"Hi, my name is Bob and my studio is packed with clutter". Sounds like AA; Artists Anonymous ;-)
The clutter wasn't a laughing matter. I finally hired some help to get the studio, aka the lower level of my house and garage cleared and decluttered. Two solid days of moving stuff completely out of the house and out to the driveway just so we could move things around. On the first day, two 44 gallon trash cans were filled, and a couple of office chairs were sent to the road for heavy trash pick up.
At one time I used to do photo shoots at home where the lower level has a room 13x24. That room was packed so badly, you had to walk a path through the boxes and gear to reach the bathroom at the rear of the room.
Next week, it's back at it again. For now a lot of stuff is out in the garage, and the lower level is getting rearranged so I can work easier; a new desk was added and both are now set up at the opposite end with the printers, book cases, and storage rack set up together instead of everything scattered around the room. The end result will be splitting the room into two zones, with one end for a work station and the other where I could actually sit down and talk with someone.
Getting the clutter removed had already had a effect after the PC and gear were relocated; it's feels liberating to not have to constantly move things around to start a new project. Another result has been finding negatives, slides, works-in-progress that have been misplaced, lost, and set aside for embarrassingly long periods.
Getting the space under control gives, for me at least, a feeling of being able to be more creative without the worry and distraction of tons of stuff impinging on your consciousness.
I know at one time on here we started to take photos of before and after after we claimed we were going to clean studios out, but somehow procrastination killed that curious cat ;-)
How do the rest of you handle this?
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I still had some shows to do and he works a lot on his job so getting moved was slower than expected. I needed a shop to work out of before I could even budge on getting to the new house. We found a company and had me a 12x32 studio with a big loft built and delivered. I had a ton of custom work to get done in time for Christmas. I got all of my tools and everything moved and was able to work in the shop by running extension cords. My studio had no wiring and no insulation so I really couldn't organize anything. I was able to get all of my orders completed somehow among the mess. Winter hit and I was trying to get inventory built up for my shows.
Fast forward one year & we finally got all the wiring done & all the insulation put up and most of the plywood put on the walls & ceiling. My shows are about over now and I'm just now starting to get things organized. I put up an 8ft shelf above my scroll saws (space that wouldn't get used) that holds all of my wood blanks and backings added another shelf unit behind my dust collector (more space that doesn't get used) that hold all of my paints & stains & dyes. I'm currently working on mounting 2 4x8 ft pieces of pegboard to hold the millions of little things that are scattered everywhere. I then plan to build a bunch of clamp racks to get the clamps off of all the surfaces. I have a hoist that needs mounted into the loft for the stuff I'm not strong enough to put up there by myself. I guess after I get that done I will just have to build more stuff to get organized. I'm so sick and tired of tripping over stuff or moving something & then stuff falls and hits me..........I have tools that I can't find the batteries to and stuff that has just vanished completely but I do remember moving it.
I have lots of stations that I don't even have set up because it's such a wreck. I'm cutting mats in the house and dragging things in my house to do because it's hard to work in my shop. I have mystery boxes I can't get to yet & have no clue what's in them (probably the missing batteries).
With each new thing I do in my shop it gives me some encouragement to continue on to the next. Slowly but surely it's starting to look better in there and becoming less of a hazard.
I never knew how much stuff I used for my business until I moved. (Next time I will just bolt everything down & pay someone with an 18 wheeler to move it). :)
The 12x32 studio sounds like a yardbarn i saw at a lot over next to a couple of trailer parks. I talked to the sales guy and they're built by a couple of Amish brothers in Southern indiana. The guys have a large barn they build these things in and ship them out on a flat bed trailer. They build on fixtures so in a way it's pre-fab construction. A lot of suburbanites by them and turn them into game rooms for their kids to get them out of the house. They are about $5K, which is a good price as they have a floored attic that you can stand up in, windows, a little front porch with an overhanging roof from the attic and rails around the porch. To get that delivered would mean taking down about a half dozen wooden fence panels and removing several 4x4s buried and anchored in concrete. Not a job I would look forward to =8-O
The first time I walked into it I thought it was pretty small compared to the 24x48 basement I had been working out of. However the disadvantages of the basement were (I was renting the house) I couldn't drill any holes to hang anything up at all. Everything was on lots of tables and in boxes. This was okay in the bigger space but a total nightmare in the smaller space. The basement never got below freezing & my shop now has to be slightly heated at night to keep it above freezing. The basement did seem to make things rust somewhat (even though it wasn't a wet space) but the shop now doesn't have that problem. Sometimes I do miss the bigger space but I honestly think if I get this 1 completely organized it will hold the same amount of stuff as the bigger 1 did. Simply because I can take advantage of every spot available when I couldn't do that before.
