A Peek Inside the Studio

This is my work space in the basement. It's a wonder I get anything done most days. The moral of the story is, when you combine several hobbies, you end up with a lot of "stuff."

My husband bought me the bronze desktop Ott light for my birthday from Lowe's and I love it!! He also changed out the bulbs overhead to natural daylight bulbs, and it made all the difference since I don't have any windows. Reference books and magazines are on the shelves along with small tubs of yarns and fibers. On the lower shelves I have packaging materials like gift boxes and organza bags.

The metal flat files hold all my rubber stamps and stamp pads. Some decorative papers are on top along with an ipod docking station for some background music. The antique buffet to the left was bought at a yard sale and is filled with more art supplies like paints, chemicals, undecorated cigar boxes, wooden shrines, etc.

The countertop was being tossed at work and my very handy husband made the legs for me to use it in my workspace and contain most of my Iris carts. Most of my collage & paper arts stuff is on this side, including glues and tape, embossing powders, charms, Sharpies, unmounted stamps, tags, paper punches, handmade books, paint brushes, scissors and lots of tools and gadgets.

Our art cat Tucker (seated in my chair) is my design assistant. He likes to walk across any pending projects and lay on them if at all possible. And steal my chair when I turn my back. He always likes to hang out with me in the studio.

This is just a close up view of my work table, where I attempt to keep at least some of the space clear. Not much space obviously. I need to figure out a better way to keep up with my pliers, as my current system is not working. And what did we do before ziplock bags were invented?

Thanks for looking!

First Etsy Shop Listing

I finally did it! I posted my first item to my etsy store front. Hopefully this will be the first of many. Now that I have everything set up and my policies listed, I hope it will go a little faster for the next listings! I really had fun taking pictures of these earrings. Love combining photography with my art!

Have a look.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13433448

It's an Obsession!

My name is Kim...and I hoard art supplies.

I am sure I am not the only one who is guilty of this. Case in point, the materials shown here, that I felt I MUST HAVE IMMEDIATELY after taking a 6 week metalsmithing class at a local university and taking Don Norris' silversmithing class.

Looking carefully at the bench pin you will see that it has no saw marks on it. It is untouched. My grinder has never been plugged in. The sheet of copper still in the package from the day the big Rio Grande box arrived. And I was so excited that day!

What happened to my momentum? I guess if I could order that online, I'd have that too.

I must admit that I did use the letter punch set from Harbor Freight to put initials on my work keys so I can keep them straight. But I really don't think that counts.

This table is like a shrine to projects not yet begun. And it's rather embarrasing.

In the paper recently there was a Speed Bump comic with a frenchy looking guy at a bistro that says "the trick is to be thought of as artistic, without having to create any actual art." I had to get out the scissors when I saw this. Too funny.

Okay, so now I need to get motivated. Clearly I have the supplies.

More Inspiration Please!

There's nothing like a bunch of new beads to inspire you to create! My husband and I went to Sedona, AZ last month for vacation. I was able to visit a couple small bead shops in Sedona and see some of the Native American jewelry set up on the side of road out in the desert on our way back from the Grand Canyon. However, the grand finale for me was when we drove to Phoenix to fly back home. I had long drooled over the ads for Beads Galore in the Bead Style magazine. They typically have a full page ad on the inside cover. I waited for this visit for many, many long months.

My husband asked how much time I needed at this store. I tried to be conservative and said "maybe an hour or so..." LOL! Luckilly there were shops nearby to keep him busy like REI. Thank goodness! I was so excited I was clapping my hands in the car when he pulled up to drop me off.

There was so much to see and the prices were really reasonable. After about an hour of digging through bins of loose beads, I realized I was still in the very front part of the store. My husband would surely die if he walked in after an hour and I had not made any progress! I tried to move quickly but did not want to miss anything. We don't have bead shops like this at home! I found some wonderful furnace glass and spent about 20 minutes trying to find pieces that matched for earrings. Eventually there were sections I could bypass, and I was 2/3 into the store when my husband showed up. Seed beads & plated findings were in the back of the store and I didn't need those, so I moved a little quicker. He hurried me along to the cashier where I received an unexpected discount. Leaving the store I realized I forgot to pick out some of the bronze and copper coated skeleton leaves. Those were a must! So I was back in line again. :)

Back at the hotel, I was happy to open my big bag of loot and reflect on my purchases. And our wonderful vacation of course!