exploring my studio storage

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I’ve been ‘playing’ with some smaller projects lately, having reclaimed half the kitchen table, but they’re not entirely finished and photographed yet. So, till then I thought I’d post something just to keep the blog hopping.

I had planned this post to just be a rave about the new art supply drawers I bought on Temu. I am so happy with it! It fit in all my pastels, including an unopened box and some packs of willow charcoal I had stuffed here and there.

It even had room for my pencils – watercolour pencils, pastel pencils and ink pencils. All in one place now. Which means I now have some empty jars to spread out my paint brushes and other tools…

Since I got my new pastel storage box, and due to the fact that I’ve been watching so many organising and decluttering videos on Youtube lately, I’ve been inspired to share some of my own storage and organisation solutions.

Given I’m a creator (I won’t say artist cause I do all kinds of things) and my home has to work as a home as well as a studio, I’ve had to be creative with my storage. So here are some examples.

Firstly, who can live without one of these gorgeous drawer units from Ikea? I’d love a ton of them. They’re beautiful and so handy. Mine holds the glue guns and glue sticks in the big drawer, and markers, batteries, other glues and office stuff in the smaller ones.

And then there’s my gorgeous hotel reception key cubicle thingy I bought at an antique shop a few years ago, removed the room numbers, painted the front white but kept the inside of it blue. Then, using some thick cardboard, I made little boxes to act as drawers for all kinds of small items like various sized and type of beads, brooch pins, pegs, acrylic shapes, whatever I might need at some stage. Of course, these are mostly winter project materials. Little labels tell me what’s in each box so I don’t have to go searching.

I got little boxes below at Jumbo (a store that sell all kinds of things cheap). I bought some that come in sets of 4 and some that came as individual boxes. I did the same thing with the lables here too. These are a little bigger so hold larger stuff, or more items.

To the left of the boxes you can see some tools in jars on the right and some in an Ikea cutlery drying thing I have no room for in my kitchen.

I’ve temporarily placed 5 of the individual boxes under my monitor to raise it to the right height. I used to have a platform I’d made for it, but I hadn’t used the right type of wood and it had bowed under the weight, so it wasn’t really working for me any more.

I have this cute little basket which used to hang next to my computer where I kept external drives and USB sticks etc. But I got sick of leaving sunglasses all over the place, so I moved it to near the front door. Now I just pop my sunnies in there soon as I come in the door.

I got this cute bunny on Temu that I spray painted white (cause he’s much cuter like that). He now sits near the front door holding my business cards.

Mind you, I still have the business card holder I made out of a ruler, after being inspired by something I saw on Pinterest.

In front of the TV, I have the drop box I made for my kitchen in Tasmania. Its there for anything I want to grab before I head out the door… plus a pair of garden trimmers cause I’m constantly losing them. And I don’t even have a garden!

On the other side of the TV is this lovely galvanised caddy I bought (you guessed it!) on Temu. For now it holds some odds and ends on display, but one day it will have a higher purpose!

I made these 3 drawers to fit in the bookcase for added storage. These hold my water colours, all my tape and my oil paints. Turns out I enjoy making box/drawers!

Above my monitor I have 4 more box/drawers. These I bought at Jumbo and they fit perfectly. All I did to these was to decoupage them with the same magazine ads I did on the other drawers so they tie in together. They hold things like my camera, string and rope, candles and matches etc.

There is always a ton of stuff in jars and bottles you can’t put in drawers or boxes. I have a shelf dedicated to that.

Under the shelf that holds the printer I have a box which holds tools I need to keep in easy reach – a hammer, some nails, some screws and screw drivers, some sanding pads, a box cutter, etc. Next to the printer is a shoe box decoupaged to hide electrical cables. And a spare box, cause who can resist keeping ‘good boxes’… sigh. My excuse: when I do sculpture workshops, I need small boxes to pack the finished figures into for the participants to take home.

The yogurt containers I upcycled recently are currently living on top of the fridge with labels as well. Nothing says ‘I’m organised’ than having labels on everything, even if you can never find what you’re after!

