63 – Organizing Your Art Supplies

Laura

0:01
Okay So way back in episode number nine, Nikki and I talked about how we just might be art supply addicts…

Nikki

0:11
That’s because we are art supply addicts, Laura.

Laura

0:15
Yeah, we are.

Nikki

0:17
We are.

Laura

0:17
I pretty much have an entire condo full of them. And when you live in smaller places or you have less real estate to park your art supplies…

Nikki

0:26
Wait, wait, wait. I like that you’re using the term park for art supplies, as I’m currently trying to figure out how to park mine in a bus.

Laura

0:36
Right? I’m going to be impressed with that. Now, I can say that organization becomes super important in small places. And I may not have mastered the arcade game Tetris, but I’m really awesome at tetrising my art supplies.

Nikki

0:51
You really are.

Laura

0:55
I can’t imagine limiting my supplies to fit inside of a bus, along with the rest of my life. I kind of bow down to your minimalism skills.

Nikki

1:03
Well, as anyone who knows me and has seen how I live knows, I am not a minimalist, it’s definitely a challenge. So let’s dive into how we both make or are trying to make it work.

Laura

1:16
Okay.

Hi, this is Laura Lee Griffin.

Nikki

1:23
And this is Nikki May, with the Startist Society, inspiring you to stop getting in your own way and start building an art biz and life that you love.

Laura

1:32
We are artists who believe strongly in the power of community, accountability, following your intuition, taking small actionable steps and breaking down the barriers of fear and procrastination that keep you stuck.

Nikki

1:45
Follow along with us on our creative business journey as we encourage you on yours.

Laura

1:53
Now in a dream world, I would have a separate space in my studio for each type of art, or the act of creating that I enjoy. So I would have like a painting space and a sewing space, a photography space, you know, you get the idea.

Nikki

2:10
I had a separate space set up like that in my studio in the house that I’m currently selling, but I didn’t find that actually helped me very much, didn’t help me use them all better. I’m someone who actually has to see everything in front of my eyes or it ceases to exist.

Laura

2:26
Yeah, I don’t like putting things away and bringing them out again, because it’s sort of a pain. So that’s where I would love to have all those little spaces. But yeah, I can get that too. If it’s not just like all they’re readily available, you may not use it

Nikki

2:42
Right.

Laura

2:42
Now it’s a bit of a jumble in my place. I have supplies in every room.

Nikki

2:50
Yes you do.

Laura

2:52
But I do have to say that even though it can be a little chaotic, it is definitely an organized chaos.

Nikki

2:59
Laura, I don’t think you can legitimately call yours chaos. You have way too much stuff. But it’s so totally organized.

Laura

3:06
Yeah, it is. It is.

Nikki

3:09
Alright, so let’s talk about what kind of organizing works for you. How do you organize your stuff?

Laura

3:17
Alright, so my organized chaos. I’ll start off by saying that my place is not going to be featured in Where Women Create magazine anytime soon. I definitely have studio envy of all of those spaces in magazines, but they really aren’t practical for me at this moment, given the small space that I have to work in and live in and the volume of supplies that I have. So I use a lot of plastic storage, which definitely is not elegant, but it’s totally functional. And I really like being able to see through to what’s inside of a drawer. And they’re super lightweight too, which is really great compared to something like Ikea-style furniture, which is pretty but it’s it’s really heavy. Right? So definitely, to me functional space is way more important than having it be aesthetically beautiful. Although I would love to have that someday, I just don’t have the space for that. So I mark the drawers, the plastic drawers that I use with what’s inside with either a Brother digital label maker, which you know, you can use different fonts with, it comes out with a white label, or I have one of those old school black and white Dymo label makers, which are kind of fun.

Nikki

4:32
I love those label makers. And my chaos means that I have drawers that actually are labeled very nicely and beautifully. But they might be labeled watercolor, and you might find a bunch of rodent skulls in it.

Laura

4:50
Okay, that would be a surprise if I went to like go pull out watercolors and there were rodent skulls but um, yeah, so that’s not that’s not super helpful to have things, you know, labeled, but then not actually use them for what they’re labeled for Nikki?

Nikki

5:04
No, absolutely not, I can never find anything.

