2 March 2012

Organisation Challenge - March

For those of you who missed it, I blogged about why I need to get my studio organised here. Please watch the video to see how chaotic it can get. It wasn't always like this. You can see that it was once a tranquil, creative space.

This challenge has been devised to help us all get our craft spaces organised and sorted. It is an individual challenge. Because I'm based in the UK and living on an extremely low budget, I've tried to set this up so that a) I'm spending little, if no money and b) the things I do buy or have bought are available most places in the UK. Ikea is over an hour's drive from me, so I'll only get stuff from there if I can not get it (or something similar elsewhere). Most of my suggestions are about repurposing and reusing.
And I cannot emphasise how much these are all suggestions. If you don't like an idea, or think you have a better one, please feel free to post it as a comment.

I'll also be working through the exercises a month ahead of you, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in a comment and I'll answer as best as I can.

So here's my challenge for March:

Size up what you've got.

You'll need:
A piece of paper
Some cardboard scraps (the small sides of cereal boxes are ideal)
Some clear plastic or transparencies
Permanent pen
Sticky tape
Measuring tape
Scissors or knife, cutting mat and ruler
Eraser
Calculator

1. Measure your space. No matter how big or small the space is you've got to create in, you need to know how big it is. Let's face it, unless you remodel your house (which goes against the low-budget philosophy of this challenge), it's not going to get any bigger. And, you may want to reduce the amount of space you're taking up at the moment, so it will be useful to know exactly how big this space is. Be accurate in your measurements. I've done mine in millimetres.

2. Draw your space to scale on a piece of paper. You can determine what that scale is, but it is important that you remember what the scale is. Mark on your drawing where windows and doors are and any fitted things that can't be removed (fireplaces, fixed shelves, etc) or won't be removed (like benches and cupboards). Don't forget to mark if the doors and windows open inwards or outwards and where the latches are. You'll need to plan the placement of your furniture so that you can still open windows. As you'll see on my drawing, I've drawn in some of my benches, but I'm open to the suggestion that at least one of the benches might need to be removed, so I've drawn the fixed ones plain but left out the one that might be coming out. Make a few copies.

3. Measure every single piece of furniture you have, or plan to have. You need to measure the obvious things like width and depth, but I also want you to measure height and floor clearance. Measure how much door or drawer clearance each piece of furniture needs. For example, if you have a 60cm wide cabinet, you'll need 60 cm in front of it to open the door. Try to allow at least a metre clearance for your chair/s.

4. Draw the width and depth outlines to scale (the same scale as your room drawing) in cardboard and cut out (you can cover the cardboard in white paper before starting so that you have a writable surface). I've made mine out of mount board scraps so that they're robust. Mark on each piece the height and the floor clearance. In my case, I've also drawn the piece of the bench that I'm open to moving so that I can see if I can use it somewhere else. I've also draw the shapes of some wire cubes that I have in the house that I might be using.

5. Draw out the door/drawer clearance allowance on the clear plastic or transparency, cut out and stick to the shape it corresponds with.

6. Lay your furniture cut outs on one of your room plans as things currently stand. Draw around the cut outs. You now have a picture of what your room looks like from above. Over a cup of coffee write down what works and what doesn't. For example, I've found that my computer desk just becomes a dumping ground for things as I walk in the door. I therefore need to think about either correcting my bad habits when I use my studio (unlikely) or find another way of coping with my habit - ie create a drop zone. But I like that I have most things to hand near my craft desk just by wheeling around. At the moment everything is in boxes so I have to move four or five things just to find one item. That isn't working for me at all. I've also just been given the base cabinets from a friends kitchen. Do I have enough or too many for this space?

7. Ok, it is important to not rush the next step. Take your time and get it right. Place the pieces of furniture on another room drawing and move them around and adjust them. Pay attention to how the clearance allowances impact on each other. They're done in clear so that you can see where they'll clash, but that might be okay. The metre allowance behind your desk is essential. Anything less and you'll find it very cramped. Another important thing to remember is that you should allow between 1 and 1.5 metres in any passage ways as fire exits. This is essential if you ever plan to have guests in your craft space.

8. Once you're happy with the placement of your furniture, draw around each piece and annotate what it is (don't forget height and floor clearance). The advantage of this is that you can take your other copies and try out different layouts. As you get something that works, draw the outlines and annotations and then compare against your previous drawings. Which one works best for you? It may help to draw in the width of passage ways as well. Once you have your plan you can put the cardboard shapes and the original measurements and room drawing into an envelope and keep for future changes. Yes, you will probably go through this again in the future because our spaces are constantly changing and evolving. But hopefully, we'll get it right for the moment so that you're not having to change it again soon.
We're going to work to achieving this floor plan. But, you might find as we go through the rest of this challenge, that your floor plan has to change. That's okay. Put the plan somewhere safe so that you don't lose it.

Here is a video showing how I worked through these steps and how my floor plan evolved.


And here are the floor plans as referenced in the video so you can see them up close.













Life Artistry course at Woodbrooke

Along with a very good friend of mine, I will be teaching a weekend course at Woodbrooke Quaker College called Life Artistry.

It is the being held on the extra long Jubilee bank holiday weekend, starting Friday night and finishing Monday afternoon.

Details can be found here:.

The description doesn't really do what happens on the course justice. Over the course of the weekend, Wendrie and I teach you a bunch of techniques and help you to build your own journal. We show you how to use different triggers to help you journal the spiritual and mundane in your life. A journal doesn't have to be all words. It can be completely visual. All we do is give you the tools to help you start and develop your own journal.

There are plenty of gaps in the programme that allow you to retreat and reflect on what you're doing, allowing you to develop and piece of artwork that encompasses you.

If you'd like to do this course, there are currently 10 places left. The facilities at Woodbrooke are very good and the grounds are stunning. Being the beginning of June, the weather should be incredible.

Any questions, please just comment and I'll get back to you.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Studio Organisation - Preview

 In a couple of days, I'll be offering a free "workshop" here on my blog. You see, I need to get my studio organised and have promised I'll share the challenge with my friends on the AllThingsTim-Euro Yahoo Group. You don't have to be a member of that group to participate, but we'll be sharing photos and ideas through that group. To sign up, you need to be a member of AllThingsTim first, then apply to the AllThingsTim-Euro group once you've been approved on the first group.

However, I will be posting all the videos, photos and files that I create here on my blog. You can put comments up and link back to your photos and share that way too. I'm also pinning all sorts of organisation inspiration on my Pinterest board as I find them. Please feel free to follow me.

In the meantime, here's a tour of my studio as it currently looks. Maybe now you'll understand why I need to do this workshop. It's as much to benefit me as anyone else!