A NEW SHELVING UNIT FOR THE STUDIO
A big clear-out
At the moment I am having a blitz on the studio and getting ruthless. I’ve got far too much stuff and it’s high time I went through everything and got rid of a lot of the excess. I’ll do another post about that, and in this post I’ll concentrate on something that is helping me with my reorganisation.
A new main work area
Ever since I set up the studio, I have had a main work area where I did most of my work, which mostly consisted of mixed media and generally messy stuff. I have a glass mat there, and places to keep materials that are in constant use while I’m working. These include acrylic gel media, brushes, rulers… all the usual stuff. The area is usually pretty chaotic and the work area is fairly small.
(This photo was taken a couple of years ago but it’s mostly the same at the moment.)
Over the far side of the room it’s mostly textiles, with the exception of the far right-hand corner which I designated my drawing area. The wall unit above was driving me crazy with everything stuffed onto the shelves, and if I wanted to work there, I would have to clear away the ironing pad and other stuff that had got dumped there.
New storage unit back in January
The area in front of the window had been increasingly taken up with storage boxes containing polywallets with all my collage papers, gel prints and other miscellaneous papers. I also had my smaller baskets there, with my card making things, and stamps and dies. The result was that that work surface was too cluttered with stuff to leave any room to do any actual work there.
What I needed was some way to store all those boxes and baskets vertically. I had to search for a long time to find anything that would fit in that particular area, until I found an adjustable microwave stand on Amazon, and bought that. It is perfect for the purpose, and being metal (strong enough to support a microwave), it is well up to the job of holding my heavy boxes.
This created a nice clear space to work.
Working away from the studio
For the whole of last year while I was following the DrawAwesome course online, I did most of my art work in the sitting room from the comfort of the recliner, so I could follow the teaching on the TV screen in the sitting room. At the beginning of this year, I started a series of Domestika courses. The latest two have been on calligraphy, and it was much easier working in the studio where I had access to the light panel.
A new drawing area
I needed more space than my old drawing area could provide, so I took advantage of the new cleared area under the window.
Plans to revamp the area
This got me thinking that it would be good to move all the drawing stuff over to this area, if I could find a suitable unit that would go in front of the window. There are loads of desktop “hutches” as they are called (I don’t think they’d be much good for rabbits though!). One of the great advantages of many of the modern ones is that they have a large open space which will take a computer monitor or laptop. This made me think that I could use one of my metal pegboard panels to fill the space. I used these pegboards in the old house, but since we moved over ten years ago, they have been stashed away as I had nowhere to use them in the new studio.
There are two metal panels, but in this case I would be able to use only one.
The new shelf unit
I found this on Amazon, and it took a while to come as it came from the USA.
Unboxing
This unit was incredibly easy to assemble, if a bit of a fiddle doing it on my own. Each part was clearly marked with a number, and the hardware was separated into individual packets marked A-D. The manual showed the order of assembly and what parts were needed for each stage and the pictures were clear. A far cry from the old MFI days when they always sent the wrong fittings, or not enough, and incomprehensible instructions!
The frame is metal, and the shelves are white painted MDF or possibly wood. At the final stage of assembly with the insertion of the strengthening bars, one has the choice of whether to have the shelves on the right or on the left. I chose to have them on the right, so I attached the strengthening bars at the back of the unit accordingly.
Here is the unit once I’d finished putting it together.
The unit is situ
Here is the unit, in place on the work surface. I have attached a pegboard panel with cable ties, and added all the drawing stuff from across the room.
I have designated this revamped area as my “clean” work area. The old main working area is now my “dirty” work area where I can splash about with acrylics and glue. The new area will have the light panel permanently installed (and covered when not in use, so I can put my cutting mat on top). I’ve decided to include watercolour painting and calligraphy in this area along with drawing.
This is how the new unit ties in with the microwave stand unit on the left.
I’ve left a bit of a gap on the left of the new unit so that I can more easily access the contents of the unit. You will also notice that I have tied some of my black metal grid panels onto this unit with cable ties. I can hook things onto this.
Blocking the light?
My hubby thought it was a bad idea to put the new unit complete with its peg board right in front of the window, as he thought it would block the light. I told him that trying to follow my Domestika course tutorials on the iPad was quite difficult with the light behind the screen, and that the new arrangement would help with this. There is still plenty of light coming in above the unit.
A work in progress
For the moment I’ve just stacked things up on the shelves (paints, drawing materials etc.) and put some of my original accessories onto the pegboard. As I do not require a lot of tools on it now, many of the accessories are redundant. I do not know exactly how it’s going to pan out in use just yet, but the advantage of pegboards is that they are so versatile, and I can move the accessories around as I please. Since taking these photos, I’ve put a few more on.
I am very pleased with how this has turned out, and how easy it was to assemble.
Once I’ve finished decluttering the rest of the studio and getting more organised, I am planning to do a full studio tour. There’s still a lot to do. I have several large boxes adding to the clutter, into which I am putting stuff I don’t want – paper waste, non-paper waste, back-of-church bring and buy table, charity shop. These boxes are filling up fast!
