June 2008

I’ve been sitting here with the house all quiet around me, and having a lovely time traveling without leaving my chair. I love the quiet of mornings. The birds are singing and it’s Sunday so there’s very little traffic noise. The dogs have been fed and they’re being mellow and no one else is up.

I just had the loveliest time setting up the next two Studio Snapshot posts. Tomorrow’s post takes us to Israel with Iris Mishly and next week we head out to Colorado to visit Tejae Floyde’s studio. I love doing this series. I love to see the pictures of other artists’ creative spaces, but I especially love to read the descriptions. Having the space described by the artist makes it come alive for me.

Thanks to everyone for taking us on a bit of armchair traveling!

Do you ever feel like you have too many ideas? Lately I’ve got so many rough ideas running around in my head that when I sit down at my work table, I am really unsure where to start. The ideas are just crowding each other out. Usually, I will get at least one idea that captures me. A design, concept or process that I really want to follow and explore. Lately, the ideas just haven’t been panning out. The result is a lot of scrap polymer clay.

I’ll get a swarm of ideas, but none of them are really grabbing me. The buzz of partial possibilities is distracting. It keeps interrupting my work flow and making me second guess my design choices. Meanwhile, I’ve been working in silver, making basic bezel boxes doesn’t require my design brain. I just don’t know what to fill them with.

I have no idea what started me thinking about this subject, but I thought I’d write about one of my favorite studio supplies today: trays. I’ve got 2 distinct favorites, cafeteria trays in full and half size and the half size square jeweler’s trays.

Put a piece of bead mat (or vellux blanket) on one of these trays and you’ve got the perfect portable beading station. When I am working on a project that requires a lot of different beads, such as a freeform peyote bracelet, I use a cafeteria tray as a work surface and one of the small jeweler’s trays to hold the extra tubes of beads. I love how portable the trays are, and how you can stack them out of the way even full of beads.

The small jeweler’s trays are perfect for coralling a collection of bits and bobs:

The cafeteria trays are handy for polymer clay too. I like to use them to hold sheets of clay when I go on a color mixing spree. I wrap a sheet of color in a plastic deli sheet and then toss that onto a tray.

I’ve got trays spread all around the studio. It’s a messy, but effective way to keep a color palette together. The smaller cafeteria trays are also a handy place to stage a selection of canes when I am working on a project.

Artist name: Lora Hart

Location: California

Website: LoraHart.com
Blog: Lora Hart Jewels
Flickr: Lora Hart’s photostream
Etsy: Lora Hart Jewels Etsy Shop

Do you have a dedicated studio/artistic space? Well sure!

Where is it located? In a tiny corner of my tiny 500 square foot apartment.

Is it a large or small space? Umm, tiny.

What medium(s) do you work in? Do you have a separate area for each? I pretty much just make jewelry. Mostly metal clay, but I’m getting more into metalsmithing. I dabble with knitting, but I have to look up how to cast on every single time. Not any kind of an expert with that. It took me a year to finish a single purse. I only work in the Studiolo. The rest of the space is just for living.

What one word would you use to describe your studio? Compact.

What do you think is the best feature of your studio? The fact that it’s in my “house”. Very early mornings are my best time for creative work (like 6 am), so I can toddle out of bed and get going without even changing out of my PJ’s.

What would you change if you could? The size. I dream about a 900 - 1200 square foot space. I like to keep my dreams manageable.

Can you share an organizational tip? Containers are your friend. And labels. I love those little plastic drawers I get at the discount store. Each drawer holds a single item. Jump rings, soldering supplies, gem stones, metal clay supplies etc. And each drawer is labeled for times when the senior moment strikes.

Describe the usual state of your work table? It’s pretty much 50/50. Half the time it’s a disaster and half the time it’s relatively clean. Because my Studiolo (as I like to call it) is in my living space, I like to try to straighten it up at the end of the day. Sometimes straightening just means I make a nice looking pile instead of actually putting things away.

Does your work table face out into the room or toward the wall? Out into the room. The window faces a parking lot and facing a wall would make me claustrophobic. And looking into my living room means that I can also glance up at the tv in case Judge Judy is saying something profound. :¬ )

What’s one drawback of your studio/artistic space? Broken record playing again. The size.

Do you have any studio mascots (pets, mannequin whatever)? Not really. I own a scaredy cat who pretty much lives in the closet, so he doesn’t bother my desk/bench at all. The hair he continually sheds keeps me company though.

Do you have an idea wall or inspiration board? I have a bulletin board that does double duty. I have Post-It® Notes all around the edges with all my passwords and account numbers for all the computer stuff I need to remember. Hosting site, my mobile phone number (who ever calls themselves), my Adobe Contribute serial number which I use to update my website. That sort of thing. In the middle of the board are postcards of work by other jewelry makers; pictures of my parents when they were young; an ATC I made in an Artist’s Way workshop that says “Let Your Thoughts Fly Free”; a couch I really want to own and an original “get well” piece of art from a friend in Asheville. I’m also really into Anahata lately, so I printed out some images of her beautiful work which I love looking at. I try to imagine what kind of jewelry her ladies might wear. And there’s an Ikea shelf underneath the bulletin board that’s just three inches wide . It’s supposed to house works in progress so they don’t get broken, but it’s been gathering interesting and yes, inspirational flotsam and jetsam lately.

Do you listen to music in your studio? What kind? If I’m playing music, I’m not making jewelry. I start singing and get distracted so silence is golden when I’m working. Or the tv which I’m pretty good at tuning out. Sometimes I just forget to turn the morning news off and it becomes white noise. One weekend I “woke up” from an intense session to find that a football game had been on for more than an hour.

Do you display your own work in your studio? Other artists’ work? I display jewelry in my bathroom of all places. There’s not an awful lot of space for displays in the Studiolo. Oh, but now that I look at the little shelf, there’s a mini display bust with a necklace of mine on it. Don’t remember why or when it got there.

What’s one quirk or unusual feature of your studio? Mmmm… Not too quirky. Except that it does double duty as my regular correspondence and computer station too. And bill paying center and anything else I need a desk for. Everything has to do double duty in such a small space.