Things you wish you would've known before setting up your own studio....

[killacarly]

I'm in the process of setting up my first studio- I've been using my university's for the past 3 years. What are some things you wish you would've known before or during setting up your own studio? 

[liambesaw]

Situate everything with cleanliness in mind.  You will be cleaning every day so you might as well make it easy for yourself to do.  My wheel and stool are on a plastic mat.  My surfaces are all 24x24 inch plywood that I can take outside easily and hose off.  My reclaim container is right outside of my studio.  My tools are attached to a mag strip next to my wheel. I have a bucket of "clean" water next to my wheel that is separate from my throwing water, this is the water I use to clean my hands and sponge down my wheel\pan.  A couple of towel hooks on the bucket.  

I'm just a super lazy person so I know if I don't make it easy for myself to clean it won't happen.  Something to consider.  I had to reorganize the whole setup a few months in because it just wasn't intuitive.  I think most people have that sort of period.

 

[neilestrick]

You don't need nearly as much stuff as you think you do. Especially tools. It's really easy to collect way more tools than you'll ever use. My rule is don't buy a tool until I need it, not because I plan to use is for something new in the future.

Also, sometimes it's worth it to buy things you could make yourself, especially if your time in the studio is limited. Sometimes the up-front cost of buying something (commercial underglazes) seems expensive, but if you break it down to the cost per pot, it's not much at all, and you save a lot of time. Be smart with your time as well as your money.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

You can never have enough shelves. But get the sturdy ones with lots of weight capacity: don't loose pots to a flimsy metal shelf falling over under too much weight. 

Drycleaner plastic takes up less room than a damp box.

You need less stuff to do this than you think you do. Get set up so you can make some simple things and go from there. 

Round buckets are better for glaze than rectangular ones by a large order of magnitude. It sucks trying to get hard panned glaze out of the corners. 

 

[Hulk]

Control of air flows - none when you don't want dust stirred up (which limiting dust is very key, as liambesaw alluded to); directed, pulling any dust out, e.g. measuring glaze components; directed II, evacuating kiln fumes.

Ware space - sufficient and easily usable space for greenware and bisqueware. Nice when wareboards fit exactly their racks!

Surround sound.

Gas stove (we don' need AC here...).

Weeelll, still have't work on the ware spaces and heater ...would like a big sink with clay trap, and a toilet, but those ain' happenin', as I'm not up to plumbing the waste line. Clothing and shoes that stay in the studio, with hooks and racks, got that ok.

[liambesaw]

2 minutes ago, Hulk said:

Control of air flows - none when you don't want dust stirred up (which limiting dust is very key, as liambesaw alluded to); directed, pulling any dust out, e.g. measuring glaze components; directed II, evacuating kiln fumes.

Ware space - sufficient and easily usable space for greenware and bisqueware. Nice when wareboards fit exactly their racks!

Surround sound.

Gas stove (we don' need AC here...).

Weeelll, still have't work on the ware spaces and heater ...would like a big sink with clay trap, and a toilet, but those ain' happenin', as I'm not up to plumbing the waste line. Clothing and shoes that stay in the studio, with hooks and racks, got that ok.

I have a laundry sink that empties into a 20 gallon tote.  It is great, and I use the settled water from the tote for throwing and cleaning.  I also cannot plumb my studio, it's a shed.

That laundry sink also doubles as my wedging table with the addition of a 24x24 inch piece of plywood on top.

[Min]

Dollies and rolling carts, if it's heavy and it needs to be moved get it up on wheels. Save your back. I would also have started off with my wheel raised to standing height.

[C.Banks]

Open, upright, half full buckets of water are death traps for chipmunks and bats.

:(

[liambesaw]

Just now, C.Banks said:

Open, upright, half full buckets of water are death traps for chipmunks and bats.

I think the elephant in the room might be your chipmunk and bat infestation 

[LeeU]

I wish I had known how satisfying it would be. I would have saved up the money earlier and done it sooner. 

[C.Banks]

12 hours ago, liambesaw said:

I think the elephant in the room might be your chipmunk and bat infestation 

The bats, along with a population of dragonflies, are essential to the propertys only mosquito control program.