I have a million suitcases of all sizes, they’re ideal for pretty storage. A small one under the TV holds supplies for my workshops. And larger paint tins next to that. I really don’t like all these in the house, but it gets so hot outside in my outdoor cabinet that I worry the contents will dry out too fast.

I have a beautiful antique hat and coat hook where I hang all the aprons for sculpture workshop participants. Next to that is the cabinet I made over that holds towels.

A couple more small suitcases live under that, holding wire and wire tools, and felt and felting tools.

In my bedroom, the bedside table is a little shelf unit I found in bad need of some TLC. Its baskets were rotten so I put in shelves and then made a couple of boxes to hide electrical cords and other bedside stuff. The middle shelf houses my modem… Not the best place for it, but its the only phone outlet in the house.

On the other side of the room is the kitchen dresser I made over which holds my linen up the top and boots and grooming stuff in the lower sections.

Opposite that is the suitcase stack. I’ve had these suitcases for years and they’ve been in all my homes and held all kinds of things for me… always labelled of course!

So that’s a quick tour of my home and my storage solutions. It’s an ever-changing, ever-growing situation, as needs change.

It’s not perfect, but it suits me.

z

beach pebbles painting

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Not long ago I bought two long rectangular canvases to paint on, and last week, with Peter and Kelly on Syros, I converted my home back into a studio to do this painting. It’s not like I haven’t got about 6 unfinished paintings lying around needing work…

The brief for this one was something beachy, in neutral tones to go over the bed in an air bnb. Once I decided what I was going to paint it went pretty smoothly, though there were a couple of false starts… Hence (good word) it took me almost all week to finish it.

Given my entire kitchen/living room is my studio, I painted on my kitchen table and set it on the stove to dry between sessions. That way I could look at it when I wasn’t working on it, to decide what it needed. Its my process. I need to live with my work a while before I decide its done and can sign it.

My life is in a constant state of moving things around – off the kitchen table and bench so I can cook, back so I can work, from here to there, from there to here but a little to the left, then back again…

And now mom is staying with me, I have to cook almost every day… Mom is a real greek housewife and she expects me to be one too… sigh… I never cooked every single day, but I make her breakfast every morning and I cook lunch one day, eat leftovers the next. However, I must make a fresh salad every day.

This is not easy for me; I don’t cook much. Not since quite a few years ago when an ex felt the food I cooked wasn’t filling enough cause there was not nearly enough meat to satisfy his manly hunger. Since then, I basically cook what I want to eat and if you/he/anyone doesn’t like it, they’re welcome to cook for themselves.

So, the studio has been sacrificed to the kitchen gods. At least for a while.

But mom is getting stronger every day (thanks to my amazing cooking!) and hopefully she’ll be back to full strength soon enough.

BTW – The staged photos are thanks to Photoshop… After all, how else am I going to stage something when I don’t have the wall space?

Here is a photo of it in its new home:

z

recycling into a wall hanging, can you guess what I used?

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I had the idea to recycle these ‘things’ I didn’t want to throw away into something fun. I had this nice stick and some bottles left over from the larger wall hanging I made a couple of weeks ago so, while I was on a creative streak, I began working on this.

First I painted my ‘things’ white on the outside and a vibrant blue on the inside. Can you tell what they are? Go on. Its easy.

Then I edged them using a gold marker. Have you guessed?

Then I painted shapes inside them using a white paint marker. Have you got it yet?

I poked holes in the bottom, added a white pearl onto a piece of wire and attached them by wrapping the wire around the stick.

If you haven’t guessed yet, they’re cut up egg cartons!

I randomly wrapped the ‘flowers’ onto my stick, added bottles with sea glass, dried grasses and sticks in them, a couple of old chandelier crystals to refract light and almost done.

To finish, I wrapped the entire stick with hemp string to hide the wires.

I think it looks pretty flash and I’m really happy with it.

This is what the corner of my living room looks like right now. I’m constantly having to rearrange what I have on my walls. Not enough space for everything… Must sell some stuff to make room… Time to get back to listing stuff on Etsy and Ebay…

z

fridge magnets – experimenting with Temu buys

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I’m not sure I mentioned before, but my mom has been sick. She got COVID and as a result got pneumonia. We thought she had a cold, but she passed out one morning while having breakfast and fell off her chair. At the health center on Paros they checked for broken bones and found pneumonia. So off to Syros we went, to the hospital.

