Sure, weaving baskets is very cool... It's an unusual hobby, even more so as a profession, and when told what I do, people sometimes act like they've just met an anachronism. But, it's not all good...let me tell you how uncool it is to live with basket weaving.
Without a studio space, my home has been a living hell for years. Basketry is messy and doesn't belong in the house, but that's where I've been doing it. It's a disaster. With materials disorganized and in every room, except my son's. There's been no place to relax and get away from work.
I've had space available, but it's been buried under a lot of crap for the past 5 years. I am serious when I say buried. I turned into a packrat, but I'll let that indictment go for now, because I'm doing a great job of changing all that. The space in the photo was, at one time, heaped, with only a narrow space to reach the stairs going into my house. As you can see, I'm close to my first goal of an empty space that I can clean and paint before moving in every last piece of reed, tools, assorted materials and work furniture.
The room is long and narrow - about half of it is on the other side of the camera. In the back corner of the room in the photo is the door to a smaller studio space - a converted storage shed where basketry materials have tended to languish for up to 5 years, because the shed is too far from the sun room in my house where I've been weaving. I tend to forget what is there, while some of the supplies in the house get buried and forgotten as well. I have become somewhat appalled with the realization that I've been carrying on activities in my house that belong in a rustic workshop.
I am so thankful for Craigslist and Freecycle. I managed to get rid of all the huge stuff that was in my way - including a pile of 111 ceramic floor tiles, a bulky storage cabinet, camping tent, propane heaters, lanterns, campstove and a lot of other things that have faded in memory. I made a little extra cash off the tiles and heaters - which is great since I lost my backup job 2 weeks ago.
AND, I am excited about this new space - or old about to be made into new. It becomes closer to reality every day, as more stuff is carried away, thrown away or put away. It's not a pipe dream anymore - I'm actually doing it - setting up that studio. Brings me closer to that peaceful home on the other side of the door. It will happen...
My farmers market booth is looking good. I've simplified the display and it looks far more professional than it did last year.
