BOOM!
Here’s a little break away from my usual “On my desk… on a Wednesday” post. It’s dire. I need to do something about my studio. PRONTO. Yesterday I wrote an email to Pip telling her that it looks as though a Craft Bomb has gone off in here and I’m not exaggerating. I’m posting these photos to embarrass myself into action. I am truly ashamed. Nichola’s been cleaning out her craft room but I see that her before shot actually looks like something I aspire to as my after shot (sob!)! This studio is such a great room with such great potential. I have been looking at beautiful studios about the place and I need to get to it as it’s getting to the point where there is no room (nor motivation) to work in here.
Have a look… here are my “before” shots:
Can you even see my sewing machine in there?
Oh look – there it is.
And how about Phil’s side of the room? Well, he’s getting hemmed in by my mess .
He’s a wonderfully patient and understanding man.
So hopefully sometime soon it will look totally “Atelier de Filles” – really! Wish me luck!
Oh we all have such messes (I speak for myself) but it looks clean ?!?!And great technique for the expolive element. The pics do have that OOOMph feel.
Ha! I noticed that about Nichola’s space also. I was just about to save the photo of her craft room as one of my flickr favorites as inspiration, and then I saw that it was the dang BEFORE PHOTO!I so hear you on the “no room to craft for all the junk” thing. That’s my life in a nutshell. But you really do have a stunning room to work with! I can’t wait to see how it goes…
At least there are some sweet little eyes looking out from the mess! And they look patient, not forlorn. There’s no cuteness whatsoever in my office mess.
Your crafty space is lovely. If I swivelled you’d see the junk pile…I think I will.
I love it! This makes me feel better about my craft room. I always say that you have to make a mess to get it cleaned up. I love it.
Mine looks much worse, I should post some pics too…I really should tidy it up, I can never find what I want.
I love the space that you have to work with, it’s so full of natural light. I’m actually surfing Ebay looking for more shelves in between surfing blogs today (as I have the same clutter problem).
You’ll be right, it just needs a hit of that old saying “A place for everything and everything in its place”. Well that might be pushing it for now, but I think we can all aspire to organisational greatness.good luck
Claire.You don’t know me, in fact I live all the way in sunny California….far off from your lovely home down under, however….somehow around 2 (or 3!??) years ago I found your blog…. my daughter was just a baby then and I was wallowing in the despair, of will I EVER get to make ANYTHING ever again!!??? And then all of a sudden there was Loobylu! I read your blog every day….even though we would probably never know each other I fed off of your creativity and devoured every one of your creative insights, photos and links to all things beautiful as if they were the food that fueled my baby filled existence. I had never clung to something so familiar (and yet so distant) before in my life. Until I became a mother I was little miss independant capable or almost anything “all by myself”. My baby changed that and ripped me from everything I had once known (although she did give me everything wonderful a baby brings in return), my career, my friends, my sleep, but most importantly my creative outlet–in many ways I was lost!! I sincerely owe you a thank you for lifting my creative spirit everytime I checked in!! and then POOF! one day just over a year ago, you were gone as quickly as you had appeared to me! I was so saddened by losing my “new friend” (in my fantasy world that is what you had become to me!) that I continued to check (and recheck) your blog often to see if perhaps you had changed your mind and had decided to come back!! but alas no. And as the months rolled on I checked in less and less frequently….and then tonight, I randomly looked…. and YES!! HOLY MOLY YES!! you are back! posting your beautiful and inspiring images, and finds and crafts… and you totally made my AWFUL day turn around!! so again I owe you thanks… and I would like to sincerely welcome you back, “my friend” I have missed you… and I will now be checking in again regularly….Thanks too for being so inspiring, your work and your blog are truly beautiful. In case you are wondering who your imaginary friend is…this is me: http://www.dandysocialclub.com I am not some freaky stalker…just a grateful fan, and friend.
thanks for everything and keep posting all the awesome stuff you find, your sweet blog is greatly appreciated~Denise.