Laura

5:09
Well in your bus, you will be able to because you’re just not going to have that much space,

Nikki

5:12
Because I’ll only have room for like four things. Alright, so what else do you do to organize stuff.

Laura

5:17
So I love brushes. And one of the important things is when you love watercolor, is you want to make sure that you keep your watercolor brushes completely separate from anything you’re going to ever use on like oil and acrylic. Especially because watercolor brushes are expensive, right? A lot of a lot of them are. So you want to make sure that you keep those in a separate place. So I have this really nice brush rack that I use for my watercolor brushes. It’s sort of a circular one where they sit in it upright. And then I had, I must have seen this idea somewhere. I’m guessing it was Pinterest or something. But I bought a small lazy Susan off of Amazon and it just spins in a circle and it’s like just the right size, It’s just slightly bigger than that brush rack. So I set the brush rack on it. And then I can spin it in a circle and just grab the brush that I want.

Nikki

6:05
Perfect.

Laura

6:06
And then the bottom of that like the base of it is big enough that I can put like brush rests on there and you know, a few other little items that I would normally use. So I have that sitting on top of my desk and I find that like super, super handy.

Nikki

6:20
That’s awesome.

Laura

6:20
Okay, so speaking of watercolor supplies, the other thing I have, I have a lot of journals. We’ve already admitted to this. We have lots of like watercolor journals and art journals. And…

Nikki

6:30
Yeah, you have more than a lot of journals. I’m going to link back to the show notes where we talked about all of the books and things that we have and how we’re addicts. And I’m going to show the picture of all of your 500 journals.

Laura

6:45
It was a little embarrassing, but that’s okay, we’re here to embarrass ourselves.

Nikki

6:48
We’re good at it.

Laura

6:49
So I have some white IKEA boxes. They’re like a really thick, white plastic, and they have thumb holes on the front of them. And then they actually have a lid and they’re stackable. So the large ones have thumb holes, the small ones don’t. But I have those stacked on top of shelves of a bookcase. And I find those are really handy to have both my watercolor palettes in as well as my watercolor journals. So I keep them kind of organized on a shelf that way,

Nikki

7:18
And you can just pull out what you need to use at any given time. That might be a good way for me to store some stuff too on the bus.

Laura

7:25
Yeah, and it’s sort of aesthetically pleasing because it’s at least white. It doesn’t feel like clutter, when the clutter is inside of a box.

Nikki

7:34
Right but then there’s my problem then as soon as it’s inside a box, it ceases to exist. And I have to buy 10 more.

Laura

7:43
This is true. Okay, so let’s see what else I love for magazines and books. I’ve bought those white cardboard IKEA magazine holders and you can get them in packs of I think it’s packs of three or five and they’re they’re really reasonably priced. So I have those on a white bookshelf. So again, just taking down the clutter, visual clutter a notch. I mean, a tiny notch, it doesn’t do a ton but I like those. So basically IKEA I use for the non-heavy furniture stuff. I like, I use IKEA for their other things. I also really really love the the IKEA what is it called the RÅSKOG carts. I’m probably saying that wrong.

Nikki

8:27
I have no idea how you pronounce it. We had to look it up and remember what it was called.

Laura

8:32
Yeah, it comes in different colors. I have some of the the blue ones. And basically I use that to store all of my paints, basically, most of my paints, some of them are in plastic drawers, but like my acrylic paints and things, I wheel those around, and then I actually paint inside of my kitchen because I can be messy in there because there’s tiles and things. So I use that for my paints and then I have these little 99 cent pails that they sell that are white that go on the outside, they hang on the cart. And then I put all my acrylic brushes and that type of brush on there, not the nice watercolor brushes. So I’ve found that that’s a really good way to store them.

Nikki

9:15
I used to have, I don’t know, four or five of those carts. And I had one for my encaustic supplies, one for watercolor supplies, one for jewelry, and I had to sell them when I moved out of my house. You really can’t have rolling carts on a bus.

