Welcome to the Earthy By Design Studio!  

Come on in, don't be shy!  I'm happy you stopped by today.  I always have time to take a break and show people around.

Unlike some of the photos I've seen of studio and workshop spaces , especially on Etsy. mine is not neat and uncluttered, but it is organized.

Even when I was a teacher, my desk was always messy with projects.  I could never understand how one can stay in the creative zone if they were always stopping to straighten things up.  But that's just me.

My studio space is our entire basement, which is quite large.  Right now I'm taking you through one room which is the main work area where I spend most of my time.

Organization is Key to a Functional Studio

 
Create an Organizational System that Works for You

My space is filled from floor to ceiling. Because I work in mixed media, my supplies are varied. So I keep like with like and label everything.  Even though there are probably thousands of items in here, I can easily put my finger on a particular supply when I need it

Here is where I keep all my embossing powders and metallic paints.  They fit nicely in this old shelf and I quickly find what color I am in need of.

Where my husband works they were throwing out these old wooden boxes. How could they!!!  So he rescued them and shared his bounty, some are in his workshop in the garage and some are with me.  

The wooden rack they are on is from the Wellness Center I used to operate, so it has found a new home.  The way this rack is made the shelves are adjustable, which is a great feature.  All my boxes are labeled and put with similar items.  Encaustic supplies together, Shoe People supplies together, well you get the idea.

Keep Frequently Used Items Close By  
Here is my work table with a tray of items I am currently working on.  I keep what I use the most on this table so it is within easy reach and I don't have to keep getting up  and down to find something I need.

Make Your Own Storage Solutions

I rarely buy anything new for storage, I use what I have laying around or buy something very cheaply at a thrift shop.

This is an example of using a cardboard box that I made dividers for to hold pens, plastic ware, markers, etc.  Not pretty but very functional, and of course cheap!

 This storage solution uses a frame from an old lamp shade.  I hang my stamps on this.  It sits on a lazy susan that rotates, making it easy to find what I want. 

 Most of the stamps here are flat cling stamps and chunky stamps.  There are other places I store my wooden stamps.

When doing mixed media and altered journals I use a lot of ink pads.  The most frequently used are at my desk but the extras fit nicely in one of these old cassette tape boxes.  The ink pads are about the same size, so it is a perfect fit.

Remember those old wire storage cubes? Well they are a great storage solution. I have created a lot of custom shelves with these.  

Form a cube, then add additional shelves to the size you need inside the cube.  I use zip strips to hold them together.  

The final result is very sturdy.  This shelf is at the end of a row, so I Can also hang stuff off the outside.  

You know you can't let a good space go to waste!

Here I am using the cubes as they were originally designed to be put together .

 I have stacked two together and use the small  grid  slots to hold rolls of paper, dowel rods, or anything long and thin.

Small rolls go to the front, longer rolls to the back.

 Another custom cube rack this holds my hammer collection, paints for glass, office supplies and rolls of wax paper, plastic wrap, etc.

Again, the ability to customize the size of the shelf you want makes it very space efficient.

More stamp storage, this holds my most frequently used wooden stamps, letter stamps and number stamps.

Stored in a metal tool box on a rolling stand, I was the lucky recipient from someone who was getting rid of this fabulous piece!

Another wooden stamp storage idea.  I used an old shelf for the stamps and it is hung on a small wall space.

I have used every nook and cranny in this shop area to put supplies.

As I keep saying, no space goes unused.
I have 4 doors in this room and all of them hold supplies.

Here I hung a rack over the door which holds chains and large rolls of copper.

Paint Station 1

Here using an old book case. I have stored my acrylics, special paints, gesso, and assorted supplies. 

Paint Station 2

More paints.  A swivel rack holds a lot of paint, organized by color.

To the left leaning against the knee wall is a handmade paint rack again using one of the grid cube pieces.

Behind this knee wall is my sink.  Supplies are stored on that side as well.

I have additional paint stations but won't bore you.

On the back of Paint Station 1, the old bookcase, I have hung an old shoe rack.
This works perfectly to store all by ribbons and twines.

I find these ice cube trays at the thrift store for pennies.  One use is to store my paint brushes. 

Keeps them in one place and easy to find the brush I'm looking for.

Another thrift store find, an old dishwasher basket.  I use this to store some tools that I only use once and a while. 

Easy to see what I have when I am looking.

Several bookcases and shelves lined the perimeter of the room.  Again all supplies are organized by use.

Here are my polymer clay supplies and reference books.

More shelving storage, which literally goes from floor to ceiling.