I have bad memories of that place…

Anyway, mom was in isolation there of course, so although I stayed on Syros for days, I was only able to see her from the doorway of the COVID ward now and then for a few minutes. So, in the end I returned to Paros and my grooming work, and my brother and his girlfriend (on holidays from Australia) went to Syros to be close by.

The good news is that mom is coming home today! She still needs oxygen and pills, but she’s finally out of hospital. She’ll stay with me till she’s on her feet.

Meanwhile, I was so frustrated and bored on Syros. Without company and having to hang around close to the hospital, I barely did anything but watch Netflix in the air-conditioned room and walk around town when it wasn’t too hot.

I was yearning to do something when I got back and so I’ve been doing a few odds and ends. First, I’ll share these little fridge magnet experiments.

I bought these wooden objects off Temu and wanted to try different treatments so see what I liked. I tried decoupage of some napkins I had.

I like these, they’re not as shiny now they are totally dry, so they look more vintagey. The blue fish, not so much…

These half round knobby things are kinda cute, but I don’t like the way the napkin didn’t fold well on the sides. Not sure what I’ll do with those. I think these would make great sea urchin magnets.

One thing I was dying to try was this wood burning marker I saw on Temu that I wanted to try.

Of course, I also had to buy this little heat gun, but now I have a small heat gun for other projects.

What you do is draw on the wood with the pen and then apply heat to it and the pen marks will burn the wood.

Eh. It works fine but it’s definitely not for such fine work… the markers are thin but not thin enough for what I had in mind. I could only do basic shapes…

To be honest I’m not sure what I’ll do with most of these little things. I have added super strong neodymium magnets to the back so they will hold just about anything on the fridge. I bought those on Temu too. I might re-work them, paint them… I’m better at painting for sure.

I still much prefer the magnets I made last year – I made the magnets out of air-dry clay, painted them with acrylic paint and sealed them with gloss varnish. Much cuter.

My Temu buying days will be coming to an end soon as I hear that the EU has voted to place high tariffs on things coming from China. It means we’ll still be getting Chinese made things, but at a higher price cause we’ll be buying them from European based businesses who import from China. Bummer.

In a way its good – I’ve become addicted to the site. But it’s so handy for buying craft items, dog items and all kinds of stuff. Of course, there are so many gadgets you can easily fall into that trap (I have…) but if I stick to the art, craft, office and dog stuff (and some tools) that I will actually use, I feel I’m getting good value and will find it hard to give up. Especially for things like the blank timber pieces and other bits and pieces I can use to make other things.

Such is life.

z

a bottle wall hanging thingy

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Did I mention my brother and his partner are visiting? They arrived today from Athens, they live in Canberra, Australia, so its been a long time getting here.

Anyway… while cleaning, tidying, organising and generally making space for visitors in my tiny home, I finished this project for one of my cousins. Its to hang over a bed in one of her studio apartments.

It was easy to make, I just had to find, scavenge, buy and put together the various elements, so it takes a little patience and imagination.

The branch I found while walking Vincent one morning. The little bottles I had to buy. Except one which I recycled. The wooden beads and raffia were from something I’d bought a while ago that I pulled apart. The string ‘vine’ I got online when thinking of making this. The hemp string I already had.

I always have different ropes and strings on hand.

Firstly I had to trim and clean the branch. And make sure there were no bugs on it or in it… Learned that the hard way…

I added some sea glass from my collection to a couple of the bottles (those with larger mouths), then randomly added a few dry bits and pieces collected on other walks.

I found some rusty wire in my collection and cut and twisted that to add a bit of whimsy. Plus I’m partial to rust…

I did have to buy some of those puffy grass things – no idea what they’re called, cause the ones I picked locally were pretty pathetic looking.

And a tiny bit of lavender and a small piece of driftwood, cause why not…

I especially love the way it looks when the sun begins to hit it in the afternoon.

