this entire 6" x 8" container full of my new flower disc beads.

Truth be told - I think my brain ignored itself because it somehow knew that I needed that 20 minutes of extra bead fondling once these were out of the bisque firing.

Now that they are fired and sorted, when I get to the glazing point, I can easily pull out the plastic drawer (I use the ones from the hardware store that stack high and have 30-50 drawers in each) and pick pairs. 

I like to work in pairs from the glazing point. If they make it out of the kiln with a matching mate, then it was meant to be. 

If not - then well - independence is theirs!

I have some in my Etsy Shop, and will be glazing more in early May for a shop update and for stock for Bead and Button (booth #610 with Nikki Thornburg Bead Studio).

And to send to Darlene of D7Studio where she represents Marsha Neal Studio.

And I am taking a little bit of time here and there to tend to the garden and spring clean up.

I just love these Hellebores...

First time this one is really blooming!

Curious to see about the cross pollination of this double blooming head with some of the others in the garden (they take 5 years from seed to blooming mature plant).

And a little educational treat for myself...

I adore felting, and have had two opportunities to take classes with the very talented Sara Renzulli of Sarafina Fiber Art, where we have been needle felting structural creatures.

This one is the Bunny Puff Kit (she has all kinds of critters as fibers are available and restocks often).

I love these for my house, and learning about creating structural fiber work is really going to help me take the next steps towards where I want my body of work to end up...

If you have ever wanted to learn needle felting you should check out her shop and her SarafinaFiberArt You Tube channel for a bunch of tutorials.

The Studio Order of Things

I don't know about you, but I am pretty darn good at procrastination some days which sometimes gets into weeks or months and in the case of my ceramics studio - Years!!!

Cluttered but Workable Studio Space

Ceramic clay is a pretty heavy medium to work in. The clay itself (bags of clay are usually 25 pound bags) which make up about 1500 to 2000 pounds total is a lot of stuff to move - and where do you put it if you are going to move it for a "make over"? And the equipment, tables, kilns are all bulky and heavy too - and some things are set up because of where there are power outlets, lights, sinks, etc. No wonder why I have learned to work around this stuff for years.

But just the other day, I was making some beads for an order, and I realized acknowledged that I was getting down to the end of my stash of good "plastic feeling" ceramic clay. I have plenty of clay - it's just not in a useable state (I'm estimating 1500 pounds of hardening, short, non-plastic feeling ceramic clay!).

And that I need to get that clay reconstituted. That means I have to break it down into small pieces - by slicing with a pottery wire cutter tool, take it in buckets into my garage where I have a pug mill (thank goodness for cats and those empty kitty litter buckets). I will work in small batches adding clay, some water for moisture and some beer to get some bacteria to grow (bacteria makes it more plastic - I've heard of people using yogurt too). It will mix, then the pug mill will de-air it and extrude it into 3 inch coils - ready for use in the studio.

So just that intro to what I have to do to get useable clay again - and that I have to do it NOW - before we start to get freezing temperatures, means I also have a studio space mostly free of all of that clay and buckets storing the dry scraps and I can move things around and get it organized how I always envisioned a basement home studio would be. And I am beyond excited!

It's great to be able to do a studio purge and reorganization!
Heck - I'm even finally getting my kick wheel set up now that I've got room so I can once again throw on the pottery wheel!

I'll be updating my blog on the progress and will post a bit next Sunday too.
It really makes me look forward to the winter months where I can spend hours down here in an organized space with lots of clay and hopefully "creativity" filling the air...

Staying Creatively Organized....

It's no secret that I'm not the most organized person in the world, but as I prepare to exhibit at BeadFest, my first bead show, I've been researching different technologies and methods for helping reign in all of my creative ideas in one central place.

I've always kept sketchbooks and notebooks. Generally, I have 2-3 going on at any time for different purposes. Some are more art related, some are filled with all manner of lists and sub-lists, and still yet, I keep a calendar to help keep me on track with deadlines and dates. Being the extremely organized person I am, dragging around three separate little books to stay organized is overwhelming to say the least.

I've been using a smartphone for over 2 years and while I use it for keeping on top of my email, blog, and business, I've yet to jump on board and use it as a central place for idea-keeping. Something about the physical act of jotting or sketching things down helps activate them in my brain where typing them into a tiny screen does not.

Nevertheless, I've embarked on researching and planning for myself a central place to try to keep myself organized and thought I would share some great apps, tools, and even old fashioned things to keep you creatively organized.

