Saturday, March 1, 2014

Clean-up, Fix-up Challenge

Sharyl of Sharyl's Jewelry had recently gone through what every serious artist must go (some more often, some less): having to clean the mess in her studio. Nobody likes to clean alone, so she had this brilliant idea of inviting everybody to join her in the 'Studio spring cleaning' (where 'spring' is a term loosely defined as 'the season that should follow winter and theoretically starts in about 3 weeks'... which term definitely doesn't apply to where I live, as we haven't seen the face of the driveway since November; currently it is fully covered by about 3"-4" of ice).

Hence this challenge / blog hop where we are supposed to clean our studio.

Now... this is something I've loathed for a while now and I've brought tools and projects downstairs as needed (on a project-by-project basis), piling everything up in the attic like this:

Clean-up, Fix-up Challenge ~ the messy studio :: All Pretty Things

Obviously I couldn't work in there - I couldn't even step properly! All I was doing is go in, search for what I need, and leave more mess on the floor, on the chairs, everywhere...

Last evening, after finishing everything else that had absolutely had to be done, around 10:00 pm I decided to tackle at least some areas, went up, took the picture above and proceeded to put things in their places.

It's far from perfect, but an hour and a half later I obtained this:

Clean-up, Fix-up Challenge ~ the not-so-messy-anymore studio :: All Pretty Things

At least now I have some place to put my foot :) The next steps (I wish Sharyl will keep this going for a month or so) are:

  • try to get all the supplies organized - this is going to be something to tackle... 
  • get that desk out and put in my proper table: hubby got it for my birthday last year, maybe this year we'll manage to install it (it's the lovely Harbor Freight Tools solid wood table!)
  • put some shelves on the walls, for more space to mess up :) 

I am really happy I cleaned the face of the studio a little bit, now I have to kick myself to continue (and to finish all the unfinished projects I just found in the process!)

To see how everybody else cleaned their own studios, please visit our lovely host for a complete list of participants:

Sharyl's Jewelry ~ Clean-up, Fix-up challenge: the participants

Update ~ March 1st, 10:00 pm: I actually managed to get step 1 above *done*! It is a miracle, because in the process I cleaned up a quarter of the attic too (where packaging supplies were scattered all over) and I now have all my packaging supplies all in one lovely place.

The downside? I don't have as many beads as I thought I have :) Or I managed to use part of my stash in the past few months. I also found a mini-project my mom sent me so I'll have to get to that in the near future.

6 comments:

  1. It is very much a process, but it helps to find out I am not alone. Great progress!

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  2. I agree Alicia! We need to continue this for a month. All my surfaces got cleaned up but I still have some piles that need to be organized. And I need to fix an area for photos and one for mailing. Hope Sharyl is listening and will do a followup in a month or so.

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  3. It is kind of a never ending process isn't it? Every bit helps!

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  4. It is never-ending. My studio looks pretty good . . . for now. But I still have to get all that inventory into my software program. That's a project that has been brewing for years now. And I need to go through my old designs, take them apart and put the beads where they go back into inventory so I can actually use them. Yeah . . . that will be the day. :) We just have to keep encouraging each other.

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  5. I'm listening, but it would be rather ironic for me to become "Queen of Clean!" ha! I'll think about it though! ;-) Maybe small reminders several times a year with an annual cleanup? Thanks to you all for being such good sports about this and supporting my cleaning process! Alicia, I think you did a great job and worked quickly to make such a great difference! You mention your harbor freight work bench. I have one too and luckily my guys put it together for me last year. Have a magnifying light that attaches to a bench too though and it's been sitting for a year. Keep moving the box! ha! One more thing to do!....

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  6. It`s been real good fun visiting everyone`s blog and I`m really in awe of all the effort each and everyone has taken . Your space too is lovely and I like the feeling of open space you have because of that lovely work table !

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