I thought I'd just show you folks what my studio looks like. The photo is at the bottom of the page. It's in the basement of our house, with a nice view of, well, snow. The kiln is out in the detached garage, which is great in terms of reducing fire and fume hazards, but makes loading the kiln a long series of precarious trips upstairs and across the backyard, usually with three dogs running tight circles around my feet. Haven't dropped anything yet!
So, what you see in the picture is about one quarter of the basement, and pretty much the entirety of my studio. The heavy desk on the left is perfect for wedging clay and hand-building. I don't actually use the drill press that often, but it's bolted to the desk, so it's staying. The desk came with the house; I have no idea how the previous owners maneuvered it down the stairs. The table on the right is wobblier, but I use it for glazing and keep a piece of canvas on it to reclaim small batches of wet clay. Joe put a plastic globe on top of the bendy white desk lamp and drew on a pupil, which made it AWESOME.
Unsold work goes on the black shelf to the right; unfinished work goes on pine shelves to the left. They're off-screen, but you've probably seen them on Facebook anyway. Last time we cleaned the basement I found Joe's high school photo (adorable) and my William & Mary diploma (Why is it in Latin? I never took Latin), so up they went on the wall, along with a couple of pictures of the kids. Added a cheap wall clock to make sure I don't miss Elliot's bus, and my studio was complete!
This is actually fairly tidy as my workspace goes. I cleaned up all the kindling my dog Martha chews up while I work, and I wiped down the wheel, which doesn't happen every day. The wad of clay on the wheel is waiting to be made into a teapot lid. I took the picture just after I ran upstairs to the kitchen to refill my bucket with warm water (you're not really supposed to throw with warm water, but it's fricking cold in the basement, and running the wheel and the space heater at the same time blows a fuse.) Not having a sink in the basement forces me to get a little exercise while I work. I also don't have a filter on the drain, so instead I have a series of buckets of muddy water in various stages of settling out into clear water and sludge (A.K.A. slip.) I do the same thing with brush-cleaning cups during glazing. I have a five-gallon paint bucket half full of sludge, waiting to be reclaimed as clay next summer.
So, it's all a bit amateur. I'd like to start teaching throwing lessons at some point, but first I'll need to relocate some power tools so I can take over this half of the basement in its entirety. And maybe wipe the mud off the desk drawers.
So, what you see in the picture is about one quarter of the basement, and pretty much the entirety of my studio. The heavy desk on the left is perfect for wedging clay and hand-building. I don't actually use the drill press that often, but it's bolted to the desk, so it's staying. The desk came with the house; I have no idea how the previous owners maneuvered it down the stairs. The table on the right is wobblier, but I use it for glazing and keep a piece of canvas on it to reclaim small batches of wet clay. Joe put a plastic globe on top of the bendy white desk lamp and drew on a pupil, which made it AWESOME.
Unsold work goes on the black shelf to the right; unfinished work goes on pine shelves to the left. They're off-screen, but you've probably seen them on Facebook anyway. Last time we cleaned the basement I found Joe's high school photo (adorable) and my William & Mary diploma (Why is it in Latin? I never took Latin), so up they went on the wall, along with a couple of pictures of the kids. Added a cheap wall clock to make sure I don't miss Elliot's bus, and my studio was complete!
This is actually fairly tidy as my workspace goes. I cleaned up all the kindling my dog Martha chews up while I work, and I wiped down the wheel, which doesn't happen every day. The wad of clay on the wheel is waiting to be made into a teapot lid. I took the picture just after I ran upstairs to the kitchen to refill my bucket with warm water (you're not really supposed to throw with warm water, but it's fricking cold in the basement, and running the wheel and the space heater at the same time blows a fuse.) Not having a sink in the basement forces me to get a little exercise while I work. I also don't have a filter on the drain, so instead I have a series of buckets of muddy water in various stages of settling out into clear water and sludge (A.K.A. slip.) I do the same thing with brush-cleaning cups during glazing. I have a five-gallon paint bucket half full of sludge, waiting to be reclaimed as clay next summer.
So, it's all a bit amateur. I'd like to start teaching throwing lessons at some point, but first I'll need to relocate some power tools so I can take over this half of the basement in its entirety. And maybe wipe the mud off the desk drawers.
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