Studio

Studio is finished. It was a lot of work and took me about 9 months, on and off. Most of the stuff has been organized, but its still a bit messy. It's not pretty, but its functional.

Technical stuff: I used to use a "real" jewelers bench that was about 100 years old and had lots of amazing drawers that were all the perfect size. However, the bench was 35 inches high. Although this seems to be the standard size in the jewelry world, I think it's too high for me. I'm about 5'6 and I needed a bar stool to sit at the old bench. It was wobbly and uncomfortable so most of the time I worked standing up. When I was in Germany working with a goldsmith, he teased me for standing while working and joked to his friends that the first thing he had to teach me was to work sitting down. His bench was also 35 inches high but he used regular office chairs. He was well over 6 feet tall. To see over the top of the bench, I needed to sit on my leg and an extra pillow. So after all these experiences, I decided that 35 inches was not for me. All of my benches are 30 inches. So for anyone under 5'10, I would recommend getting a smaller work bench. Sawing can be a bit more difficult because you really need those few inches for maneuverability, but riogrande.com sells a special bench pin that sits 6 inches above your table top.

I bought all of my new drawers from ikea. They're large but thin, which works well for jewelry supplies and tools.

To organize the small files I drilled holes half way into a 3 inch square piece of 2x4. For the burs I also drilled holes into a longer piece of 2x4.

For the shed progress from start to (almost) finished click here

Check out some more work spaces from other Aspiring Metalsmiths members:

Lisa of Sandy Toes Jewelry
Jessica Lopour of Abella Blue

Jeanne Milmann of Golden Water Creations

Sylvia Anderson of Sylvia Anderson

Steph Stargell of Steph Stargell Designs

Clarity of Scrollwork Designs

Brandy of The Frogs Pond

Pennee of All Wired Up Jewelry Designs

Esmeralda of SilverBlueberry

Heather of Misty Ridge Designs

Joy of JoyPeckJoy

Nancy of Nancy Creations

Carole Axium of Carole Axium Designs

Gloria of Hemlock Hollow

Stacy of Form and Funktion