Tag Archives: “studio organization”

Junker Chronicles, IV and Feng Shui for a Major Leak?!

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After

This under-the-staircase area was so crammed with crap that I could not enter it, Before Flood.  Now look at it!  My husband built me some shelves (AFTER insulating the space).  He only used wood that was on-hand.  Now, I have a place for my batting THAT I CAN GET TO, and a place to put fabric that I think my students will like, but that I don’t really want getting in my way.  As soon as I find a BEFORE picture, I’ll post that, too.

And perhaps somewhere in my studio, I should post the picture below, of the apartment of the Collyer brothers in New York who literally collected themselves to death:

Collyer Brothers mess

Infamous hoarders, indeed.  (THIS blog’s subtitle is “saving the world, one room at a time” — funny)

I like my cousin’s philosophy of circulating her finds (read her entertaining and visually beautiful blog here).

She thinks of herself as a ‘foster parent’ to finds rather than a collector.  I like it.

In the last three weeks I have:

  • Thrown out 10 to 12 huge bags of stuff from the studio (probably all worth saving to someone);
  • Filled two huge garbage cans with cardboard, frames, ruined boxes, etc.;
  • Given away 9 large garbage bags of fabric and sundry items to a ‘free on Craigslist’ responder (a sewing/crocheting mother of five, so THAT felt good & it meant I was able to throw in a couple pairs of boots and snow pants, too);
  • Added 26 new drawers to my workspace that allow a whole new level of organization — including THREE drawers for works-in-progress (these were buried here and there all over, largely forgotten);
  • Coralled all my rubber stamps into one area; and
  • Decided to leave sump pump well area empty — and will ‘dress’ it somehow soon — any suggestions?  It also happens to be the ‘Wealth Corner’ of my studio — eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks — could that be why I’m not making much money?!! and
  • Begun to bore myself on the topic, so the Garbage Picking Annals will not reach No. 5 anytime soon.

But, I’m serious about the Feng Shui request — What would YOU put in the wealth corner of a room that was seriously rendered negative by a sump pump well and drain pipe being located in it?  This isn’t even SYMBOLIC of draining — it IS draining!

The Chronicles of a Garbage-Picking Crafter, I

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Today I begin a new series of posts about scavenging.

I hope these tips will be of value to all of my creative readers (and not just to those ‘on a budget’ as we like to euphemistically say). You could call these ideas ‘green’ and in keeping with some of the sustainability principles cropping up in Slow Cloth* and other environmentally-conscious circles. Or, you could call them the habits of the perpetual garbage picker…

In any case, during yet another session in the orthodontist’s office, I skimmed the latest Newsweek’s article about the ‘new rules of management’. These new rules are posited by the founders of “37signals” (read the founders’ blog here), and have fired me up to find ways to give away what I know.

But, first, you want to know what some of their precepts are?   Here are a few:

  • Avoid workaholics;
  • Hire the better writer;
  • You need less than you think;
  • Drug dealers are onto something, and
  • Emulate Chefs.

I am inspired by the last three, in particular. The idea of giving stuff away has been part of the internet business model since it was created (see, Lawrence Lessig’s book, “Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy“).  (So has theft and piracy, but that’s another discussion).  Nevertheless, I am inspired to find a way to give away what I know and to give away fabric, too (more on that down the road).  That’s the “drug dealers are onto something” tenet, which is to say, create something addictive and make people come back for more. “Emulate Chefs” is an important corollary to that rule and it posits the idea that great chefs give everything away and so should you.

What a lot of blather just to say — recycled clementine boxes make great fabric storage bins!!

They are a perfect size for what I like to call, “precious bits”. One can keep a crate near the ironing board as a quilt is being constructed and let the small chips of fabric that MANY would throw out but which could be useful down the road, land into the crate.  You’d be surprised (or perhaps, not) how many projects employ teeny scraps of fabric (see some of the Village quilts on my website, as an example). Look at how many of the fabric swatches in this quilt-turned-pillow cover are about the size of a postage stamp —

These crates can be stacked vertically like Lincoln logs, making good use of vertical space and preserving work surfaces.

People in my community throw these boxes out with remarkable consistency, making for easy picking (of course my city’s new restrictive garbage policies are bound to cramp my style in this regard — BOO!!)

And as if all those virtues weren’t enough, the blue and orange labels are cheery, and who doesn’t like glancing up at the word “DARLING” now and then?!!

*  if you are interested in Slow Cloth, visit Jude Hill’s site, Elaine Lipson’s blog, or Glennis Dolce’s site.  If you’re on Facebook, there is now a page devoted to Slow Cloth.