My Studio

 I like to listen to nature music while I create.  But, I was in the middle of a movie (TV to the left) when I decided to take a photo of my studio.  Table to the left with all the paints is where I paint.  Table behind it is for Paperclay, papier mache, sewing and beading.  The table behind that is for polymer clay.  Table at a right angle to the polymer table is for photography (white tent all the way in the back).

 Neat and clean work surface above, but it won't stay that way for long.

Studio Clean Up

I purchased 60 yards of material.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I made table skirts and dust covers for two 6' tables and one 10'.  I also made a dust cover for my photography tent.  Still in the process of going through things and rearranging cabinets.  But, I really like how the table skirts hide the plastic storage bins under the tables.  A bin for jewelry bits and pieces (which I wish I had more of).  A bin for felting supplies.  A bin for doll making supplies.  And, a bin for my newest obsession of shabby chic holiday trees.

Studio Clean Up

I cleaned up and re-arranged my studio. I like it this way. Now I feel like I can start some new projects I've been putting off.

From OMG to Organized

My clean, organized studio.

My clean, organized beads. I have only gone through half as I got really tired.

Why did I get tired? Because I made a huge mess on my worktable. I went through every container. Patted myself on the back because I did a good job so far.

Lots of bags and tubes of beads and buttons that I was able to sell to a lady who lives here in my community.

Remember the Nest bracelet? It was unbelievably difficult to cut up. I stitched that thing like it was a real nest. Anyway, it's bead soup now.

Candy, Flowers & TOOLS!

MY hand sculpted POLYMER CLAY CANDY! Best kind--no calories.

Candles, roses and.....................

tools for Valentine's Day! I'd rather open a gift wrapped box of doming tools than a gold bracelet! Sad, but true. Oh so true. Delightfully true.

No, not for cheese.......for polymer clay! Oh, and do I love it!

Bucket 'O Polymer Clay Tools.

Dan Cormier's polymer clay peeler.

Texturing tools (above). And, last, but not least the love of my life ordered me a vertical drill stand. I'm in heaven. Have I said that lately?

Polymer Clay Texture Stamps

Aren't these are great tool to have? And they are so much fun to make.

Thank you to Arlene Harrison of Harrison Hollow Designs at http://www.harrisonhollowdesigns.blogspot.com/ for teaching me how to do this.

I have tons of texture sheets, but they are difficult to use on some projects so Arlene's little creation is ingenious. The best is these are made from scrap clay! From Arlene’s blogspot: “I remembered seeing an article on PolymerClayWeb about making your own texture tools using buttons and other things around the house. I took that a step further by cutting ½ inch round swirly textured disks (for Santa's beard) and ½ inch round disks of different textures (for Santa's hat). These were then laid on tiles and baked just long enough to firm them up – about 10 minutes. The reason that I did this was so that when you attach them to the "sticks" you don't want to mess up the texture. ”

A sample of her stamps are shown above. The photo below is the print out of her article so I could photograph it to show you the detail Arlene goes to in her blogspot. She is a gifted and talented artist who graciously shares and teaches, as well as promotes other talented polymer clay artists.

So, give them a try. I also like using the 2-part mold making product and made some molds of the "things" I brought back from New Mexico. Just not sure what I am going to make from them, but will post tomorrow anyway.

Storage for Rubber Stamps

I have two boxes of mounted rubber stamps. Above is a sample. I thought I would be able to find what I wanted if I efficiently labeled each one. Except I could never fit them back in the box where they were supposed to go so they ended up piled one atop another. Then I would have to dig to find what I wanted and I hate that. Today, I discovered I may be the last person on this great green earth to have discovered CD holders to store unmounted rubber stamps. Since I use my stamps for polymer clay, I felt I no longer needed them to be mounted. I either run the stamp and clay through the pasta machine together or I lay the clay on the stamp and give it a roll. I've always hated those wooden blocks. So scraper in hand, I removed all the backings from my mounted stamps. Below are the first three piles of filled CD holders. They are organized according to theme, shapes or textures.

The larger tool took care of the large wooden blocks and the small putty knife worked for the rest. Some of my stamps were so old, the backing just fell away easily. Others needed a little persuading.

Below sample is the stamps stored in the "Foliage" CD holder.

Labeling is easy with the handy dandy label maker.

So what began as two large boxes of stamps, ended in one small container in which I could also store the ink pads.

