Artist name: Marla Frankenberg
Location: Pennsylvania
Website: I use Flickr for now, eventually I’ll have a website at MarlaFrankenberg.com
Do you have a dedicated studio/artistic space? Yes.
Where is it located? It’s a bedroom on the second floor of our house.
Is it a large or small space? To me, it’s enormous. I’m used to working in a much smaller space.
What medium(s) do you work in? I make polymer clay jewelry, & I use silver findings.
Do you have a separate area for each? It all sort of overlaps. I do have a desk where I do most of the clay stuff, & I have a separate table for my pasta machine, with room to lay out colors, which makes it easier to see what I’m doing. The wooden stool under the pasta machine table has a placemat taped to it. I use that, with a rubber mallet (from the dollar store), to pound obstinate clay into submission.
What one word would you use to describe your studio? Repurposed!
My clay table is a Freecycled computer desk. My pasta machine table is a section of an old office desk with Ikea legs attached. I have a really ugly & wonderful enormous table, perfect for laying out large sheets of clay, which was another Freecycle.
What do you think is the best feature of your studio? It gets a lot of light during the day. I don’t have any shades or curtains in there — it’s great!
What would you change if you could? I could definitely use more outlets than the two currently in the room, but that’s typical for an old house. And I could do without the carpeting.
Can you share an organizational tip? Labels! My label maker is really handy. I try to keep things sorted in containers, & I need to label them, even if the containers are see-through. I try to keep tools & supplies sorted according to how they’re used, so I can pick up one container that has what I need. I use a lot of boxes, & I’ve pared down my tool box to just the tools I use the most, & that’s been consistently small. The other tools, the ones I had to buy or the ones that got shifted from somewhere else (this will make a GREAT clay tool!!!), they’re in the room but not as handy.
For some reason, those plastic travel soap containers are really useful to me. I have one for scrap bits of clay, right where I work. They’re a good size, with a lid, & stuff stays relatively clean.
Describe the usual state of your work table: It’s either very neat, because I just cleaned it, or it’s very messy, because I’m working. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground.
Does your work table face out into the room or toward the wall? It faces a window & part of the wall. It’s very nice to be able to look up & outside while I’m working. I tried having the desk facing the opposite wall, & it didn’t feel right.
What’s one drawback of your studio/artistic space? Along with the shortage of electrical outlets, there’s just too much stuff in it right now. I’m trying to weed through it all, gradually, & sort out what I really don’t need.
Do you have any studio mascots? Two of our three cats hang out with me. The small dresser beside my desk is there so they can sit & watch birds & squirrels. And yes, they shed, but I’m highly skilled at picking animal hair out of my clay, with years of practice! And the third cat would love to be with me, too, but the other two won’t let her on the second floor.
Do you have an idea wall or inspiration board? I usually have a bulletin board where I work, but I haven’t hung it up yet.
Do you listen to music in your studio? Almost never! I like it quiet.
Do you display your own work in your studio? Not much. Since this room was my son’s bedroom before he moved out, the light switch cover is one that I made for him when he was in grade school, but there’s not a lot of my stuff on display other than that.
Other artists’ work? Yes, from lots of different people.
What’s one quirk or unusual feature of your studio? I never spent lots of time in this room before my son moved out, but it seems to be the most comfortable room in the house. It’s breezy & fairly cool, even on hot days.
Any question of your own that you’d like to include? Yes, I have a question. I understand the cat hair being on the rug, on my chair, on the surfaces where they actually sit. How does it get inside a closed container & attach itself to a clean cane that’s been wrapped in deli paper? It’s beyond my comprehension.