Ha! Don’t worry, inspiration will hit and you’ll have the urge to tidy. I am just waiting for mine to hit. I’ve been waiting for quite some time now!
um. you can still see the floor. the floor is a distant memory in my craft room. very very distant.
when we have trouble finding cleaning motivation at our place, we think about the story of the Collyer Brothers – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers – who actually were killed by their own mess!
Crafty women are loved by very patient men aren’t we?
ditto to Claire’s comment – you call that messy??? you can still see the floor! which means you can still walk throughout the room in a straight line without having to tiptoe around the piles of stuff. By the way – looks like a great sized craft room – lucky you,cheersT
Claire you are actually lucky! I don’t even have a studio. I have to use a small section of the living room and I am constantly taking things out and putting them away to make room. Half my energy is consumed in setting up and then I have lost the desire to do anything.You aim to have a neat studio.I aim to one day have a studio.
Check out Josh Agle’s art studio, that might give you some ideas:http://glltn.com/blog/2007/07/30/project-s2dio-072-shag/
I’m with Melissa,Your studio looks wonderful, I’m so jealous.
Thanks for a look, it was very brave. It is so much more comfortable to set up a shot and show tiny portions of our homes, that give the impression of tidy, efficient, households.
My studio – I have 2 shelves at the meal area end of our kitchen for my stuff, and I use the kitchen table. Actually I also have 2 plastic tubs (that hold my entire stash) on the bottom of our wall of shelves in the lounge. I wish I had a room to make a mess in. Thanks for the peek of yours.
It’s so recognizeble! We create the most beautifuls things in the biggest messes…isnt’t it like that? At least for me it’s true…nice blog too!
uhhh my craft space always looks like this, often much worse!
It’s not messy until you can’t see the floor. I’ve emailed you pics of my craft bomb. There’s been a series of fabric explosions in my studio tonight.
Oh my gosh, we have a basement that looks like that, my husband’s half is all neat and orderly and mine, well, HA! I too, have one of those patient and understanding men!
love all that natural light. erm, what mess?
I finally had the lovely cathartic experience of spring cleaning my own craft area. I wish you the best of luck with your own!
love itreality
Yikes.. come over to my house, LoobyLu! There is CRAP everywhere in my work room slash dining room.. despite the fact that i try and tidy it each day – so the poor family has room to eat their dinner and stuff…I just make things every day.. well.. I make a mess every day!
I like your craft explosion! I reckon there’s a Flickr group in that one!
xx
woot!i am so glad you are back!
Take heart..I don’t have a room..I share my space with the breakfast dishes, the colouring pencils, the libray books, toys, recycling…arhhhhh!!!!Your room will be wonderful.
Lovely to have you back.
um that looks pretty normal actually! thank goodness I don’t share my workroom with hubby or he’d have me in there each week tidying up!
Hey Claire,Trust me, your craft room looks pretty neat for a ‘messy’ room! You shoulda seen my old craft room – crap from floor to ceiling!
You are not alone with this. I think that many people with creative projects have to deal with the storage issue. Its not just storing supplies, as you well know, its getting the storage to work for you so that the things most frequently used are accessible and arrange so that you don’t cause yourself injury/strain to use them and that you can find the stuff you don’t use all the time, when you want it. I am a quilter and cloth doll maker and each thing requires slightly different workspaces. I have a little house, and am periodically reworking things so that I get stuff done. One thing that might help you since you do several different types of artwork would be to zone the space for the different things? Also, storage that frees up counterspace by using available wall mounted shelves might work well considering that you seem to have some of that to work with that’s not being used. Just a few thoughts. Just break it down into smaller tasks and don’t feel like everything has to be done at once, as that’s what often overwhelms me when I’m thinking about tackling a project like this.Good luck and I love reading your blog. Your art is incredible.
LynAnne
hi claire :^) glad the site is giving you some inspiration!