The chipmunks get a pass because they are relatively well behaved. The squirells on-the-other-hand, they pretty much get shot on site.

[Benzine]

28 minutes ago, C.Banks said:

The bats, along with a population of dragonflies, are essential to the propertys only mosquito control program.

The chipmunks get a pass because they are relatively well behaved. The squirells on-the-other-hand, they pretty much get shot on site.

I'm with you on all of that.  I have no issues with bats.  If I see them flying overhead in the Summer, I know there are now significantly less mosquito, that will be trying to snack on me.

I am also with you on the squirrels.  When they come in my yard, they are after two things; to snoop through my garden, and help themselves at the bird feeder.  In both cases, they get shot at, with a pellet gun.

[Mark C.]

Think about work flow-meaning clay coming into studio and being processed-bisqued and glazed (put a sink in that flow space))

and moving out. If you are a hobby person this will be less critical .

 the throwing area and glazing area are the dirtiest so plan for that.

[oldlady]

first purchase should be a quality 25 foot measuring tape and a pad of grid style paper and pencil.  what might work on paper might not in the actual space so measuring is important.  once you think you have the plan drawn, use tape on the floor to show exactly how the space will get filled.   do not forget that you will need space around your kiln and shelves and wheel for walking, loading, carrying big items and just moving from place to place.

look for a store associated with habitat for humanity, called ReStore.   they sell building materials that have been donated.  you can get all kinds of kitchen cabinets, lumber, sinks of all kinds, plumbing, electrical and other kinds of materials at such low prices you will be amazed.   no reason to shop the big box stores if you can find a deep laundry tub sink for $20 probably with a faucet attached.  used is fine, it will be used with mud, after all.

wherever you set up your studio, look for several kinds of stores that are not pottery suppliers.  one of the most important is a low cost store like the Dollar Tree stores all over the east coast.  there you can get plastic containers in bulk for only one dollar each.  shoe boxes can be used for chemicals that are only needed in small quantities, they hold about 8 pounds of dry powder.  the lids remove easily and allow removal by scoop or spoon.  the scoops are available in the same store in the pet food section.

smaller containers for colorants or precious cobalt, tin and other expensive things can be stacked in a smaller space.  

shop  the small stuff wisely and spend the money you save on better permanent equipment.

go visit as many studios as you can.   see how different work requires different layouts.  hand building with lots of horizontal tabletops will be different from a wheel thrower.   

enjoy the process and do well.

 

[hitchmss]

Agree with Mark about the flow of work; dont design your studio so that you have to move something 5 times if you could do it 2. More than sufficient lighting, adequate ventilation and exhaust, a proper method to easily and regular clean your space. I only use wire shelved carts (think restaurant shelving) for my studio; little surface area for dust to settle on, and it rolls out of the way. Oh, yea, put as many things on wheels as possible; rolling is much easier than lifting.

  Build your studio so you're comfortable; if you arent happy in the space you wont want to be in it. HVAC needs to be up on that list; freezing studios are better than hot ones, but they both suck. Have a place to store everything thats not used on a daily basis, and not just dumped into the back of a closet where you cant get to it.

Noisy equipment needs to be out of the space where you want quiet. Build more space than you need now, as you'll need it in ten years.

There's loads more design aspects to consider based upon your specific need of the space (i.e. are you full time, running 4 kilns....need 300 amps of service, or do you make a few pots a month...) but IMO that covers a lot of the big basics.

There are good books out there on setting up your own studios. Agree with the above about visiting other studios, and more than that, work in them! I have learned what I HATE about other studios by working in them. Stupid details which are easily overlooked but make a big deal.

If your setting up a full time business, you have more to think about than just studio operation and flow; you also need to consider the legal aspects of your building; does it meet local building codes, fire codes, insurance requirements. If you're setting up a business, avoid at all costs a commercially zoned operation; you wont be able to afford the commercial building code requirements.

   Im currently going through building 3200 sq feet of space for my business; this is NOT a small or a cheap task.  Draw things out on graph paper, make lists, go through them regularly. A boat load of research and preparedness will be highly valuable when you start to set things up.