My Studio / Workshop

Setting up a studio or workshop is as exciting as building or decorating a new house! Your workspace can be as luxurious as a room or a studio on its own, to a little corner set up with shelves and all your equipment. If you have space, a couch is a welcome addition to sit and ponder over a cup of tea what your next move is going to be!

To practice your art, the right ambiance goes a long way towards sparking creativity and, of course, lighting is of the utmost importance. Besides over-head fluorescent lighting, I have a vintage lamp at my work-spot to give extra light. Hooks on the front of the shelves offers easy hanging space for my most used supplies and tools.

I'm a great one for scouring second-hand shops and painting and fixing up something I think will be useful in my workshop. Lumber yards are great for finding old shelving boards and second-hand shops offer great bargains in the form of sets of drawers or cupboards for storage. The small green set of drawers in the right of the picture above is a vintage cardboard, covered with leather, office item I found in an antique shop.

Apart from shelving, peg-board and polystyrene sheets offers great space saving features where you can utilise a wall to hang all sorts of odds and ends like pliers, cutters, rolls of wire, pendant chains and leather strips and finished pendants and earrings waiting to be packed or displayed. Hooks inserted into the front of the shelves also offers a great space to keep supplies handy.

A large workspace is a must for a vast array of tools! Of course you don't have to spend a vast amount of money to buy one - find an old door at the lumber yard and placed upon builders' trestles it makes an excellentl table for very little money.

I converted our under-utilised study for my workshop. It is not huge, 4m long by 2m wide and is fitted with built-in concrete tops at table height stretching from wall to wall, giving me enough space to hold all my necessities. There was even some space for a couch or stationery cabinet (the stationery cupboard won the toss-up!)

I love using office sundries like letter trays, desk tidies, baskets and plastic containers like ice cream tubs for storing my most-used tools and most households have these items tucked away somewhere. Even old tea trays can be utilised and glass jars are the staple bead and findings holders. You can easily see at a glance when you're looking for something to use in your next creation. Scouring hardware stores for tool caddies is also something I enjoy, men know exactly how to organise all their tools! The black plastic little toolbox on the shelf has 15 little pull-out drawers, ideal for storing earring hooks, brooch pins and other small items.

Thank you for viewing my work-space and I would love to hear about your studio or workshop!

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