My Studio is…Blog it!

My Studio is… Blog It! subject for Flaming Hot! this week…  

My Studio is the garage…nothing special…but well equipped. Along one wall of our garage, mingling with all the other things that go in a garage is our torching area. Nothing glamorous at all. I know I have had people who buy our beads who are coming to the Oregon Coast ask if we had an open studio?  That they would love to see us work and view available work. I wish we had a set up like that. But like many bead makers, Dan and I work out of our home. Drive by…you would never know that production of glass beads happens here.

My Mess…I did clean mine up just the other day…so its not near as bad as Dan’s

 Dan’s Mess…

We have two torches (one for each of us, and actually one spare put away) 4 oxygen concentrators that help fuel our torches.  Two kilns (our first is almost six years old, so we bought a spare…so we wouldn’t be without if we have a breakdown)  and lots, and lots of glass and tools.  Mostly Moretti/Effetre…but also Vetrofond, Lauscha, Messy CIM…and Uroboros…along with some Bullseye and Boro boxed here and there….our wooden storage racks are full of the Moretti/Effetre line…below those are Vetrofond and CIM stacked side by side…and behind them, you can‘t see in the photo are full length rods of some hard to gets…socked away cuz I love them so. I have lots of brass presses thanks to Cattwalk tools…and many other tools…silver foil, mesh, frits and other “stuff” . It really is a well equipped studio. Just very grungy and nothing cool looking about it. Some of our glass we have some in boxes…so it won’t blend and mix with the others because its a different COE.  Since we use mostly Moretti/Effetre and Vetrofond and Messy CIM…its what is in the racks and the next shelf down.  All other is boxed safely away…to pull out when we have a clean area so it won’t mix with the other glass.

Someday soon I would love to get our new pole building built, a place to put all the other garage stuff…then we can finish of a good share of the existing garage and create a finished studio.  For now…I have to imagine being somewhere else…as the atmosphere of my work area does nothing to stimulate what I create.

Now for my office, which in part is part of my “work at home” home business thing…I do have a pretty good set up…a whole room to store all my “stuff” Stuff being jewelry making supplies that I started collecting 13 years ago…Books, a desk…computers…my shipping area etc. It could be nicer…but it works for me.

 

As you can see its really cluttered and crowded, but I do have a room that is just for business, which is nice.

Someday we hope to build a real studio, before Dan can retire…if we are going to spend even more time in it making beads each day…I will want my Studio and work space to nurture my creative side…be warmer in winter, cooler in summer. Yup…someday soon. For now…the garage is home of koregonbeads.  Not one thing awesome about the workspace besides being well stocked in what I need to create beads with.  No shortage of glass or supplies.  I keep trying to explain to Dan that a “nice studio” would really help moral and production….someday….someday I will have a nice cozy Studio.  I always win.