I am so tickled with this little system. I googled "storage for rubber stamps" and tons of great ideas came up, including a video on the CD system. I am not going to index, at least not yet. It is small enough that I can flip through these in a blink.

I did keep one block and one dense sponge to help apply even pressure when I need to. But other than that, I have a huge garbage bag of wooden blocks and sponges for the garbage men in the morning and a whole half of a studio cabinet shelf to fill with more goodies. Shopping just popped in my head and I mentally slapped myself back into reality.

Polymer Coral and Amber

I'm on a roll. Things I've been putting off are finally getting done. Feels great.

The above photo shows the polished shine accomplished from progressive grit sanding and then buffing. I may still add a buffing compound to see if I can bring the shine up one more notch.

Above is my bowl of water (reflecting the circular task light), the wet 250 grit sandpaper next to the bowl and the 350, 400, 600, 800 and 2000 grits lined up in order. The water is yellow orange because I just finished the 250 sanding. I emptied it and started the next grit.

These beads were sanded all the way through to 2000 and then I polished them on the electric buffer. The first batch was finished last night and I started the second batch this morning.

It is too hard on my hands to do them all at one time. Below is the start of the second batch.

They are very dull and chalky looking after the first sanding. The before and afters are amazing. It's really satisfying work. I followed Victoria Hughes' color recipes for the amber and coral. They are both in her book, "Polymer-The Chameleon Clay", along with recipes for ivory, jade, turquoise and other natural materials.

A couple of spots of water still sitting on the beads. I used some fine gravel from my backyard to add texture to the coral to simulate worm damage that can sometimes appear in coral.

So, I will finish up today (hopefully) and string them tomorrow and get them posted.

Not everyone has an electric buffer sitting in the middle of their home. I cover the tables with old lightweight sheets and put a box behind the buffer (to catch beads that go flying). My rule is if two beads get caught and go flying, I put it away until tomorrow. The two spots in the above photo are on my camera lens and not on the wall. Honest.

My convection oven is in the garage and is used solely for curing polymer clay. It is one of the larger ones and when I remove the trays, it can accommodate larger pieces.

Studio

This is the entrance to my studio in the center of our home. The Native American figure on the left is an oil based clay sculpture I did to be bronzed. But, as you can see, he has not made it to the foundry and probably won't until I win the lottery.

Lots of great books and reference materials. I love books. No, I mean I LOVE books.

The bookshelves hold everything from my painting supplies to my beads.

Above and below are the new cabinets we had built in for art supply storage.

Just starting to move everything from the bookcases to the cabinets and label things.

The bottom shelves are on rollers so I can access the supplies in the back. The cabinets are directly behind my work table.

Every once in a while I take stock of my supplies. Thank goodness I have such generous friends who have given me their polymer clay discards. Otherwise I would never have the color and brand assortment I have.

More is more, less is a bore.

I am beginning work on canes and mokume gane so have organized according to color.

I have custom blended some colors, rolled and wrapped them for the upcoming projects.

Boxes and containers of scrap clay will be used. I liked the below tool holder so much I copied the pattern and made one out of scrap clay.

Not all the same color, but it does the job perfectly and has withstood the test of time.

Below are some heads I have been working on in between jewelry pieces. I've included them as long as they were in the mess on the table.

My electric motor and pasta machine. Love that motor. Has a foot pedal so I can use both hands to feed long sheets.

My second pasta machine is for manual rolling. If I can't sleep and want to condition clay, I can do it quietly without waking the hubby. I just realized how bizarre that sounds. How many people condition clay when they can't sleep. But it is relaxing. Really.

I store my finished canes in ammunition boxes which are stored in the cabinets when I'm not caning.

The above ammo boxes vary in sizes from small caliber to shotgun for larger canes and plugs.

Above are rolling carts that hold my paints and more beading supplies. New cabinets are in the background.

My TableTop Photography Tent and lighting system. The sides of the tent filter the light so no shadows are cast. I also purchased several backdrops sized for this tent. They conveniently clip and velcro to the inside. The whole unit completely folds down and is stored in a zippered case about 14". The lights also telescope and fold for storage.

My painting area. Right now it is a little messy (ok, a lot messy). But I am still in the process of sorting, moving and organizing. Who am I kidding? I will get involved with an idea and the moving will be put off. I know it is not the norm to have a studio in the center of your home without a door to close on the mess. But that's ok, I'm happy. I love my studio. Every square inch of it. And let's face it, it is so me.