Organizing Art Supplies

[Frances Finley]

Hi everyone,

I recently got my dream of being able to have a house with a studio for making art. Now that most of my unpacking and winterizing is done, I am left with the challenge of organizing all my paints, papers, beads, bric-a-brac and stumped as to how to start.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Frances

[Lizard (aka, Butthead)]

Well, that is a tough one for me right now as I am trying to figure out how to organize my own stuff! For now I have things in clear plastic bins that I can tote around as I like! I have markers in one, pencils and charcoal and graphites in one, paint and ink pencils and pastels in another, and a big bin with my reference books like anatomy and plants and stuff! I don't really do crafts, so I am not in that boat, I do wood work when I can, it is not often enough though, I like to carve, scroll saw, lathe and make furniture! Since I moved here 5 years ago, I have not set up a shop like at the previous few places we lived! Maybe I would have a bed frame if I had it set up?

I don't know what your area looks like, are there built in counters and cabinets, or is it just open space?

Here are some things I have learned from Ariane (she is a professional organizer and a member of this site, you should check her page out, she has given me some good ideas to think about!). First think about what you do the most, are you a visual person? Or do you like things tucked away?

If I am doing art I like to have anything I need within my reach so I do not have to go hunt for it, otherwise I lose my thought or idea in my head! If there is room, you could set up a few different work areas so that stuff does not get mixed up!

[Frances Finley]

Thanks for the ideas. I don't know if I am visual. I have Non-Verbal Learning Disorder so I am limited in spatial intelligence (I don't see pictures mentally or judge space, expressions well).

That said, like you, I find value in being able to see my stuff. I mounted a 5 ft. wire shelf vertically and have hung shower caddies and big clips. Putting some labels on the caddies would help. The adage if 'something is out of sight it's out of mind' applies to me!

[Lizard (aka, Butthead)]

That is called an OOSOOM according to an organizing book I read for ADHD folks - out of site, out of mind!! You sound like a visual person to me!

[Gary]

I can SO relate about the wood working. I do both wood and metal working when I can and in the past few years that's been never because the garage is full of other stuff that gets in the way.

I found a book called "It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys" by Marilyn Paul and she suggests having a bowl by the front door where your pocket stuff goes (keys, wallet, etc.). When you come in you empty your pockets. When you leave you fill them. I remembered seeing a little wicker basket in the garage somewhere. I found it and now it lives beside my door. Occasionally I have to clean out the old bills and other junk that accumulates there but my keys, wallet and cell phone live their pretty religiously except during winter when they tend to live in my coat pocket.

I really need to do the same kind of thing with my tools so that I know what I have and where they are. I also need to figure out where the tools need to go so that they are convenient when I'm working and I don't forget what I'm doing during the 10 minute search for something. I've figured out much of that for the metal working because, unlike wood, there's a definite time limit -- you literally have to strike while the iron is hot!

Separate work areas are a great idea and that kind of evolves naturally with wood and metal. Wood shavings + sparks = bad.

[NerdyMommy]

Lizard had alot of great suggestions... the only thing I can add is to pick one thing at a time to work on. Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to do it all... and don't spend too much time on it either - set a timer if you need to. Decide, ok, I'm going to organize my paints today. And then ONLY do your paints. Also, leave room for flexibility... you may find as you get settled into your room, and start using it, that things aren't where you really need them to be... so try to keep things as flexible and movable as possible, at least until you're settled in :)

BTW, I'm SO envious of you!!! Having a studio room is a dream of mine too... enjoy it!

[Frances Finley]

Thanks Nerdy Mommy:)

I believe all feelings are holy; maybe your envy is trying to tell you something. I was a single mom, poor, living hand to mouth and hopeless for much of my life - it's not like I had a lot of easy money to make this happen. Just a driving need, and it seemed a better option than a long term residence in a psych hospital!

I'll leave you with a memory that inspires me. I saw one of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood speak at a local college a couple of years ago. She mentioned how often she's asked to estimate how many Canadians are artists. Her reply is no-one could measure that because we don't name our occupations as 'artist' or 'writer' when we file our income tax: we name our occupation as waitress, secretary, painter, etc.

[NerdyMommy]

Frances thank you... that's incredibly inspiring to me. And so very very true. I was just thinking yesterday of how much I would love to be able to be an artist... just an artist, make my living doing all things creative. But really, just because I have a full time day job, that doesn't mean I'm not an artist, nor does it mean that I can't find my creative outlets. You really are an inspiration to me, that better things can come my way.

[Gary]

Figure out the categories that make sense to you. Don't think in terms of "I'm visual/not visual" or "I'm spatially challenged." Just figure out what makes sense to you even if it makes no sense to anyone else.

Remember the Lucy Show when she'd file things in weird places that her boss could never figure out? "The Anderson account is filed under B becase Mr. Anderson is bald." It was supposed to be funny because that's not how you do things but it made sense to her and she could find things quickly.

Most blacksmiths have their hammers in serveral racks: ball peen, cross peen, sledge... Each rack is in order of size. For me, when I need a different hammer it's most often because the one I have in hand is either too heavy or too light. It doesn't matter whether it's a ball peen hammer, a cross peen hammer or a sledge. The weight is most important to me and then I'll pick the right style of hammer from the area of the rack with the right weights. That's how I rack my hammers: In order by weight with the various styles whereever they end up.

