Thursday, December 2, 2010

Two Studios are Better than One!

Ceramics Studio
Two studios are better than one! I'm actually surprised at myself for getting this far. It took me so many years to get my ceramics studio up and running. I guess you could say years of procrastination, fear, and saving the money to get my kiln hooked up and repaired. It's hard to save a lot of money when you're just getting started in the world and not paid a large salary. Slowly I saved and accumulated materials to fill up my space. Small purchases and "trash to treasure" items over time, has led me to quite the inventory! And now that I have a small supply of mirrors, tiles, and peppers, it is high time I get this stuff out to the public.

Storage and Finishing Studio
After making my first sale on Etsy last month (Hooray!) I realized I have no place to pack and store my work. Well, it turns out we have this neat little space in our utility room that was hidden underneath mounds of wires, broken computers, computer parts, stereo parts, empty boxes, wires and... did I mention wires? Apparently it was a storage room for my husband's "projects in progress" and most recently, "projects on hold". And because I have such a love for projects, I decided to take over a part of the room. The idea of organizing this mess for my own benefit was very appealing to me and I think it was completed in three days. I wish I had taken a "before" photograph because it's hard to imagine the transformation now.  And although I am still sharing a good portion of the room with tools and trophies, it feels good to have a place to finalize and store my pieces.

The best part of this takeover, as strange as this may sound, was taking those old computers - SIX of them! to the recycling center. It saddens me to see people leaving out electronics for the trash each week. And saddens me even more that the workers will take them to the dump. There are harmful heavy metals in old electronics, and they should be disposed of properly. Next stop: Metal Recycling!