8 Useful Tips to Keep a Well-Organized Art Studio

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Do you struggle with keeping your art studio as clean and organized as you'd like? Do you wonder how so many artists/creatives manage to keep their working spaces so neat and tidy? Have you ever found the mess around you demotivating to the point that it affects your productivity levels?


Though the act of creating art can (and sometimes downright should) imply making some sort of mess, this doesn't mean we should be okay with our studios being in a constant state of chaos.

​Of course, people's tolerance levels towards disorganization vary immensely, but our studios are an extension of ourselves and our work, and should be treated as such. 

Personally, I like to work in an environment that inspires me to create and helps me be as productive as possible every-single-day. My artwork is important to me (and I hope that your artwork is important to you as well), and staying as organized as possible ensures that it is going to be protected and accessible. 

In their article How to Design the Ultimate Craft Room (for Beginners) the pros from porch.com explain the benefits of having a craft room at home, and provide lots of tips to consider if you're just about to get started with creating your own!


I really enjoy learning tips and tricks from other creatives, and Ali from Cut, Cut, Craft ( www.cutcutcraft.com ) was super helpful to share some ideas with us in the following post! 

Enjoy!

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8 Ways to get (and stay) organized

by Ali Fields
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​Hey guys and gals! It’s Ali here from Cut, Cut, Craft! (www.cutcutcraft.com) with some practical and creative ideas on how you can keep your studio organized in order to make the best art you can.

In Erika’s own words, "the environment that surrounds us impacts our mood and creativity". Read her blog post titled How I Find Inspiration as an Artist and Some Ideas to Keep You Going.
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This is true for the people you surround yourself with, as well as the sorts of art and entertainment you consume. But it is especially valid in your own art studio, the very place you want to be free to act on your creativity to produce wonderful creations.

If your space is cluttered and disorganized, your mind will spend precious resources distracted by the mess. It will take you extra time to find materials to get started on a new project. Your aim should be to lower the activation energy needed to create art.

​Spend some effort on organizing your space, so it’s easy for you to dive in when inspiration strikes!

I’ll go through some general tips on how to get your art studio in working order, and give you specific ideas on how to implement each of them.

​Let's get into the tips!

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1. Purge your supplies (and donate them)
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The first step in organizing your art space should actually be getting rid of all the stuff you don’t need or won’t ever use. You probably know if you have some hoarding tendencies, in which case you’ll have to spend some extra effort to actually acknowledge that you don’t need all those styrofoam spheres.

But don’t just toss any good markers and paints that aren’t getting use! Donate them! There are so many places that are happy to receive donated arts and crafts supplies: elementary and preschools, YMCAs, community centers, women’s shelters, churches, art centers, etc.

It’s best to donate locally.

So just do a quick Google search, “where to donate art supplies [your city/town/county name]” to find locations nearby.

Make sure that the supplies you donate can actually be used! Dried up paint and crusty paint brushes aren’t useful for anyone. So when you are purging your art supplies, you’ll need at least two piles: one for trash and one to donate.


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2. Use containers for writing, drawing, and painting instruments

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There’s no need to spend loads of cash on fancy decorative bins.

You can use tin cans and mason jars to store pens, pencils, markers, and paintbrushes (and decorate them yourself if you want). I personally like to use the $1 metal buckets from Target, but they aren’t always in stock.

You can also find all sorts of neat containers at dollar stores and thrift shops. These sorts of open containers make sure your tools are always visible and easily accessible.

Make sure to have enough containers that you can actually sort all your creative instruments with plenty of space. This way you don’t have to work to cram pens into overstuffed mugs or spend time trying to find just the right marker.

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3. Have a designated place to store your works in progress
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Some people are only working on one project at a time. Others have six or twelve different things that are waiting to be completed.

​Regardless, you should always be able to clear off your work surface, and also protect your work from accidental damage, which means you need to have a place to put your WIP.

This is easiest for 2D art. If you have any adjustable shelving, make a short shelf or two, just a couple inches high, that are always kept clear so you can place your work there. There are also flat plastic ArtBins that are useful for keeping dust, lint, and hair off your work.

For 3D projects, a container on a larger shelf will work. I actually like to use the top bucket-shelf of the rolling Ikea trolley. (It’s called Raskog if you want to check it out.) For larger pieces, I’ll usually place projects up high on top of shelves so my kids don’t wander past and touch something delicate that needs a day or two to set.