Day by day I come up with a new thing to build to get something else organized.
Now if I could just get the materials for the 200 frames (I still gotta make) off my track saw table so I could get some of my sheet goods cut up........
>>I've decided cardboard boxes are a home version of black holes where things go in and never come out. If I see it, I can remember what's there and I don't have to buy another one to replace it.<<
I have my own version of that.... out of sight out of mind. My studio, which is actually our fourth bedrooom and smallest at that, has ongoing problems of clutter. I tend to take things out and not put them back or never find a home for supplies, purchases, etc. I get frustrated and lose some creativity due to the frustration.
Right now I am in the middle of decluttering several areas at home, my studio included. At least now we can see the floor. The housekeeper was actually able to mop last Friday. My goal is to have the horizontal surfaces clear so she can dust.
I am boxing up stuff that I have shuffled around for at least three years. This is primarily paper & embellishments for scrapbooking and card making. I still do that but I have begun to realize there are some things I will never use.
I think the clutter problem is an ongoing issue for me. My grandma told me recently my dad, a hobbyist wookworker, kept his area very straight and organized. While my mom was the opposite. Guess who I took after? LOL
I want to clarify that my mom's cluttered look was confined to her art work, not her whole house! LOL Other than her art work she was very much organized.
2014 was supposed to be my year of organization. I failed! I was able to organize some stuff but I have lots more to do. I wasted a lot of time this summer when I came down with Shingles. I put in a lot of time on my couch. I keep pitching things. Slow and sure is better than nothing.
Mine hurt like all get out! I say it was like having a surgery with no anesthetic. I am not sure the vaccine would help you now. My son is a medical doctor and he told me not to get the shot now. But I hear you can get another attack of it once you get Shingles. My husband got the shot when he saw me writhing in pain. It cost $225.00. Not cheap but worth it.
Most of my clutter is in plastic boxes - cut leather parts for when I get to it. The real mess is stuff that needs to be filed - articles for reference, patterns, etc. stuff Jean said she would take care of but which gets deeper all the time. Real clutter was all of the cardboard boxes and packing materials from stuff coming in - saddles for restoration, new sewing machine and general supplies. I spent one evening putting styrofoam blocks and bubble wrap into two garbage bags, saving the big boxes and cutting up the small ones to be burned when it gets colder. There is still lots of cardboard elsewhere to be cut up but the other stuff went down to the barn for storage. A lot of cardboard sheets get saved for oiling and dying on bench tops, then it gets burned. The other clutter are big boxes with antique saddles and parts in them - mine and clients to be completed. The only way to handle that is to get the work done and out of here. Only problem is there are more coming in all of the time. Every now and then I go on a clean up binge and things get better.
I think that is the most important part: getting things done! I discovered an entire box of shirts cut out ready for putting together. Another entire plastic bin of ribbon shirt material uncut. Another bin holds shawl blanks while another holds shawl fringe. It is the same in the studio...beads, beads everywhere. Just have to use them! Like you, I need to NOT bring in more things. My goal this winter is to clear some of these bins out. I just bought a beautiful embroidery/sewing machine and hope to learn it well enough to clear some of these projects away and sell them next summer. It would be nice to actually feel like I have accomplished something instead of throwing or giving away things I purchased. Money guilt big time. But, I think we all hate to throw/give things away that we "might" use. It is our creative natures.
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