Setting Up a Home Studio
For the last fews months of the summer I have been working on moving my home studio out of the garage, and into a spare room in the basement. I have been using the garage space since around 2017. I started with just my wheel, which I bought from Clayworks Supplies in Virginia. I own a Brent CXC, which I have heard lasts years without issue. It’s been great to me so far! Since then, I have been slowly expanding my home studio in supplies and equipment. I made the choice to work out of my home knowing that it would be a both a commitment in space and an investment in the supplies you need right up front, like a work table, tools, etc. I decided that this would be the best option for me because there are very few studios near my home, and most have restrictions such as using only their clay body or that they load all of the kilns. This, coupled with the distance I would have to drive my pots back and forth, led me to begin building my home studio. It has also been wonderful to have the ability to work from home during lockdown and the current pandemic.
Working in the garage served me well for a few years, however with the drastic summer and winter that Virginia gets, the temperature changes became too much. As the weather changed, my pots were cracking and warping, and I had to pack up the studio in the dead of winter to make sure my clay and glaze did not freeze. Moving into this basement room was the perfect solution because the space has a dedicated purpose, and the regulated temperature makes both me and my pots happy! The floor is also concrete, which makes for an easy clean up! Below are some of my favorite items that I use every day in my studio. I thought these might be helpful to someone planning their own home studio!
This work bench has a maple top, perfect for almost any use! Since this is currently my only table top work space, I do my handbuilding, glazing, and finishing touches all at this table. It is not great for letting pots sit on it right off the wheel, but great to stick a fan on and dry out work as needed. I just treat the top every so often with butcher block oil.
You can find my blog about making this wedging table from scratch linked above! It was my first time trying this out and it was definitely a learning experience. Since I wrote the last blog, I have been able to start recycling some clay, and it works great! Definitely a must have. Alternatives might be a plaster bat or plaster slab not attached to the table base.
I found these small shelves from Amazon, and they have been great to put tools on! The shelf material is fine to put pots on as well, however it is not as good as a wood shelf for drying pots right off the wheel. That’s why I have left the pair I bought to store tools.
I love these little bins for storing tools! They make it so easy to separate trimming tools from carving tools, and so on. They’re a great size for small sponges too!
Jess and I found these shelves on Facebook Marketplace, and we each own two. They are from IKEA and were originally meant to be DVD/CD storage shelves. They work perfectly to show off the mugs and small bowls that I have collected over the years, and the height and number of shelves is adjustable!
I hope these items will be helpful to anyone setting up a studio up in their home! These are just products that I have found that worked for me and that I wanted to share.
Thanks for reading!
Olivia