Artful Organizing

Some members of my Etsy team decided to get together and have weekly themes for our blog posts and create a little loop with them. This week the theme is organization! I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly fighting with the mountains of stuff that seems to pile up.

There are special organizers made specifically for beads, but I discovered that buying one of those tower organizers with clear plastic drawers from Lowe’s or Home Depot was much more practical and inexpensive–at least for me. This way I can label the drawers with what’s in the drawer, but I can also see what’s in the drawers. And if I want to work away from my work table, I can grab my little lap desk and take a drawer or two with me to the living room and work on my wire and bead jewelry while watching a movie.

Another organizational tool I love for my jewelry making is a fishing tackle box with plastic bins and drawers. I’ve found that fishing tackle boxes are great for organizing beads, chain, wire, tools, etc., and from what I’ve found, they’re less expensive than the portable storage units made especially for crafters and jewelry makers.

When it comes to storing my paper art supplies, this oak flat file is my pride and joy. For years I stashed my large art papers sandwiched between cardboard and shoved behind the filing cabinets, or behind the desk, or behind . . . something. The paper didn’t get bent out of shape that way, but the problem was it was so complicated to get out and cut to size that I ended up avoiding my drawing and painting all together! I wanted a flat file, but there was no way I could afford one. So finally my husband built me one. Not only that, but he customized it with some file drawers for me! Now this is a splurge for any artist, so I feel very fortunate to have it. I feel even more fortunate to have such a talented husband!

I was reading a book by a fantasy artist I admire, John Howe, who uses lots of pictures from magazines and other places as inspiration for ideas, and he had a labeled bin system to organize his ideas. I thought that was a fantastic idea, but it wasn’t practical for my workspace, so I adapted an idea filing system. Now, when I see a picture in a magazine or on the internet that inspires me in some way, I can rip it out or print it and file it under the proper category, like this:

A lot of people I know like to use notebooks or three-ring binders for organizing things like this, but I’ve found that this loose filing system works better for me. I can take the papers out when I need them and easily drop them back in their files when I’m finished. No more procrastinating with the hole punch or hunting through notebooks to try to put papers back where they belong. It works for me!

Of course I’m still looking for common-sense ideas and learning what other people do that I can adapt to my working style, so I know I will enjoy looking at what my fellow EART team members blog about on this subject. If you’d like to know too, the next stop on this little loopy journey is the A.W.E. Shop! Have fun!