1) Google. I increasingly rely on Google's variety of apps and tools to stay on top of my email and documents. It's calendar options can be set up with reminders to alert you when events and deadlines are approaching, the contacts and mail options make it easy to keep track of my address and email and sync them to my phone and categorize and file them by project. Google docs is also a great way to organize things like, proposals, submissions, and other important files so you have access to them remotely. You can share them with other email addresses or keep them private!

2) Evernote. Evernote is both a smartphone app as well as a web based program that is a virtual notebook. You can organize your ideas into different notebooks based on project and clip photos, notes, and even audio files into your notebooks to help keep you organized!

3) Pinterest. Pinterest is a great visual tool for keeping track of inspiring ideas you find around the internet. By installing their pin marklet in your web browser, you can pin ideas to different idea boards. This is a great way to remember ideas for displays, etc.

4) Dropbox. Dropbox is a great desktop app for sharing files. If you're collaborating long distance on a project, blog, or show, Dropbox helps everyone have central access to files without having to email large photos, documents, etc. to everyone in your project.

Not into the virtual stuff? Here are some other great creative ways to stay on top of things.

1) Moleskine. If you're a fan of the delicious sketchbooks and notebooks by Moleskine, then you're sure to love their planners. Combining the details that we all love about Moleskine with a planner? Genius. Pockets, large spaces for planning and the convenience of a calendar all in one place.

2) Make your own! I've recently decided the best way for me is to make my own planner, sketch/notebook, all in one place. It's still in the being built phase, but will combine all of my ideas in one place. Buy 3 ring binders or loose leaf rings, print calendars from the internet, or cut out from existing ones, use blank notebook and drawing paper, punch and insert! Voila! All your ideas in one place!

What ideas or apps keep you organized?

Are you a cluttered creative?

by Patty Lakinsmith

My name is Patty and I am a cluttered creative.  There, I admit it.  It's gotten to the point where I need to have a few grown up words with this demon.  My creative space, my office, my bedroom closet, my garage - where to start?  There are so many targets of opportunity.  Don't get me wrong - you won't be seeing me on an episode of "Hoarders" any time soon (probably never), but the ratio of stuff to space has just become a little overwhelming in our small space.  My ability to create is hampered by my inability to find things on my crowded workbench, and there is no free space to start new projects.  I have purchased special storage containers, and have even started using some of them, but I fall down in the regular upkeep.  I am weighed down by a feeling of overwhelm.

The key, I'm told, is that once you purge your life of clutter, you make room for new things, new joy, and new experiences.  Since my mantra for this year is "Release", I plan to interpret it literally and make some hard decisions.  Release materials I know deep inside that I'll never use.  Release clothing I should have never bought, or no longer wear.  Release my mind from old ways of thinking to embrace the new.  Right.  Easier said than done.

And then I found Jennifer Hofmann over at the inspiredhomeoffice.com blog, and I am hopeful.  Her site is aimed at creative people, and she has a ton of great, gentle advice.  I clicked on the cloud tag "clutter", and found this great set of posts.  I was hooked the minute I read this "Manifesto for Cluttered Creatives", and it starts like this...

I have the right to express myself 

(c) Jennifer Hofmann, Inspired Home Office.com

to live my life as I see fit

to say no and mean it

to say yes with my whole being to what I love

I have the right to my own creative space

to draw a real or imaginary line around my domain and claim it for myself

to a door that closes

to absolute silence when I need it

I have the right to spread out

to interact with my ideas

to see them

to touch them

and doodle in the margins

until the ideas seep into my bones and become mine

I have a right to a sacred space

that is free from intrusions

that is free from guilt

that completely supports my spirit

that is truly sacred space

powerful as an ancient circle of standing stones...

for the rest of this wonderfully inspiring manifesto visit the inspiredhomeoffice website.

Invigorated by what I read, I attacked my closet last weekend, and I won.  A small closet, and as such, a small victory, but a monumental boost for my morale.  Does anyone need any hangers?  Not the wire ones from the dry cleaners - those are all bundled up ready to return.  I actually have free plastic, metal, and wooden hangars, and free cubby space in the closet.  And floor space.  And room to move hangers about on the rod.  Hot damn.  I've got a carload of items for Goodwill and a small pile of decent things that can actually go to the wonderful Career Closet.  Yay.  Baby steps, right?

My attention next turned to the guest room I use as a temporary office, and I made some headway.  Two bags of shredded paper, and dwindling piles. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now I need to go face the hydra in my studio...

and this is only one fraction of the space...

Are you like me, or have you already found the secret to avoiding this kind of disaster?  Do tell...I'm with you either way in this never ending quest for simplicity, harmony, and opportunity.