I’m wondering whether I want to part with it now… I love it over my couch in the sun.

z

sick of being sick – so doing small things

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Miniature roses from one of my pots. They smell heavenly and I love the two different shades of pink of the two plants I bought. But there is some kind of disease affecting them. I’ve trimmed off the sickly leaves but don’t know what else to do… I’ve also moved the pots to the front of the house in case they like it better there, and I’m taking a twig to the nursery next week to see what they can recommend.

But back to the title… I got a cold last weekend, it started as a sore throat and I had two days where I couldn’t swallow. Then it went to my head, a drippy nose and sneezing all the time, with the added bonus of a dry cough. Eventually the drips turned into snot (lovely, I know, I love to share!), a blocked nose. I’m still headachy and have progressed to the joys of chesty coughs which come in bursts that hurt.

Oh happy happy days.

I’m told many people are sick on Paros with this cold/flu/not covid/virus thing. And I’m warned that it lingers. I’m not sure, but I did get some stuff from the chemist to ease the pain and lessen the cough… Let’s see how that goes.

My brother Peter and his girlfriend arrived in Athens yesterday (from Australia) and will be here next weekend and I don’t want this lingering then.

Meanwhile, since I was too sick to do much, I spent a lot of time watching makeover and declutter videos on YouTube.

I’m a regular declutterer with hoarding tendencies. I’m also an artist who likes to make things out of all kinds of other things, so I collect stuff to ‘make something with’.

Therefore, at least once a year I go through my cupboards, my craft and art supplies, my wardrobe and kitchen cupboards and get rid of anything that’s expired or I won’t use or wear.

But things are still too disorganised. Or maybe I should say that they become disorganised all too often, no matter how often I try to organise. Cause I’ve always got something ‘on the go’, or waiting for a spot to live, or to be moved on, or whatever.

Right now I can’t see my kitchen counter or the kitchen table yet, but I did go through and organise the bathroom and the living room bookcase.

So, since I’m more or less house bound while I get over this dastardly cold, and since I actually feel a little better today (when not racked with coughing fits) I decided to tackle the kitchen and get things organised in there…

And, like any creative with a shot of ADHD thrown in, I can’t clean, tidy and organise without leaving out ‘I will finish this’ or ‘I will get to this’ projects along the way, effectively never completely getting rid of the clutter.

However, I did a couple of tiny upcycles today to make my life FEEL a little more organised. Or at least ‘pretty’ organised. So here they are.

I was about to throw out these various plastic containers I had kept cause they’re handy for putting in leftover paint, bits of unfinished projects, etc. Instead I got out my trusty hot glue gun and some rope and started making them into better looking storage solutions.

This large ice cream tub was the first one I tackled, using thick cotton rope I had on hand.

I wrapped, glued, wrapped and glued my way around it till I looked like this:

The lid wasn’t my best work, in hindsight I should have treated this way differently, but it is what it is… The cost of this project came to about 4e plus quite a few glue sticks I had on hand, and the tub of ice cream which I had thoroughly enjoyed eating a while back.

This will now hold some of my bathroom accessories, things which aren’t used to often, but can now be hidden away.

Next I tackled one of the yogurt containers. This is a different rope and it turned out way nicer. I especially love the little loop on top.

This is now holding my phone chargers and Australian plug adaptors which always sit on my kitchen counter and add to the mess.

I actually love this one so much I’m buying more of that rope to do another similar container…

I used up the rest of the rope on two smaller containers: this small container to hold my rubber bands. Nicer than having them in a glass jar I think.

I did these small projects with minimal damage to myself thanks to these handy little hot glue gun finger sleeves I got from Temu. SO handy. If, like me, you only have the scalding hot hot HOT type of glue gun, you need these. Next time I buy a glue gun I’m going with the less dangerous, low heat type. Although now I have these, its no longer a matter of life or death.

Of course, all this was overseen by Vincent who kept one eye on me the whole time.

I’m off to continue on the tidying and organising and working on some of the ‘I’ll get to this’ projects.

I really hope this is the beginning of a creative period. I need one to feel better about myself.

z

dog shows. once again.

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Its been a busy couple of weeks. First trying to get myself organised to go to Athens for the dog shows. Then the days in Athens at the dog shows, grooming etc. Then coming back home to the mess I’d left behind and working on bits of the house at a time so get sorted.

