Studio re-organisation

The usual busy summer months of July and August are behind us, my sales are dwindling and so jewellery making to restock my stall has fallen to a more manageable level. Before the big Christmas push, it's a relief to find I will now have a bit of time to get round to some stuff I've been meaning to do for ages. Like, paint the shed studio and adjacent picket fencing (it's turning black).

I've also run out of space inside the studio as I'm not using the existing space very well. When I moved into this studio, it seemed huge but in the intervening two and a half years, I have been filling it up (mainly with glass). I've planned it all out and if I move things around and re-organise, I have room for another shelving unit and will even have room for a small photography area so I can take photographs independent of the weather and lighting outside.

I often want to photograph things after it's gone dark, particularly on a Friday night when the majority of my pieces are finished off.  Consequently, I don't take photographs of everything I make and sometimes some really nice items don't get recorded which bothers me. Provisionally, I am planning the photography area around this useful Etsy article about photography, but DH is going to have a look first and tell me if he thinks it will work for my jewellery.

Whilst I'm moving everything around, I'm going to take the opportunity to put a proper floor covering in. It's already got insulation and chipboard but that's it. Ideally I would like a ceramic tiled floor or chequerboard quarry tiles maybe but the budget won't stretch to that, especially as I think we'll be moving within a year or two. So, we're going to buy a cheap off-cut of a bit of vinyl and laying it ourselves. It'll look smarter, be easier to clean and it won't be the end of the world if it gets a scorch mark or two.

The photograph represents some initial purchases which DH picked up on his travels for me yesterday but I still need some inch and a half plastic pipes (which I cut up and store glass in), some brushes for the stain and the vinyl floor. So, I'm off to the shops!

There may be some jewellery/bead pictures later in the week.

Oi! Stop nicking bits of my shed

I noticed a few weeks ago that the paintwork on my studio exterior is weathering in a very odd manner.

I discovered the culprits today - wasps are nicking bits of my shed and taking it away to build their nests. I don't remember this happening last year. The shed was painted with preservative shortly after I got it about two years ago. I guess that last year, the preservative was still quite fresh and tasted bad for nest building. This is all telling me it's time to re-paint the shed. I'll wait till the Autumn when the wasps have stopped nest building.

Tom up the road (he of ferret fame) has done a lovely job of repainting the large old timber barns outside his place in black.

It looks very traditional, which also appeals. I'm very tempted to do mine black as well. I know black tends to absorb heat but the studio is insulated on the inside with Kingspan on the roof and sides so I don't think it being a darker colour will make it much hotter than it already gets in summer. I find mornings are cooler for beadmaking, by lunchtime, the sun moves round and is streaming through the windows which ramps up the temperature a bit too high for comfort even with the window and door open and the fan going full blast. I tend to spend hot afternoons indoors making jewellery. As we live in a stone cottage with thick walls, the downstairs is relatively cool.

If I find the studio does get much hotter afer it's painted, I'll just have to wait for a year before the wasps get at it again!