Woot! Day one.
Coffee in hand.
Young Living Motivation and Clarity essential oils in the diffuser.
And a marathon of HGTV on the TV for background.
I have decided to start with a task that is not too overwhelming, will have a big impact, and is very clearly defined. Shelving and organizing my books (Ok, in my task app this is actually 2 tasks, but it totally make sense to do this all together.) Tackling the books, is going to unhinge the log jam that is my lack of floor space at the moment.
I am not gonna lie, I have a lot of books.
Not only was I a book designer in a former life, I was most recently a designer for a craft book publisher. Lark Books (now called Lark Crafts) was developed as a division of Fiber Arts Magazine back in the 80s. Fiber Art Magazine used to do book reviews, and were sent review copies of just about every fiber related book published in the late 70s, through the 80s. The library of resources for fiber arts was crazy huge. During my time at Lark, they cleared out that resource library, only keeping reference materials that were relevant to the direction the business was growing, and for the most part that did not include advanced fiber crafts like weaving, spinning and complex knitting books. Lark offered us employees the opportunity to grab what we could use, before they donated or tossed the rest.
I loaded my SUV 7 times. So, I now am the owner of a vast library of first edition old skool fiber art reference books. My entire Weaving Beyond the Basics class was written based on many of these old skool methods reworked to use modern equipment and art yarns.
Other books include business guides, art journaling resources, personal journals, essential out reference books, some books just for creative inspiration.
I love my books. And as a book designer I will always have a vast collection.
I am not one to organize by color or size. But I will organize in a way that will make it easy to put a hand on a reference when I need it. I will post the final result(hopefully tomorrow) when It is set up.
A side note about my task list app.
While it may seem like a bit of overkill, I am using an app for my 31 studio awesome tasks. I am setting this project up in a new task/project management app called Asana.
This is kind of a test run for this app. I need something to help manage not just my business tasks, but to also manage art projects. As an art director, project management was key to completing large and small design projects. We would set deadlines on every stage of the concept (brainstorm meetings, research, thumbnails, roughs, comps, style sheets) Making art is not neccessarily about just making something. As a professional artist working through cohesive body of work needs a little planning and a lot of documentation. By being more mindful through the concept stages of art, I can be sure that each piece is in line with the overall vision of the body of work as well as mindfully document new ideas for future series.
Asana also works with teams. So, as my work load grows I am hoping to be able to delegate some of the admin and marketing tasks so I can spend more time doing what I love…making art.
Okay…enough chatting…off to tackle books…will be back tomorrow with progress pix and to talk about the closets and why long term art goals are key to setting up your studio.
Joining me in the 31 Day Studio Awesome Challenge?
I am posting progress and info on setting up my studio over the next 31 days. I will not be blitzing my main email list daily…but if you DO want an email notice when daily posts go live, sign up here:
Fiber artist Stacey Budge-Kamison AKA UrbanGypZ lives and works in Cary NC. She can also be found knitting in public, hammering out her latest e-course at local cafés and spinning yarns in her booth at her favorite arts festivals. A designer at heart, Stacey has decided that her mission is to help fellow knitters, crocheters, weavers and felters embrace their own style and creativity by exploring fiber art as it is a part of their everyday life and helping them embrace the title of artist no matter where they are in their journey. 
What a lucky dog you are to have such an extensive fiber / art library – I’m green! I’m putting together my Christmas wish list now – which includes a number of fiber related books. Could you give us fiber lovers an early holiday treat and list your top ten books in print? These references tend to carry a hefty price tag and usually have to be ordered online – so no finding them an B&N and thumbing through them to see if they are of interest. BTW, you’ll love Asana – Evernote is another useful tool for project planning. -Best
YOU are so inspiring. Maybe I’ll do something similar. On a smaller scale. I have less stuff but still need to organize thoughts and goals etc. Sometimes I look up from whatever project I’m working on at the time and think WTH, what the heck? What the heck am I doing? Where’s this going? What am I going to do with all these epic fails? How can I continue my love of fiber and not make money? Or how can I lose less money? Kudos to you Stacey bk
My “studio” is a small closet, a desk and a wall in my bedroom. Tis time to rearrange…again..so I can lay hands on what is needed. I’ve written the word “Mindful” on my chalkboard and hope I won’t keep misplacing my glasses.
And I have bought many Lark books over the years.