Laura

9:33
You can’t. But I do find them super, super handy. They are really handy especially because in a small space I might have plastic storage and a cart in front of it and then I can roll the cart out and access the storage behind because I need to make best use of the small space that I have. So I really like those. What else. Um, because I come from a sort of crafty background and I also do a lot of work with Copic markers, I have to use a specific type of nice paper. And there’s several different brands that work well. So I actually have 8 ½ by 11 and 12 x 12 inch clear paper holders and I have those on my desk that are stacked, they’re the kind of thing you would find it probably at a Michael’s store where you would go like buy a, you know, one sheet of paper, you would buy it, he would pull it out of a rack, but instead of it being a wire rack, it’s a plastic rack. So I really like those, I have those stacked on my desk. And always have, nice paper handy there. And I have all of that marked with little labels of what type of paper it is. Because I’m a geek.

Nikki

10:39
Of course you do.

Laura

10:42
The other thing I like to do is, I work at a table that has a sheet of tempered glass on it. So I use tempered glass as a work surface, especially when I paint because it can be a paint palette, basically. And it’s super easy to clean. Now, the only thing I wouldn’t do is like film down on your surface because you’d get a glare if you were trying to, I don’t know make an Instagram video.

Nikki

11:05
Yeah, it would just be all reflections.

Laura

11:07
Yeah, it’d be all reflections, but for just doing my own stuff, I use it as a palette a lot. And then I can just scrape it off with a razor blade afterwards. So easy to clean. Perfect. So for things like fabric thread and yarn, I use plastic bins, that I get it either like a Joann’s store, or at The Container Store, which has beautiful, like sweater boxes and under the bed boxes that you can use to store things.

Nikki

11:32
Are sweater boxes beautiful, Laura?

Laura

11:34
They are beautiful. Organization is beautiful.

Nikki

11:38
It is. I’m so bad at it.

Laura

11:42
I love having things in their space. But I’m kind of with you. I get it when they’re when they’re tucked away, you forget about them, and then you don’t use them. So it’s a double edged sword. Yeah. And then I also have a beautiful Copic storage box. And I think we’ve posted a picture of that previously in that last episode all about being an art supply addict.

Nikki

12:00
Yeah, we sure did. So we’ll link to that. 

Laura

12:02
But it has a unique little spot for every color. So I know exactly which color I’m grabbing. And it uses basically, a lighting grid from Home Depot to do that, which you know, is pretty cool, huh? That’s very cool. Because it’s got little squares, like if you look up at the ceiling, and you ever see those like covers of ceiling lights that have all the little grids, perfect for Copic markers. Who would have thought, awesome. Now I have to say if I had wall space, I’m not really using wall space efficiently.

Nikki

12:32
That’s because you have 80 million plastic bins piled up and lined up against all your walls.

Laura

12:41
Probably and I have I have a little music studio section. I do have wall space for all of my Bono pictures, you know,

Nikki

12:48
Absolutely. I mean, priorities.

Laura

12:51
And for those that don’t know, and I’ll tell the story someday on the podcast, but I have danced with Bono on stage. So I was just a little bit of a U2 freak in college.

Nikki

13:00
I’ve seen photographic evidence of it. 

Laura

13:03
It’s kind of the understatement of the century. Moving on. So anyway, if I had the wall space, I’d set up a grid board with binder clips, and I’d hang my paint tubes upside down from them. And it would just be so much easier to find the colors that I want that way instead of having them all shoved, like on a cart, you know, buried together. Yeah. But I don’t have that today.

Nikki

13:25
Yeah, those are cool. Yeah, that’s a cool setup.

Laura

13:28
Another thing I do is I have big antique jars that I get at a state sales and things like that, and I fill them with antique lace and ribbons that I use in some of my cardmaking work, and in some of my mixed media work. So it’s very pretty, but it’s also functional.

Nikki

13:45
Yeah, I love finding old things that you can repurpose to hold art supplies and other things. I have this really cool antique pitcher from an Italian hotel that I use to hold brushes.

Laura

13:57
Did you steal it from the Italian hotel?

Nikki

14:00
What? I’m going through a tunnel Did you say something?

Laura

14:06
Was from an Italian hotel and like was it the gift shop or did it just disappear?

Nikki

14:13
Okay, to be honest, I bought it on eBay. 

