Brilliant Storage Solutions For Your Art Studio

Whether you are a sculptor, painter, water-colourist or cartoonist, your art studio will be one of your favourite places in the world and your creative retreat. It is the place where you can find peace and quiet where you immerse yourself in your beautiful creations. Your studio will be filled with all of the tools of your trade as well as anything that you have gathered that inspires you. You will likely have a large collection of art materials, including paper, canvas, paints, pencils, charcoals, pastels and much more.

Although they say that a messy art studio is the sign of a creative mind, there are a lot of advantages to keeping your art studio organised. If your art supplies are stored incorrectly, they can easily become damaged and ruined. For example, the bristles of your paintbrushes can be bent if they are stored upside down and your coloured paper can fade if it is kept in direct sunlight. There is a proper way to store all types of art supplies, so make sure that you keep things as they should be to avoid wasting your materials unnecessarily.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you are putting together a storage system for your art supplies:

• Paper should be stored out of direct sunlight, otherwise white paper will turn yellow and coloured paper will fade to a lighter shade due to the UV rays in the sunlight. The best place to store your paper is in a special file folder designed for storing paper, or on the shelves in a dark closet.
• Paper should be stored lying flat. Do not stack other heavy objects on top of your stacks of paper, as over time this will cause indentations in the paper. Keep it covered so that it does not get discoloured with dust.
• Always clean your paintbrushes before putting them away, as allowing paint to dry on the bristles will render them useless. Store your paintbrushes with the bristles pointing up, as putting the bristles down will cause them to bend out of shape.
• If you have small art supplies, such as sequins, buttons and other embellishments, they can be stored in clear plastic jars so that it is easy to see what is inside.
• If you are looking for a convenient place to store your small brushes, paint tubes, nails and other materials, cutlery trays from the dollar store are a great solution.
• A clear shoe organizer (the type that hangs over a door) can be an excellent idea, as you will be able to place all of the art supplies in the small pouches and see everything that you have.
• If you like to use glitter in your arts and crafts projects, here’s a great idea. Use a salt shaker and fill it with glitter instead. That way, it won’t tip over and spill and you will have an easy way to shake as much or as little onto your art pieces as you want.
• When you are putting away tubes of paint, bottles of glue and other liquid supplies, make sure that the lids are on securely and that they are not leaking. You don’t want one leaky bottle of paint to damage the rest of your art supplies.

These are just a few tips to keep in mind that will help you to keep your art studio more organised. An organised studio not only makes it easier to find things, it is also much more enjoyable to work in and the peaceful and orderly atmosphere will help you calm your mind and be inspired.

Chris Hoole is a writer by day and an artist by night. He sells the handmade books and journals he makes with fine art supplies from http://www.papercutz.co.uk at his local Saturday market.