When there’s no room to work in the studio except around the torch, it’s time to do some cleaning! With the Good Mews Spring Flea Market coming up, it’s easy to get motivated because there’s a good place to take the useful-but-no-longer-wanted crap. So far there have been four boxes of stuff (not huge ones, but decent sized) excavated and removed, and a second giant garbage bag full of true trash is almost full. Along the way, I discovered a few things:
- the missing box of craft wire, hidden behind some other stuff.
- three half-finished blank books, needing just to be stitched.
- a whole bunch of foam brushes, separated from the rest of the brush herd.
I also observed a few things:
- It is quite possible to have more shoeboxes than one needs for storage.
- Watchmaker tins are cute, but they really do suck for storing jump rings.
- Paints do dry out after twenty years, even well sealed up.
- One person’s ephemera is another person’s trash.
- One person’s perfect storage system is another person’s storage nightmare.
- The average lifespan of a gel pen is something less than five years, even if unused.
- Worktables are much easier to work on when not covered with ten layers of crap.
Finally, I confirmed that a good labelmaker is your best friend when you’re trying to organize a studio!