Here is my jewelry making supply section.

This is my room inside of a room, this back room space has another work bench, more shelves for storage and old metal lockers for guess what, more storage!

Back to the main room area, here is part of metal hardware station.

One of my favorite things to do is go to the junkyard with my husband to find old rusty metal parts to use in my art work.

More metal storage.  I got 2 cabinets from Habitat for Humanity and put them on the floor.  Old metal hardware, nails, and interesting metal pieces are housed here.

Of course I couldn't ignore the space on top of these cabinets, so they hold glazes, and specialty supplies, like liver of sulfur, stamp cleaner, rubbing alcohol, salt, instant coffee and anything else that doesn't fit nicely with other supplies.

My main work desk area.  I keep everything I use on a frequent basis within hands reach.

At the end of my work  table I have a great wooden storage drawer that fits nicely under the table.  This holds my most used supplies so it is always just an arms length away.

This is one of my prized thrift store finds, costing me a total of 99 cents.

Well I have lots more that I didn't show, but I have to get back to work!

Thanks for taking the time to visit with me.  I hope I have given you some ideas for storage solutions in your studio.

Now your turn, is there a storage idea you have that is clever, efficient and inexpensive?
I would love to hear what you do to solve your storage problems.

I am not photographer, and really don't have any interest in becoming one, but sometimes you have to do things you really have no interest in doing. 

Since I started doing art work I have come to realize that if your art is going to be shared with others beyond yourself then you have to find a way to convey it. 

I decided against  tramping all over the place, car loaded to the gills with artwork spilling out of every window and door, showing off my work to the unsuspecting public. Booking up every available space on my calendar to do art shows  isn't an appealing option either.  So after going down the list of ways one could  showcase their art,  I begrudgingly realized that I would have to, at a minimum learn some basics of taking photos that didn't stink, that weren't outrageously fuzzy and showed a fair amount of detail.

So I sat down and started watching YouTube videos in the hopes of finding the simple solution to easy picture taking using my old iPhone.  Did you ever start searching for something, and no matter where you look it's not the answer your seeking?  Well that is what happened.  Stuff was either too technical, involved using equipment I didn't want to invest in, or had promises of beautiful pictures that never materialized.

Early Attempts at Photographing Work
 It's obvious that I really didn't have a good handle on what to do- unclear, fuzzy, out of focus pictures.

Learning a Process
Well after much trial and error, and a little bit of swearing,  I have come up with a process that works for me.  Lets stop right there- I need to say I am a far cry, actually a really far cry,  from being any good, but I feel at least now I can get some acceptable photos for posting on Etsy to show my jewelry.

I use my old iPhone 4  to shoot the photos, which I guess is a dinosaur in technology terms.  I set my computer monitor to be a black screen, and then I place in front of it a plastic black office paper tray, turned upside down. On top of that I sit a clear plastic shoebox to which I have taped a sheet of black felt to the back, and lay a sheet of black cardstock on the front. 

Check Out My Awesome Photography Studio!

Ta Da!  Paper Tray, Shoebox, Photography Set-Up.  Am I making you jealous yet?

For lighting, I don't use anything special, just the regular old floor lamp that sits beside my desk.  It has 3 lights that can be positioned in any direction, so I usually turn the lights away from me.

Props!
Since my shop is called Earthy By Design, I wanted to create that earthy feeling around the pictures.  From all I have read, Etsy suggests a white background, with an uncluttered photo, but it just doesn't feel earthy to me, so I do my own thing.

From my trips to the beach over the past few years, I have amassed quite a collection of rocks, which I didn't know would end up being my main props for photographing jewelry. They provide just the feel I want to convey. A piece of burlap plus a few additional fabrics are on hand in case I don't have a rock large enough to use for the picture.

Total cost my photography studio- nothing, I had all these expensive supplies on hand, lucky me!

So Here Goes...
I first take a picture using my set up described above. I'll take several photos from several angles, using a variety of props.  For an Etsy shop listing you need 5 photos.
Once I find the 5 I want to use I'll crop them down in size. Below is an example of a pic I took of a pair of copper earrings. The next pic is that one cropped down.

The final step is to head over to picmonkey, a free online photo editing program.  I use this to clean up the background, remove anything that shouldn't be there and to make it really black.

Like I said, I'm not a photographer, and I still have so much to learn, but for now, this works for me.  I want to be spending more of my time doing art not than learning  photography,

Take a Peek
Here is my Etsy shop, I am proud of what I have been able to do as a fledging but I do hope to improve my skills in time and take better pictures.  If nothing else, I think I am on the right track.