Imagine if I actually had a big house!!! It takes me days to clean/tidy/organise a single bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room in one…

I give up.

Well, actually, I don’t. I keep trying to make this space as practical as possible and to keep all my art supplies and projects accessible and neat with a place for everything and everything in its place.

Right now, the place for most things is on the kitchen benchtop, the kitchen table, the floor around the door and in front of the bookcase…

Anyway… thats regular life. Here are some photos of my little man at the dog shows. He went really well as always, showed his little heart out and got the certificates and excellent ratings as expected.

I love the hair, the brushing, the banding, the feel of it under my hand when I cuddle him. I adore the look.

But summer is coming and it will be hot. And I’d like to be able to take him with me to the beach sometimes and let him swim if he wants to.

Not to mention there are SO many fleas around these days. Every second dog I groom has fleas. Vincent caught fleas.

Lately I’d gotten Vectra top spot for him as I couldn’t find the Frontline TriAct I wanted locally. Before the Vectra top spot was due for a repeat, Vincent had fleas. Not impressed. So, before going to the shows I gave him a flea pill. Thats working so far. But I really want to go back to what I had for Lainee – the Seresto flea collar. Lainee never had fleas and that’s all she had.

Now we come to the problem – a poodle in a full show coat can’t wear a collar all day, every day. The hair will matt terribly around it. Its not like I can put a satin sleave on it to protect it from rubbing the coat as I do with his regular collar (which he only wears when we go out).

So, what to do? Cut him off? I’m not sure I’m ready to do that just yet, though I do think about it a lot. I just can’t bring myself to cut off that glorious coat. He has such a beautiful coat, its got body and stands up by itself even when its conditioned heavily.

I’ve decided that after this wash (today/tomorrow) he will be trimmed back a fair bit, to a much more tailored T-trim so I can keep the coat at least a little longer. See how that goes. I have another 2 weeks till he needs flea treatment again… maybe I’ll decide what to do by then. Maybe not. Who knows?

Basically, he’s in a Swedish T-trim now. I adore the Continental, but he’s really long legged and rather thin so I don’t think it would suit him.

Picture this with his hair in bands, cause that’s how poodles in show trim live their lives…

By the way, in case you’re wondering, I can only find photos of standards in some of these trims.

Another option is the historially correct continental (or in Vincent’s case it would be more of a non-shaved leg version), but I dislike it very much. I find it the most inelegant of all poodle trims.

So the only real option is the moderne trim. Here are the variations on that. Clipped tail and ears:

Scissored ears but the rest more of less the same.

Long ears and boofy tail.

Personally, I like the scissored ears and trimmed tail best. I think the fluffy ears and tail are more a lamb trim than a moderne trim.

But I still can’t bring myself to cut off his coat…

Stay tuned… One day Vincent will appear without all the hair and bands. And no one will recognise him!

z

visiting an art studio

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I am lucky to live on an island full of creative people. One of those people, who’s work I’d seen around before but only recently met, is Dimitra Skandali. Dimitra is a gorgeous, inspirational woman who grew up on Paros and who creates the most fantastic works of art.

I visited her studio last week and she allowed me to take some photos of this wonderful space while we had a coffee and chatted.

Like all artists, her space is full of stuff… stuff in the process of being created, finished stuff, bits of stuff, stuff to make things with, stuff which might come in handy one day, collected stuff, found stuff, wonderful stuff, fun stuff, pretty stuff, old stuff, broken stuff, small stuff, big stuff… just STUFF in all its forms.

I could have spent happy hours exploring her studio!

Her workbench in the middle of the space has tools and materials laid out in preparation for her current projects, laid out neatly, everything within reach…

Crates and bags of dried organic matter, flowers, thread, the ubiquitous stuff she finds which might work in this or an upcoming project.

I just love these hanging baskets dotted with dried flowers. I can’t wait to have my own studio full of things like that… and the space to leave things out and not have to pack one project away to begin another, have visitors or cook…

A weaving project she’s working on laid out over an antique chair. Made from old fishing nets, seaweed and other materials she’s weaved together. Beautiful, haunting and oh so intricately worked.