Laura

14:19
All right, I won’t tease you too hard then on that. I am like you, I love beautiful ceramic cups and vases and containers to house my tall oil and acrylic painting brushes. I think it adds a little fun to my studio space since I told you I don’t have room to have this beautiful space that’s just full of pretty things. And it’s functional. But at least if I have this like I have this really cool Aqua shaped owl ceramic vase thing that I got at World Market, I think, a few years back and I have all of my brushes in it my tall brushes and it just makes me happy to see that. And it’s still functional because it’s storing things. So I think that’s a really fun way to store art supplies when you’re in a small space. And I’ll put a little picture of that in the show notes so people can see. And inside of those vases, you can put dry beans and things like that which will hold your brushes in place, which is kind of fun.

Nikki

15:13
Oh, that’s cool. I never thought about that. Smart.

Laura

15:18
I used to have my colored pencils in really pretty little cups, I had these little Anthropologie candle votives that I used for that. But a couple years ago, I moved them to these Amazon pencil holders that are portable. And they they come with a whole bunch of zipper pouches and one container. So they’re pretty big. And they have a little slot for every pencil. So you can organize everything by color.

Nikki

15:42
And that’s important to you.

Laura

15:44
It’s easy to find what you want. But at the same time again, it’s not clear. So you might forget that you have them if it’s not accessible. So I’m not sure I may have used my color pencils more when I had them sitting on my desk, but

Nikki

15:55
Probably.

Laura

15:59
I’ll admit that I have canvases in nooks and crannies all over the house, I probably never need to buy another surface to paint on ever again. And right, I don’t have a great way to store them. So they’re just like behind doors. And you know, the small ones might be in some plastic storage. I have them on shelves. I mean, they’re just in random places.

Nikki

16:18
I can see behind you right now, Laura, and I see a little bit of blank space on a wall. It’s time to hang some of those canvases up.

Laura

16:25
Yeah, I probably should. One little blank space. Okay, so as I mentioned come from a crafty background. And I’ve taught people how to color with Copic markers for years. So one of the things that I’ve done in my past as I have been a designer was stamp companies creating projects for them, both rubber stamps, and acrylic stamps. And so I have quite a few of those still, even though I’ve sold a lot of them over the years in my annual garage sales. So the rubber stamps go in large plastic storage shelving units that have shallow drawers, so they don’t get too heavy. And then the clear stamps and dies are put in Avery Ella plastic envelopes, and then I housed them inside of refrigerator storage boxes.

Nikki

17:11
Interesting.

Laura

17:12
It seems like a really weird thing. But they’re exactly the right width to fit these stamp sets. And so you can fit like 100 stamp sets and one of these things. And they have a handle on the front of them. So if you stick them on a shelf, you can just grab the handle and pull it out. It’s just like super, super easy meant for refrigerator storage, but works really, really great for both these stamp sets then you would store in a sleeve. But also, I use it for die cuts. So I don’t know how familiar you are with die cutting systems and machines and things like that, Nikki?

Nikki

17:44
I know what a die cut is.

Laura

17:49
You have a Glowforge right. So you have like the digital type of thing, but…

Nikki

17:53
I do and if any of you want to buy it, just let me know. It doesn’t fit on the bus.

Laura

18:00
So um, it’s got a crank, like I have the old school ones that have a crank on the side of them. And you basically roll through a sandwich that’s got some like plastic, you know, panels, things that sandwich a metal dye and paper together. And the pressure of it cuts the paper into whatever shape those dyes are, right? Yeah, so the metal dies, I actually use magnetic sheets from Amazon. And you can get them in like four by six inches. And then oh, that’s smart, the dies on the magnetic sheets. And then I store them again, in little refrigerator boxes…

Nikki

18:31
…where they cease to exist.

Laura

18:32
They cease to exist. I love that storage systems since I moved to it, but they are heavy. So you have to just realize that those boxes if you want to lift them up, they get really, really heavy to lift up when you have a whole bunch of those magnetic panels inside of them.

Nikki

18:47
How big are these boxes?

