Laptop studio

 
When I make or photograph jewelry, I tend to spread out.  Like ice cream on a warm afternoon.  Like pancake batter.  Like food trucks in midtown.  Like drug dealers in West Baltimore, at least according to the Wire.  You get the picture.

Here I am spread out on the table, on two different occasions:

Part of it is that there are simply a lot of little parts and tools I need access to, but part of it is also that I like to see what I'm working with, especially if I'm making something new.  I like to see and touch the array of materials.  It's fun.

A. hates this.  He can stand it for short stretches, but he really, really doesn't like clutter.  (I kind of like a bit of clutter, at least in my work space.  Contained chaos, I call it.  I find it hard to get the creative juices flowing on a completely empty desk.)

Since I don't have a dedicated space for the jewelry operation in this cozy little apartment, I've been periodically spreading out on the dining table, the coffee table, the bed, the kitchen (for soldering and oxidizing), or the windowsill (which also serves as the photography studio).  Often these spreads would last a few days, in some shape or form.  So A. proposed a compromise: I could be messy, as long as I kept it on a tray.  The tray could be stored easily, out of sight in seconds.  I accepted.

We found a nice tray at a thrift shop for $8, in great condition.  I covered the bottom with a piece of an old flannel sheet (actually, the sheet I put down when I saw and file silver in the apartment), because I like the slightly fuzzy surface (things don't roll around) and because it gives the tray a clean, fresh feeling.  Rubber cement and scissors...very easy to do.

(Yes, things are *very* messy here...I was in the midde of cleaning and organizing.)

So far the tray has worked well.  It's on the small side, but that means it's quite easy to set it on my lap.  It doesn't accommodate working with metal, but I do that less frequently than I work with beads and stones and all that.  It is handy to be able to pick everything up, leave it the way it is, and put it away.  And it improves domestic harmony—always a good thing!