James Calloway
For a long time I've wanted to bring a camera into producer Linda Watson's craft room, the room where she does all her work and stores all her craft supplies. The letter from viewer Linda Gholson-Hoffine of Palm Harbor, Florida gave me the perfect reason. Florida Linda sent photos of her work space along with her cry:"Help! My room is breaking down! I am a very involved (as in all) crafting and sewing person. I am sending you these photos with the great hope that you will make a Showcase in the storage and organization of your craft supplies."
It couldn't have been more perfect. Not only are our two heavy-duty craftsmen named Linda, but they both use their bedrooms as their base of operations. The only real difference is that Florida Linda shares her office/storage/bedroom with a husband, and California Linda shares hers with two large dogs. California Linda has the most organized storage system I've ever seen, so we're taking a few photos and sharing some of your ideas in hopes that they will not only help Florida Linda but many more of you, even if they don't. You have to use your bedroom as a workplace.
Around her room, Linda has placed several shelves made of elbow braces and boards, which she painted or covered with adhesive paper. These sit high up and are used to store or display rarely used materials. Flat-backed baskets with handles, tape-supported hanging shelves, etc., can be stored on walls.
Linda uses ribbons in so many of her projects that she has enough to open her own ribbon store. Many of the tapes are stored on pegs placed horizontally in the cabinet. Others hang from a rope with a knot at the bottom to prevent the ribbon from slipping. Offray® also has a hanging tape holder on the market that was made to hang from a clothes rail in a closet.
Metal shelves in the work room make very respectable looking shelving when covered. Linda used Con-Tact® paper with a black and white check to cover hers.
The brushes, scissors, tweezers, sponge brushes, etc., found in Linda's room are kept perfectly together by placing them in baskets, boxes and other containers. To keep these smaller items from getting all mixed up together, she makes dividers, some of which are simply toilet paper cardboard cores sitting upright next to each other. Others are made from foam board cut to the shape of the container and bonded together. A slit is cut into the pieces lengthwise, halfway up from the bottom, and then across the pieces from top to bottom so that the pieces fit together.
Linda made hanging clips for all those felt tip markers that have 2" wide tips by cutting holes in a 1/2" thick piece of foam board and pushing the markers in from the top. The entire board hangs on the wall.
Many plastic shoe boxes and other storage containers are kept on top of Linda's bed along with the container that holds the brushes and scissors. These are placed on a large tray to be able to move everything from the bed in one movement.
Some of Linda's most used rubber stamps are in a divided box that hangs on the wall, but most of the stamps are kept in plastic box frames. To easily and safely make these stacks, I cut many 1" squares out of 1/8" thick plastic and glued one to each corner, positioning each square 1/8" from the outside corner. The adhesive was Plastix® glue. of Loctite.
To make creating in bed easier, Linda uses CraftSpace® by Eagle as her work surface and a June Tailor® board for cutting and pressing.