Laura

18:49
Um, I post a picture of them, I don’t know, they’re probably like 12 inches across. And there’s they’re too deep, like it’s two six inch sort of slots side by side. And then they probably are, I don’t know, 12 or 16 inches deep. Yeah, that’s pretty big. Something like that. But But remember that these acrylic stamp sets don’t take up any space. They’re like four by six inches, right? And they’re super thin. Right? Right. So that’s sort of how I deal with my storage. That was a lot of information for people. But it is sort of all Tetris together. And I have lots of, you know, plastic storage on top of each other. And that’s just what seems to work for me mostly drawers because I don’t like having things that you have to physically move to get to them, right. Like if you have big plastic boxes on top of each other like I do with my fabric. I’m never going to take out the fabric out of the bottom box because it’s such a pain to get to. Right, that makes sense. So I’m not using all my fabric like I should but for my other supplies, I have them mostly in drawers which makes them very accessible. So Nikki, tell me about your system and what’s worked for you and how you store your art supplies.

Nikki

20:01
So as I’ve said before, I have a problem. If I can’t see it, it stops existing, and I must immediately buy more. And that’s the reason that I set up different stations in my studio with everything set out so that I can see it. Now, this is what I’ve done in my past studio, when I had like 600 square feet of nothing but studio space. It’s going to be very different – well, it’s different already now, because everything I own is in boxes. But as soon as I’m moving to the bus, it’s going to be totally different. But I think some of this could be helpful, what I have done in the past. So I love using vintage wood boxes, and shelves and drawers and anything that’s vintage wood to store things in. And I have this really cool thing from a company called Peg and Awl that I’ll link to in the show notes. And it’s basically like this just really big solid piece of wood, that’s like, I don’t know, I’ll show a picture of it. But it’s just got like holes drilled in it on top. And you can just store pens and pencils, and brushes and rulers and all kinds of stuff in there. And I’ve got all my stuff in there that I can see. And I also had the same kind of carts that you’re talking about, I actually found not the IKEA one. But I found some on Amazon that are basically the same style.  They’re taller, and some have three shelves, not shelves, they’re like three tiers. And some what some of them even had four, but they take the same floor space. And so I had one for encaustic tools, one for jewelry, etc. So also in my studio I had, it was designed to be an art gallery. So it had to have a bathroom because it was open to the public. It had this half bath, but it was really big open space. And so I got these heavy duty shelves to align the walls in there. And I stored all kinds of things that I didn’t need to use every day, but had to access sometimes the things that are less pretty than what I wanted out in the studio, like you know, cans of spray fixative and bottles of glue and things like that. So that was really, really helpful to have that extra space. But I also have my favorite favorite thing, which I sold almost all the furniture that I had, but I could not sell this. I have a huge antique flat file would is almost as tall as I am. It’s got like, I don’t know, 15 drawers or something. I bought it on eBay, I paid as much for the for the freight as I did for the furniture. But anyway, it holds full size watercolor sheets. It has all my papers and prints and pads and sketchbooks and you know, a zillion things. 

Laura

23:08
Yeah, and also those are great to put your finished work in. You know, when when you have a lot of sheets of paper, like you want to protect them and you can put them in those flat files. Those are awesome.

Nikki

23:16
Yeah, yeah, I have a bunch of prints in there. Some I even have some drawings from high school in there.

Laura

23:23
You’ll have to show some of those.

Nikki

23:25
When I was in high school, and you had to carve into stone tablets and cave walls.

Laura

23:33
When the dinosaurs were flying around, and…

Nikki

23:36
Yes, that’s exactly when, anyway, so none of this stuff is going to work when I move into the bus. I’ll show photos a bit later, because the bus is still being converted right now. And I’m still working on the plan to figure out, like I had my whole plan for everything down to each drawer and cabinet. But I left a big open space for my studio space. And when I say big, I’m talking big for a bus. I want to see how I use it before I finished designing that. So I’m still trying to figure out what might work. I’ve already sold or donated at least half of my art supplies and tools and all the materials. Yeah, I’m trying to narrow down the types of things that I work on so I don’t have to have quite as much.

Laura

24:26
You need to teach me how to do that because I cannot narrow down.

Nikki

24:30
Well, as soon as I figure it out. I’m going to try to have one large plastic bin for each medium that I use. So you know I do encaustic, I do a lot of mixed media collage-type stuff, I do some jewelry. So if I have one bin for each type of work that I can narrow my supplies to and…

Laura

Okay, you can only keep what fits in this one bin.

Nikki

Right, then I can just pull out the bin that I want to work on. And when I say pull out, probably from under bus storage.

