Studio Re-Do

Hello All,

Well as you know I've been working at JPFA full-time since August and to be honest it has taken a bit of mental restructuring on my part.  My work space had to change as well.  As most of you know my "Studio" was once the family/TV room down in the basement. When we started four years ago I was given a small space at the back of the room, This is where I took pictures, skeined off yarns and prepared the sales for shipping.

OMG!!! Yuck!!!!

Tiny huh?


I was then able to push the "family" space back some and add in another table.  This worked very well for a good while.  it looked like crap and if we had anyone over for movies or one of the boys had a party, I had to package up and store away all of the equipment and bins of product.
Got tedious, FAST.  Especially if I was in the middle of a wholesale order.

So my family decided.....yea well it was more like they got tired of me whining when I had to clean up my projects......that the entire basement should be left to the "cellar dweller".  Smart guys.
So the TV went upstairs to the front room.  Yes, we have a room upstairs that we NEVER used, there was no hardship for them to move, believe me.  The sofa from the basement went up into the boys "common room" on the third floor.  Yes another area where the family and friends can congregate!

I know it looks a bit weird, but when we moved in this space was a *gasp* WORKSHOP.  And the guy had a gas stove in the corner on that raised platform.  Well when we made it into a family room the gas stove went first.  It's not like it worked or anything and we had plans for a wood stove.  We figured it was too much of a pain in the ass to break out the brick platform the stove had been on, so we just rugged over it.  It made a nice place for bean bags and such for the boys to flopp, while we watched the boob tube.

Now that raised space is my office.
I've only put in pictures of when it first went in because believe me, it is NOT that clean now.  The walls are hung with cork boards and covered in notes and lists I have to get done.

 

I do have a small problem fitting my trash bin, but that should be easy to fix moving forward.

The "studio" portion has different work areas and there is the "kitchen"portion that I'll get to that in a mo. This picture below is taken from the office platform.  The tables are old doors with horses underneath.  I wasn't sure I'd like them but after moving the room around a few times, I have grown to like the modular worktops.  The first table is ball winders and the swift.  I also use the sweater machine on this one.  I was hoping to make my own sock blanks but it is too much of a time suck/annoyance that I will just continue to purchase them.

Table two is the skein winder that my son made me.  Is that not a work of art???  Its electric and I have a foot pedal to vary the speed.  I can use up to 6 cones on that bad boy.  On the end of the table is my drum carder,  It is not always there, I have storage space for that when not in use.  My youngest on made that 2 summers ago.  Yup, SPOILED!!  The smaller 2 foot florescent lights will be replaced by long 4 foot jobbies that will be hung directly over the work surfaces.  While the laboratory is very bright, it can get pretty dark in this side on yucky days.

That tall rack you see was once in the laboratory and now holds bins of finished product.

This is an old picture of the laboratory.  When Jenn and I started this venture my MIL was redoing her kitchen and had these cabinets/sink section to give me.  Hubby added the shelve to the backsplash to hold my dyes.  You can see where that large rolling rack once was.  It held all of the undyed supplies at that time.  Now I have a wall of white cubbies.  The maps were a gift from DH and we put push pins into all of the different city/state/countries that we have sold to.  World Wide Baby!

The walls in the laboratory were not always white, but ugly brown paneling - think 1960's.   We had a pipe burst behind that wall and had to have the entire room replaced.  Whoopie!!

You can see (just barely) a stainless steel table on the left of the room with a large storage cabinet. Yea, it is a narrow space, which I find works wonders for a one-woman show like this.  The cabinet is gone now, under the stairs and I hold the felting/sewing equipment in it. The table has been extended to the full length of the room.

 This is the newest addition.  A counter extension.  I'll be able to fit 4 of the dual hot plates and you can see all of the large storage space underneath.  There is a large hood that will replace the smaller one I have now to suck up and out all of the hot steamy air. Can't have mold growing in my space!

Being in the basement has its ups and downs.  Its toasty warm in the winter (our wood stove is in a small room off to the side) and in the summer it is naturally cool.  The only problem I see is that I NEVER see the sun.

I wonder if I can get them to build me an OUTDOOR studio too..............

Thanks for letting me share the changing studio space.  Next pictures should be up when the vent is done and the tables all painted to match.

Happy crafting!
DD

OMG, I think I have a problem.....

Hello All,

These past few weeks of working from home have brought on all sorts of problems I did not forsee.  But that is another blog post entirely.  :P

I have found, however, that crafting is an addiction, and I have a problem. 

While searching on Pinterest the other week, I came across an old craft of melting crayons.  Yup, everyone has done it from time to time but for some reason this really tickled my fancy.  I even went out and bought a heat gun because the hairdryer we own is LAME.   Now if any of you have met me or my family you will know that we all have no hair.  So this poor machine had sat in the closet waiting for someone with hair to dry.  Believe me it has been years, since this poor thing has seen the light of day.  Long story short, it would not do the job.  Off to Home Depot I run and $20.00 later I have this killer little machine that gets hot!  As in H.O.T.  Burn the tips of my fingers hot.

Next I scamper up stairs silently praying that I did not send the bin of old crayons home with my nephews during my last purge.  After some rumaging about in the boy's catch all closet, Viola!  Found!

Back down into the Studio I slink, this time praying that my BC or "Business Consultant", Hubby for short, will not see me with a huge box and crayons and a brand new heatgun and ask "what?".  Because remember I'm supposed to be working, you know making money to feed them.  Yeah, well.........

Settled at my table OCD girl kicks in.  I can't work like this, these colors need to be separated, and naked for me to be able to use them.  Separation begins and taking off those wrappers, not easy.  

3 hours later I realize that you really can't tell EXACTLY what the colors are while they are in the baggies.  So.......out comes the stickers and the crayons come back out of their baggies so I can document EXACTLY what is in each bloody frigging little baggie.  

Yes. I.... HAVE.... A.... PROBLEM.

All organized and ready to use.  When I get a lunch break today. I will separate them by ROYGBIV in the bin to make it even easier to use.  They are just dumped in there now and I can hear them calling to me to fix that. Violet rubbing up against yellow, that is just wrong.

 Every color documented........I wonder........is there a 12 step program for this?

I did get a chance, briefly to see if the heat gun would do the job, or if I would need to go back and upgrade to a hotter one.  :} 

Old canvas, old crayons, new heat gun and a woman with a crafting problem.

I'm planning on taking one of the cut out sheep from my last post and melting a rainbow on it.  But alas that will have to wait until Saturday, when my work week is over and the car is packed for Grays Daily Grind Market.  Then I won't be getting the Cross-Eyed-Mary from my hungry family.

I really recommend you Google search crayon art or check out Pinterest for other ideas.  

Remember crayons are not just for little kids!!  We can start our own support group once you are addicted too.

Happy crafting

DD