Now I've done it... I've basically invited the whole polymer clay community into my studio, and you know what they're gonna find out... I'm just not that organized! You'd think with 3 filing drawers, 26 storage drawers and 30 cabinets, I'd have "a place for everything and everything in its place." Well, I do have a place for everything, but rarely is everything in it's place. Are you like this? I think there is a grand collision between the creative spirit and the ability to manage stuff. I don't know about you but when I'm in a creative mood, stuff just seems to come right out of all those drawers and it never finds its way back. I think that if I put something away, I'll forget I have it, and then I'll forget about the great idea I had about it.

             But I do have a few schemes in place that I fall back on if and when the spirit of organization comes upon me. You just might find a few of them helpful.

         Millifiore cane storage: I've invested in stacked drawer units from office supply stores. I sort my canes by design: jelly rolls in one drawer, faces in another, striped and basketweaves in yet another drawer.

         You might find organizing canes by color to be a better method. Inside each drawer I stand the canes on end so the patterns are visible at a glance.

           Keeping multiple projects separted: I often work on more than one project at a time. I love using the Sculpey Clay Mats for this purpose. I work on each project on it's own mat and then if I need to move a project out of the way quickly, I can do so by just lifting the whole mat. These mats are also great for storing mokume gane sheets or skinner blends in stacks in drawers.

          The Sculpey Clay Mat is silicone and can even go into the oven if you get a project stuck to it!

          Storing open clay: Once clay is opened, I separate it basically by color in small baskets which fit into a drawer. I store opened Sculpey III in it's own drawer, Premo! Sculpey in another, and so on. That way I don't need the wrappers to tell me which brand is which.

         Tool storage: My tool drawer, with tools separated by type and function.

             All that sparkles: glitters, chalks, embossing powders, mica powders, applicators, it's all in there.

A must have contertop tool: The tape measure that's a sticker! I have these measuring tapes stuck to the front edge of all my counters. My husband found them at JoAnn Fabrics. You get at least 25 running feet marked off in 12" increments in a package.

       But for now, I'm feeling especially creative, so the mess is piling up. There are slices of canes and clay scraps everywhere and Sammi Sculpey is begging me to get my act together. Later, Sammi, I'll clean it up later...