Studio Tour Part I - Wind Rose Fiber Studio

I was thinking about what to blog today when it occurred to me that I have never shared pictures of my studio. The light is fading today, so I'll make this a two part series so I can take some more pics tomorrow. Have you ever seen that DIY Show Crafters from Coast to Coast? I think I got the name right or something close to it. My favorite part was seeing the creative spaces of all those different people. Some were tidy and organized. Others had a charm only a crafter could love. You know, that organizational system that only the designer themselves can navigate. I loved it.

So here's the door to my creative space. I think mine lies somewhere between the tidy and the charming. Mostly, it's a testimony to how many projects one person can fit into a 12' x 14' space. I always keep my studio door closed because we adopted two little rescue kittens this summer. Cats and Fiber Studios do not mix!! I respect the fact that there are a lot of people with cat allergies so I am very careful to protect my creations from cat exposure. Then there is the fact that if the cats ever did manage to sneak in, they would go crazy. To quote a favorite children's book, "Let the wild rumpus start!" At first I had a hard time adjusting to keeping my door closed. Now I kind of like it. Everyday when I open the door, I'm greeted by a shock of color and the faint smell of wool.


There really is no way to capture the whole space in a single shot. Instead, I've taken pictures of all the specific spaces. As you enter, a large table on the left wall is piled high with ready made pieces just waiting for a good home. It's all there, hats and headbands, things for baby, muk luks and felted beads, jewelry and on and on. It's an inventory I have been building on since my first craft show, always growing and in rotation.

The back wall is lined with shelves that hold a lot of my tools. All sorts of cutters, adhesives, hand made felt, ribbon, etc. Like many of you out there, in addition to my main craft, there is the hope of one day working on and completing family scrapbooks. My stamping and scrapbooking take up a big part of this back wall and corner. On top of the shelves, if you look closely, you may spot my rotary comb for combing out wool locks. There's the sheep that my neice gave me complete with crocheted poncho and purse. She was my first crochet student ever. On the wall above that is my Felted Door Knocker. This is a favorite piece of mine which may never sell, but I like it.

Next to that, is a funny little organizer. I keep business cards from other artists there. You can see my spare license plate. We only use one on our cars here in AZ. It's my first ever personalized tag: ELE4MNT or Four in Element or Foreign Element. Get it? And yes, I do drive a Honda Element. The circles hanging down are handspun samples and the paper doll was made by a special little friend back in VA. I keep it there to remember her and all the little girls I used to teach how to crochet.

Well I think I'm going to stop for today. I got my eyes dilated at the optometrist and I'm still a little blurry. See you tomorrow.