All cleaned up and ready to go!

There’s nothing like a new year to put a little spring in your step!

I’ve spent the first part of this year cleaning and organized the workbench. I have a suspicion that my ability to be distracted by new shiny projects may be thwarted by having only a handful of things on the workbench at a time. So I’ve packed up everything (and all the art supplies) and have tucked them away.

Out of sight and out of mind! (I hope!) *crosses fingers*

ALL OF THE MESSES!

Did I mention the workbench was crazy messy when I started? Because it was. Totally. *solemn nods*

But I have packed up all my plaster and resin molding materials.

Tucked away up all my resin casts and model horse bodies.

Shuffled off my cardstock and bookbinding supplies.

Hid my base and prop making wood from the nose of BucketDog the Wood Chipper.

The world is saved by angles and tubes!

Squirreled the stamp making and packaging materials safe under the bed.

…and in general got all of my things tucked away.

The cardboard tube storage method for the tools is working quite well! I’ve been able to consolidate a lot of my loose brushes and markers into one spot and it’s much less tippy than my old method. I may make proper plans for this and rebuild it later with an actual tutorial… but for now I’m still beta testing.

One thing I did upgrade in the middle of my organizing spree was the little box magnet flat drawers I made. The shelves weren’t as stable as I’d like and they had a tendency to spill things when I pulled them out.

Small Magnet Storage Shelves v1.0

So I went back in and added another 3-4 layers of cardboard as the runner rails and that fixed the support issues quite nicely. They aren’t at all even so I’ll need to go back in and sand them down somehow… not really sure how to manage that. I suppose I could try and find a way to cut them instead, but it’s a little hard to work inside the box because it’s so small.

Anywho, that’s a headache for another day! 🙂

A ring of folded index cards added in some drop protection to the edges and for now it looks like the tweaks will make it a lot more useful. Still moving magnets around as I reslist them to Etsy, so it will be interesting to see what ends up where.

Stiff upper lips and all that!

I may actually use it to store model horses instead, but if I do that I’ll most likely line it with some nicer paper so I don’t damage any of the paintjobs. *pokes shelving*

It’s a lot sturdier than it looks, but I’ve also beefed up the top and sides with secondary layers of cardboard… still, if I had know cardboard would work this well for storage, I’d have started MacGyvering things years ago! (That’s what I get for thinking everything has to be build out of wood… *sighs*)

Sadly I’ve spent all of my time working on cleaning and organizing, so I don’t have any new art to share! Alas. 🙁

But on a good note, I’m slowly getting things listed in the Etsy store again, so by the end of the month I should be back up to speed there! I’m holding off on any new Grand Plans and just listing things as I get them finished. I figure grand plans are for people who have full stores. 😉

So onwards into the new year!