Studio Clean Up: Phase 1

So back on July 14th I made it known in this post: http://meredithdada.blogspot.com/2011/07/controlled-chaos.html
That my art studio is out of control. It is messy, unorganized, and my hoarding habit does not help matters. I am using that original post to hold myself accountable, I can’t just post something like that and never follow through…well I can, but then I would have to go and delete the original post, and I would have to live with the self-loathing for not following through, then I would have to go to therapy for my lack of self esteem. Therapy is expensive, and it becomes a whole thing, so I figured I should just do what I said I would do in the first place and clean up my act.
I started phase one of the clean up process yesterday. I have to do it in phases since looking at the big picture will only make my head explode. I decided to start with one section of shelves, and work my way around. Today I decided to begin with organizing brushes, glazes, and pretty much anything to do with paint. The photo above shows the area before.


My ceramic glazes were not in any sort of order, my acrylic paints were kept in a box and I had precious shelf space being wasted with things that didn’t belong there. My paintbrushes were kept in an old oats container. Yes it is recycling, but it isn’t very pretty nor is it practical. The oats container is so tall; my small brushes got lost inside. During this process I was shocked to see I had about five good brushes that I forgot about completely!


A number of years ago, I was into making large mosaic pieces, tables, mirrors, clocks, that sort of thing. In the last few years my focus has shifted to my beadwork and there just isn’t time to be a wife, mom, crazy bead lady, and Etsy shop owner AND mosaic artist. So the mosaics have taken a backseat, but that still leaves me with an overabundance of mosaic supplies and they need to be used. In trying to solve my paintbrush storage problem, I noticed I had a couple of terracotta flowerpots also taking up space in my studio. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use up excess materials to make something fun and useful to store my brushes.
First I started attaching the glass tile and marbles to the pot with thin-set. I wanted to keep the pots bright, playful and simple while at the same time using the materials I had on hand. An art studio should be fun and whimsical and since my studio is located in the darkest corner of the garage, it can use all the cheer it can get! I have jars and jars of glass, flat back marbles so I decided to use up as many as I could. I kind of like the whole polka-dot look it gave the pots so I decided to go with that.


After the thin-set dried I grouted the pots and painted the insides with acrylic paint then sealed them with a spray seal and grout sealer. I glued a large flat stone in the bottom of each pot to plug the holes.


I filled each pot with more marbles and this glass sand someone gave me a long time ago. Then I stuck my brushes into the pots, and now they are visible and easy to access. No more lost brushes!


I organized my paints and glazes so they are all in one place and easy to get to. I cleared the workbench and now there is plenty of space to start the next project. Phase 1 of Studio Clean Up is done! The rest of the studio is a total disaster, but I am taking baby steps here so stay tuned!