Laura

25:07
Anything that I guess doesn’t have to be temperature controlled could go there. 

Nikki

25:11
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I will not be putting my encaustic supplies underneath the bus.

Laura

25:16
They will be fully melted by the time you pulled them out. 

Nikki

25:21
Right. But you know, it’s it’s not gonna hurt to have like dried watercolor pans and pencils and paper under there. I’m also trying to come up with smaller and less power intensive versions of the things that I need. For example, for encaustic. I currently use a good size propane torch and you know, the kind of heat gun that you can strip paint and wallpaper with that are huge power draws.

Laura

25:50
Yeah, they are. Because every time that I use those for encaustic, it flips the circuit board.

Nikki

25:55
Yes. So I’m saying goodbye to those. And I’m just going to use one of those really small embossing heat guns. You know what kind I’m talking about?

Laura

26:06
Exactly. Because that’s, that’s what I use all the time. Because I come from the craft world.

Nikki

26:13
Right. Well, those work fine for encaustic if you’re doing really small things, and that’s all I’m going to be able to do on the bus anyway. So that should work for me.

Laura

26:24
Also, you could do one of those small creme brulee torches. That’s what I have for encaustic stuff, too. For the smaller work.

Nikki

26:30
Yes, I have the torch head that fits on a little small butane can that I can use.

Laura

26:35
I mean, you’re not planning on doing like 48 by 48 inch work on your bus, right?

Nikki

26:39
No, I’ve never done that anyway.

Laura

26:43
So I think if you’re working smaller, those tools will work totally fine for you. Yeah, that’s a good compromise to still get you the supplies that you need in the minimal storage space that you’ll have.

Nikki

26:54
Right? Yeah. So I’ll only be able to work on small things. But that’s okay. Because I also will have no place to store or even display any finished art of any significant size. So I’ll definitely be working small. And I’ll have to be super creative about what to do with work when I’m finished with it. Ideally, I’ll just sell it all immediately.

Laura

27:17
Right? You could have like a little Nikki’s Art Fair in every city that you end up going to in your bus as you’re visiting. 

Nikki

27:23
Well, don’t think I haven’t thought about that. Because I have this really amazing – have you ever seen a wallpaper pasting table? The one that I have is seven feet long. And it’s only about two feet wide. Well, it’s however wide one panel of wallpaper is, like about two feet wide, I think. But it folds in half vertically, and it has legs that fold down. So when it’s folded up, it’s seven feet long. But it’s still only like three inches tall by 12 inches. And I’m having them specifically build the floor of my bedroom in my bus up five inches with an opening that I can slide that table underneath the bedroom floor. Because I was like how am I going to take this? But anyway, the point of this is I can – there is a point, I swear. I haven’t even been drinking any bourbon tonight. I can pull this table out and set it up in front of the bus or alongside the bus and set things up and sell them from there anywhere I go.

Laura

28:39
Very nice. You might just have to get some permits or something like I don’t know how all that works.

Nikki

28:45
Yeah, probably. You’ll just find me in a Walmart parking lot trying to sell stuff.

Laura

28:55
Alright, right. So you mentioned that your goal is to to sell your finished work. But I think you mentioned that you were looking at some cool ways to sort of display some inspirational things and things that you’re working on. So what have you got for that?

Nikki

29:14
So, I am not going to have very much wall space at all, because I’m keeping all the windows in my bus. But I saw these really cool things that you can hang artwork on. They’re cables, like wire cables with little clips, like picture a clothesline. And you can just hang things on that without taking up any wall space since I won’t have walls. Yeah, I think those are great. So that would be good for little small little small things on paper. 

Laura

29:47
I actually think those are great for any small studio even if you’re not on a bus or traveling like you are I actually have one of my students has done that and she’s put multiple cables strung on the back of her wall and then when she finished she has her cards and things. She displays them that way and has them in the background so that it’s always something inspirational. I think that work really great for mood boards too, if you’re working on a collection, for example, to be able to use those cables for something like that, so that’s pretty cool.

Nikki

30:15
Definitely. So I also hope to be able to use some of the old boxes I’ve collected and handmade ceramic mugs that I really don’t have cabinet space to store in. But I can use them like at the back of my desk to hold my supplies. And just I’m gonna have to like hold them down to the surface with like, museum wax. That sticky stuff.

