Welcome to my studio! Like many of us, the structure is simply a double garage with double roll up doors. Combined with a window & back door, it’s very easy to catch any breezes that are around, quickly blowing out any ceramic dust I create and the heat we get in Summer here. My studio is located about 50 metres from our home down a hill, so it keeps work life & family life quite separate which is very important when you work from home. By opening everything right up, I get pretty good natural light, and I have 2 flouros & some portable lights to light the studio up at night & during poor weather. You’ll notice I’ve set it up so there’s a substantial cleared space in the centre – very important when I’m working on large or multiple pieces. |
 | For a closer look at how I’ve set everything up, I’ll start from the left hand side & work my way around. | |
Firstly I’ve ripped the doors off an old cupboard & use it to store:- trays, icecream containers, sifters, my safety equipment (glasses, ear muffs, respirator etc.), my wet tools (grouters, bowls, mixers, sponges etc.).
Down the bottom there’s scales for weighing mail packages & a wheel for completing garden pots & vertical works
Next section is a 2.5m length of wall which I use to store lengths of backing like plywood & compressed cement sheets (which mostly come in lengths of 2.4m).
I’ve got lengths of aluminium angle sitting on the shelf created by the framing, and have hung odd bits of ironwork above that.
Next is the “wet” area – an old sink and waterproof table, some buckets and lot’s of rags & tarps.
The sink is set up with a straight pipe leading to an outside bucket (shown below). This means I can put grout waste down the sink & run little risk of it clogging up the pipes.
If it does, I’ll just replace the pipe as necessary.
On the back wall, I have some very sturdy racks which hold all my hardware, chemicals, toolboxes & up the top empty containers of all types.
To the right I have an old filing cabinet to store papers & stationery.
And this is the area where most of the mosaic work happens.
I have a big long bench at standing height, with a shelf above for my tools.
I’ve set up a permanent, very secure easel for working with the mosaics at almost vertical, and an easy to move table made from an old door. There’s also an old fridge which can be turned on during a large project to store and refridgerate my bagged up glue.
Notice how I’ve set up a power board making for easy access for my power tools.
You might have found it a bit strange that I have so many chairs and stools in the studio, when for the most part I’m the only one who works there.
As you would know, if you work in the same position for too long, it’s bad for your back. I get around this by having several different height chairs, and I can choose to work on the table, easel or bench.
By mixing up my position regularly, I can work weeks on end without too many aches or pains.
I’ve covered use of power tools elsewhere in the tutorials, but here’s a closeup of the ones I keep real handy.
Back from from left: Dropsaw fitted with a 60 tooth blade (for cutting aluminium), circular saw (for cutting timber & plywood), router (for making mirror frames) & cordless drill (for a multitude of jobs)
Front from left: Dremel rotary tool (for etching and fine cutting), jigsaw (for cutting plywood), hammer drill (for drilling masonry walls & compressed fibre cement & two angle grinders – one permanently fitted with a laser style diamond blade.
My wetsaw set up, and my Karcher high pressure hose
For the wetsaw, you’ll see that I’ve rustproofed an old barbeque frame & attached a Fibre cement top. Now I can wheel the wetsaw wherever I want (even to offsite jobs), and use as much water and make as much mess as I want.
The Karcher can be used to clean up the mess up & does a brilliant job with mosaics & the studio floor.
This is part of my tile storage area. Notice how I have the tiles colour coded, and can have a few metres of each shade leaning against the wall.
I’ve also installed shelves so yoghurt & ice cream containers filled with shards can be kept neat.
It really makes a big difference when your tiles are well organised.
I’ve also installed racks in the tile area to store my smaller tiles, glass beads, offcuts & boxes of odds and ends.