One day I’ll have a mannequin set up with my tea bag dress in the corner of my studio and pretty stuff everywhere!

Look at all those gorgeous hanging bits and woven art on the walls!

One of the first pieces of Dimitra’s work I’d ever seen was a collection of framed work she’d made using seaweed, like this below.

The little office nook. How cute is that!

I could really relate to her studio – like many artists, myself included! – there are surprises everywhere you look. Part of an old lamp is now the home of a large rusty moth… and it just works!

Dimitra runs the Cycladic Arts Center, a place that has artists in residence from around the world through the year, has shows on a regular basis and hosts events.

I encourage you to visit her website to see her work and explore the Cycladic Arts Centre site.

I came home inspired… then looked at the mess I call a home/studio and despaired. I am nowhere near her league of professionalism.

It’s time to start working again! It’s been too long.

z

moving right along

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We have a concrete slab!

These pics were sent to me by the engineer last week. I’d been too busy to go past there to see for myself till yesterday.  But I finally made it and took some of my own pics.

Obviously, he had a drone up the day they poured concrete. Great pics!

The foundation is really high up the end where my studio will be… I sure could have used that extra height to create a loft…

But you can almost see the building now we have an actual ‘floor’.

Here is the concrete slab for the container.

And there is the poor container, still sitting at a drunken angle, waiting to be located in its final position.

The diggy-diggy man actually sifted the pile of stones and separated the dirt… I now have clean(ish) soil for my future garden!

For now, they’ve just pushed rocks up against the slab and in places around the house foundation… I plan to sort it eventually, into rock gardens and garden borders.

I can’t wait to start creating a garden, working on the container and generally making this land home.

Of course, can’t create a garden till I have water and can’t work on the container till I have power (or cordless tools…).

Patience.

Its the local buzzword.

z

another update and a rant

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I managed to visit the building site again today and get some updated photos. It was a case of using an anchor and dodging the dust storm cause of the high winds, but I succeeded.

The foundations are finished, and they have almost finished moving the earth and doing some backfilling. Don’t ask me. I’m just the one who pays the bills. Well, along with my brother.

On the way back I stopped to take a photo of something that should never have been allowed to happen, but hey… this is Greece and things ‘happen’…

To explain: there is, on all our documents and contracts, an access road which runs along two sides of our property. This is considered a ‘country/farm road’ or something in Greece. I will call it a country road…

So… this is the start of the country road today:

If you wore full protective gear, rock climbing boots and wielded a very sharp machete, you might be able to get through there. But forget car access, not even a donkey cart can get through with the huge walls the property owners built on either side.

I mean, are you kidding me???

‘Let’s build huge walls that go to the very last millimeter of our land so no one can take ANYTHING from us. After all, we have a road – this part of the country road was opened up… who cares about others down the line? Let them eat cake.’

And beyond those walls (even the buttress of a wall which seems rather unnecessary unless its sole purpose is to close off access, which is most likely is), they’ve tossed rocks and rubble on the path so that nothing can get through. Ever.

I know. I tried walking it once. At great personal risk.

What used to be a country road, accessed by foot and donkey in my grandfather’s youth, the only road to get to the beach back then, is now rendered useless. So, we no longer have public road access to our property.

Till now we’re driving in through a neighbouring block, temporary access… for how long, who knows, I don’t know. I’ve applied to the municipality to open up/clear part of the road further down where someone has built a house and has cleared a section to his place. We need to go from there till our property, giving access to another 3 properties… not just us.

When I asked at the municipality about opening the old country road from the beginning and informed them that walls had been built, a very friendly woman informed that ‘Oh, they’ve built walls? We cant/wont open the road.’…

HUH? Is it a recognised road HISTORICALLY or is it not???

Yet, apparently, when my closest neighbour on that side asked about opening a road a long time ago (she is currently doing what we’re doing and using temporary access through her brother’s land) she was told she already had the country road therefore did not need another way in…

Sigh.

It’s Greece after all. What can I say? If you know the right people, are willing to cut corners and do a little creative fudging, you can do almost anything you want. Sure, things are changing, the government is trying to crack down on everything, especially every single cent you might make, but the cheating and slight of hand continues…

z