Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Studio revamp

I'm currently applying for a job as a production potter.  It's pay by the piece, and she's currently wanting 100-200 pieces per week.  If I get this, it will be a fabulous job for me.

But my studio was needing a major overhaul because built for efficiency it was not.  It also needed a major spring cleaning.  It's a shed, it gets gross over time.  So I finally got around to it and did the overhaul!


These are the shelves behind my door.  They used to be covered in random crap but I threw all of that out.

1)  A hand held bug zapper.  Like I said, it's a shed, and it's fly season.
2)  Small shelves for random personal items.  I've got some incense, safety goggles, duct tape, stuff like that.
3)  These shelves will be set aside for only the production pottery.  The pieces are 4.5 inches tall so I changed each shelf to a height of 7 inches.  I think these shelves will hold about 150 of the items.
4)  My MIL gave me this house coat which is a little too small for me.  It's now going to be my pottery overalls type of thing.
5)  Went to McLendons and got legs for the shelves so I could raise them up.  Shelves on the floor never get used and this way I have storage underneath.
6)  Recycled clay that's ready to use.
7)  Bucket/extra seat.  I keep kiln wash in the bucket.


General work table.
1)  Buster bed.  
2)  Bug repeller thingy.  It's a shed, I don't like bugs, I'm doing my best.
3)  Heat lamp.  Our geckos died so we had an extra heat lamp lieing around.
4)  Recycling/drying center.  Scraps that need to be dried go on the black wire shelves.  The pan under the shelves catches whatever falls through and is where I reconstitute and mix the scraps.  The white things are plaster molds that I use as drying bowls for the reconstituted clay.  They sit on a wire frame of a table so they can dry from all sides.

Clay storage under the table.  Put most of the clay on a dolly so I can easily just pull it out rather than wrestling under the table.
Peg board of stuff I actually use.  Plastic bags, random tools, big spoons for mixing the clay, extruder.  Peg board, it's a wonderful thing!


Finally have a place to keep the few stamps I do use!
 
Moved the other set of metal shelves near my wedging table because they used to be half buried, tucked behind the table.

1)  Plastic bags that have been used or torn.
2)  Water storage.  I don't have a sink so I have to bring out bottles of water.  Empties on the left, full on the right.
3)  Odd clays.  These are special clays that I have set aside for some reason.  You're seeing some bags of blue clay, purple clay, and some of natural colors that I've marbled together for inlay.
4)  Random crap that I need to have available but don't use very often like a face mask and some stamps.








1)  I finally have REAL shelves for drying and storing my work!
2)  Wedging table

I'll store the clay from my potential new job under here to keep it separate from the clay that I buy.  I don't want to lose track of what my boss provides for me, I want to be sure to only use her clay for her products.


1)  These shelves used to be where the number 2 thingy is.  Buster would plop on top and grab at my hair while I throw.  But I'm not allowed to touch him much for the time being (he carries a bacteria that you're supposed to keep away from when pregnant and we're trying to get pregnant again) so hopefully moving this will encourage him not to touch me.
2)  I broke down the wimpy boards I was using for shelves and turned them into ware boards and set them up at a good height for transferring stuff from the wheel to them.  Easy to grab the board and toss it into the number 1 shelves, and they also fit into the production product shelves.
3)  My wheel!  And all the crap I need to be able to grab right away.


1)  Yes I watch tv while I throw.  Stuff is just cooler when you've got Dr. Who on screen while you're making it.
2)  Stamps and stuff that I hardly ever use.
3)  Slop bucket.
4)  Bucket for stuff that's throwable and doesn't need to go through the whole recycling process.  Like pots that didn't work that just needs a little bit of wedging.
5)  Art cart that my mom got for me.  It holds bats, has 3 little drawers for that stuff I need all the time, and it's on wheels.  Each of the 4 sides has storage so it's kind of the all in one cart.

And that's what my studio looks like now!