Laura

30:37
Yeah. Because every time you take a left turn, otherwise, they’re gonna fly across the bus and shatter into a million pieces.

Nikki

30:43
Yeah, absolutely. But one of the one of the super cool features of the bus is the metal roof. And a lot of people will cover that up with paneling of some sort, but I’m keeping the metal roof so I can use magnets to store things so I can find some hanging storage with heavy duty magnets and have things hanging too. 

Laura

31:05
So everybody, this is going to be a super cool adventure. For Nikki, we’re all excited to see what happens as she designs and builds up this bus and comes up with clever ways to store all of her art supplies in such a way that’s functional and pretty as well, you probably will end up at that magazine Nikki.

Nikki

31:22
I might, you know, I might. I mean as opposed to my studio. As soon as I saw Carrie Schmidt’s bus with her art studio. I was like, Yeah, I’m next.

Laura

31:39
Yeah, I could see it. That’s awesome.

Nikki

31:44
So that’s all that I can think of right now. We might have to do another episode like this, once I’m in the bus, and can actually figure out what is going to work for me.

Laura

31:57
I think we all come up with solutions for the spaces that we’re in. And so you’ll come up with some really clever things for the bus. And I know my solutions are always changing as well depending on what it is I’m interested in at the time, and where functionally, I can do that artwork. Now, I will admit, I do have my artwork now on my coffee table. In my living room.

Nikki

32:19
Actually, Laura, every time I’ve seen you working on some art, it’s been at your coffee table.

Laura

32:24
I know. It’s just convenient, the TV’s there. And I can I don’t know and gas can sit next to you on the couch. I know instead of actually doing it at my functional table. I don’t know why that happens. I migrate over there. 

Nikki

32:37
But that’s the point is whatever works for you. You can find a solution no matter what kind of space you have, right?

Laura

32:45
Yeah, for sure. And there’s even you know, some things that I’ve done too, because when I do paint larger I paint in my kitchen, as I mentioned, and I learned some things there like I use one of those memory foam mats that you can get for the floor.

Nikki

33:01
Oh, yeah. Like the foam mats that they have in in commercial kitchens and things like that. 

Laura

33:07
Yeah, I just have one of those. And so when I paint, if I’m going to be standing there for a while, it helps so much to be standing on one of those things instead of standing on the tile floor. So I’ve learned certain things like that, that are important to have in my supply stash that can be cross functional, because I can use them in the kitchen just normally. But then I also use them when I’m painting and things. And I also have a travel easel that I keep tucked in the corner of my kitchen and I have this really cool decorative hook. That’s I think it’s from Anthropologie. And I have all of my art aprons on it.

Nikki

How many aprons does a person need?

Laura

Well, you know, if you’re me, probably seven or eight, just saying.

Nikki

33:46
Okay, well, I just have a drawer full of art t-shirts. Oops, got paint on that one. Now that’s an art shirt.

Laura

34:00
Yeah, I have a few shirts like that, too. But I mostly use the aprons, but then they get all the paint on them and I don’t want to throw them out because they’re pretty. That’s my excuse.

Nikki

34:14
Ooh, we need a Startist Society apron.

Laura

Oh, we totally do.

Nikki

Totally. Okay, that’s the next thing. And that’s going on our print on demand shop.

Laura

34:25
Awesome. All right.

Nikki

34:27
So I think we’ve shown that you can be just as creative with how you’re gonna organize your stuff as you are when you’re making art.

Laura

34:37
You can. 

Nikki

34:39
So now it’s your turn. We’ve shared our solutions for storing our art supplies. And we would love to see and hear what you guys have been doing. So join us in our Startist Society Facebook group and show us pictures of your creative spaces.

Laura

34:53
I’d love to see them and then I’ll want to go out and buy all of the storage solutions that you use.

Nikki

34:58
Well, yes, that’s the problem. For today’s show notes and links to all the organizing solutions that we talked about. Go to startistsociety.com/organizingsupplies.

Laura

35:14
If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, we’d love for you to leave us a five star rating and review. Reviews help us reach more Startist like you and keep us inspired to create new episodes.

Nikki

35:23
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next week.