Expansion

I ran around in the rain today, a she-hunter/gatherer collecting ingredients for the newest artmaking workspace in my house.

My dining room will soon be the place for hand-knotting beaded jewelry and selecting beautiful yarns for two crafts I've not done in awhile.

Cramped into my tiny metalsmithing studio and equally tiny computer/office corner of the family room, I found I was paralyzed re: beading and crochet because I couldn't SEE my materials.

My generous husband suggested I take up more room in the house. And as I looked around I realized that it is the dining room that saw the least use and was the most cluttered.

And so I have spent today not working on metals projects, but shopping for new shelving, furniture paint, Ott lamps and yarn bins -- so that this very public workspace can look good even when I'm being productive in it.

Since you'll see two spaces when you enter our front door: our living room and this new studio, it has to look good.

Out went all the mail and clutter. Out came the brooms and dusters. I turned the table around and positioned the side furnshings and took down a huge canvas. In that painting's place will go new shelving for my yarns. I'm thinking this area will be more of an asset to the house than the old dining configuration.

Still some work to be done before I can move my materials in. The smell of latex paint will be around this evening. But as it dries and dissipates, my yarn bins and bead boxes will fill new cubbies and shelves and I will begin to work in these media, too.

After all, for working crafters, it's already Christmas and Hanukkah! Not a moment too soon to be ready for home shows and downtown markets when holiday shopping begins.

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The photo, above, is my hammered copper bracelet-cuff which says: 'Art is a hammer with which to create reality.'  It's available in my Etsy shop. Please visit the tab at the top of my blog that leads to my Etsy shop!