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4. Take advantage of vertical storage

​I know a lot of us are cramped for space. Maybe you only have a corner, instead of an entire room to use for creative purposes. In that case, vertical storage will absolutely be your new best friend. Use all the height you can!

Install shelves, cubbies, or racks that go all the way up to the ceiling. (But make sure to have a sturdy step stool so you can actually reach things at the top.)

I’m also a really big fan of pegboards for taking advantage of walls as storage, without protruding as far as shelves do. Yeah, the sort you’ll see at discount stores or maybe covering a wall of your pop’s garage.

​They are super useful for hanging tools and buckets, but you’ll need the right accessories: straight and curved pegboard hooks. You can also get pegboard kit, with a great variety of hanging devices.

​It’s all super affordable and available at any big hardware store.


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​5. Use bins and boxes for larger items
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Okay, so you have shelves, cubbies, or racks and finally have all these spaces to put your supplies away.

Don’t just make sloppy piles of materials! Those shelves will quickly become a black hole of lost utility.

Create separate containers for different sorts of materials and tools. Or group together all the supplies for a type of project, so your watercolor paints, brushes, and paper are all in a single box for easy use.

Plastic shoe boxes are an affordable option, and they only cost a couple bucks each.
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Plastic Storage Box with Removable Tray

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Storage Containers

Storage Caddy

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Adjustable Canvas Storage Rack

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​6. Hang your storage

Yes, I love to hang things!

​It’s incredibly flexible storage you can rearrange as you see fit, which is great if you’re like me and maybe switch to a different art mode every few months.

So past pegboards, which I mentioned above, another of my favorites is using towel rods or curtain rods. You can find affordable ones at Ikea, or pick some up at a hardware store. I use S-hooks to hang buckets with supplies.

You can also hang string or wire across a wall, and use clothespins to display some of your work! It’s easy to rotate out what you are looking at, as the mood strikes.

Another option for hanging storage would be over-the-door storage. No shame in repurposing a hanging shoe rack to hold things like cans of spray paint or skeins of yarn.

Smaller over-the-door organizers are great for pens, markers, glues, and paint as well.


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7. Label your containers
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This one is big and was a total game-changer for me.

Before I started meticulously labeling my containers, my organization system would quickly decay the first time I was in a hurry to put everything away and just shoved supplies into whatever bin looked like it had enough space. “I can always reorganize it again later,” I thought.

Which I would have to do. Over and over again.

By labeling all your storage containers, you not only know where to find everything, you can also easily tell where to put everything away. Miraculously, all my pens and papers and ribbons and tapes now actually stay separated and useful.

And hey, labels can also be super fun to make! So take some time and make a pretty project out of it.


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​8. Once it's clean, keep it clean
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Once you have a system in place for storing all the art supplies and projects you have decided you want to keep, you need to put in a little effort to maintain it.

At the end of the day, or when you are finished working on a project, spend a few minutes to put everything back in its proper spot. Clear off your work surface and put all your pencils or paints back in their spots.

This is time well-spent, and will absolutely save time for your future self (hey future self, have some time!).

Tomorrow, when you sit down to create something, you’ll have space to work and will be able to easily find all the things you want to you.

Best of all, you’ll be more likely to actually make more things, because your creative space will be so much easier to use.

And since it’s so sensible, I’m going to go ahead and crib Erika’s Ben Franklin quote here as well:
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“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.”

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​For more ways to save time and be productive, check out Erika's blog post
Time Management for Artists: My Secrets for Staying Consistently Productive. 

Alright, that’s all the organizational advice I have for you today!

​Thanks so much to Erika for letting me share my ideas here. I hope you all find some of these tips helpful for keeping your art space organized and functional.
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I’m sure you guys have all sorts of things you use to organize your own space, so please share them below so we can all benefit!

​Ali Fields is a crafting geek who writes DIY tutorials and reviews over at Cut, Cut, Craft! Her latest obsession? The Cricut Maker

​Follow her on social media:
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cutcutcraft
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cutcutcrafting
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cutcutcraft

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​Sending out a huge thank you to Ali for sharing all of these useful ideas with us today! Hope you found it helpful.

Cheers!

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