That's also how I handle the problem of one thing fitting into different categories. My categories are "functional" rather than "descriptive." Not "hammer, ball peen, 12 ounce" but "heavyish hammer and, oh yeah, so I can peen over a rivet."

On the computer, my writing projects are stored in two folders: Fiction and Non-fiction. So far so normal. But the current murder novel is stored under Fiction/Trinity because that's the name of the major character who eventually will be in several crime novels. My Near Space SF series is under Venus because that's where the first story takes place and one of the stories from that series is under "Young Adult" because that's the intended audience. Confusing to others? Maybe. Clear to me? You betcha!

I also have "Stuff" folders where I put ideas for future stories, fragments of cool scenes I'm not using at the moment, articles that are great for a current story but won't be useful a year from now and so on. In other words, the computer equivalent of that kitchen drawer where all the miscellaneous stuff ends up. I sometimes move things from there to a more organised place. More often I decide I don't need them and throw them out. For me, allowing a little chaos is important because I know that I can just throw something in there and then decide where it belongs later rather than getting all anxious because something isn't put away properly.

Don't get caught in the trap of assuming that one type of storage is best for everything. If you have beads or embroidery thread you may want some clear bins so you can store each type or colour separately. For felt scraps you may just want a box so you can rummage through the pieces and pick the one that calls to you. Put boxes and bins on book shelves if that is useful to you. If you hate getting out of your chair to search for something then make sure the storage is low enough that you can reach it from your chair. If you can't fit enough storage around your work area then get a chair with wheels so you can scoot over to more storage.

Our brains don't work normally so normal solutions are less useful. It's amazing what we come up with when we finally stop trying to file our books in Dewey Decimal and start putting the Star Trek: Next Generation novels under B because Picard is bald!

[Frances Finley]

Thanks for the support! Keeping things in a system that makes sense to me is a good priority to keep in mind.

I have finished organizing the studio to a point that I can work and find most of my materials easily. What I did to keep motivated was relying on my trusty baking timer. On good days when my energy was high I would set the timer for 45 minutes of working time followed by a 15 minute break. On crappy days when I felt like a slug I'd set it for 15 minutes of work time, and 15 minutes of writing time. Oddly, I got a lot accomplished using the second method!

In the last couple of days, I realized part of the difficulty I had with motivating myself had to do with all the associations built up around my boxes of art supplies. Three years ago, I had initially organized my first studio space in my Calgary house with the help of my oldest daughter. This kept both of us busy instead of focusing on our problems: her recent suicide attempt, and my hopelessness over many situations (Miranda's suicide attempt, the political atmosphere of corruption and overbusyness at work, my husband's sex addiction, my growing depression). No sooner had I finished organizing the space than greater upheavals occured in my life: being promoted, moving back to my home town, and having my mother die.

In the new/old house I moved to I had no space to live, let alone set up a studio. it was a time of facing up to death in many ways: the death of my mother, my career identity, my mother, etc. The realization that I had no where to unpack my studio materials concurred with the realization the truest part of me would never be acceptable to my husband.

I had packed up all my studio materials, clothes, household goods last year in the winter as I went through therapy to deal with the growing awareness that I would very likely need to plan to leave my marriage and move. It was very difficulty to live in that liminal place of preparing for the worst (having to move quickly) while still working on the last shred of hope in my marriage to see if anything could be saved. While I moved these materials a lot over the last 8 months from one storage spot to another, it wasn't until I started organizing them that I faced those feelings again. I know I am not 'finished' with this emotional process, but it's helped to understand my motivational issues better.

[Gary]

Frances, you rock! Life hasn't been the best but you keep moving forward.

It's really hard when you associate something harmless or interesting with something bad. At least you know that it's there. It gets really tough when doing something fun makes you feel anxious and you don't know why.

The timer thing doesn't surprise me. In computer multi-tasking each task gets a slice of time, then the next task runs and so on. If the time slice is too short then a lot of time is wasted switching back and forth. But if it's too long then only one task gets done and nobody else gets a turn. The size of time slice that gets the maximum amount of work done changes with the work load but it sounds like you've discovered the same principle. It might be worth experimenting to see how much time you can work on each project to get the most done.

[Amy B. Wallace]

Dear Frances - Like Lizard, I use clear plastic boxes. I am a stained glass and mosaic artist. Therefore, I am not mobile in the least. I keep my big sheets of glass in an old bookcase turned sideways; my medium sized glass in old fruit crates and the rest of my supplies, including small pieces of glass, solder, patinas, you-name-it - in clear plastic boxes that I label with big black lettering on white paper and then tape it to the box. I make certain (well, I TRY) to put things back in the box they belong in so I can find it next time. However, I must admit, I still spend a lot of time hunting for things I know are close by. My theory is that ADDers need to see their "stuff" so the clear boxes organize yet let you see your possessions at the same time. Amy Wallace

[designergrl]

jars, lots of jars, use what's in them, clean them and re-use them, boxes,chinese food cartons....re-use what you have, shoe boxes.one can alwasy paint them to look nifty.

I love organizinf my supplies, but then I don't want to mess it all up..and as free-lace artist, that won't pay the bills.So i take pics of what it looked like Before...lol..to remind myslef it can be that way again.

Have fun,

Brandy


www.723.com/designergrl