Flashback Friday – from February 2019 – My shop is not Instagram Ready

Yes, my shop is not Instagram-ready. The basement shop where the bandsaws, table saw, planer, and such reside is OK. If you are interested in bare stone walls and equipment that everyone else has.
The carving shop, where I do most of my work, is an eight-by-ten greenhouse. Part of it still serves as a greenhouse. In my part of the country, my large rosemary plants die terrible deaths outside in winter. They and the figs live inside the greenhouse all winter. The workbench, tool racks, and lots of little storage units for small tools, adhesives, abrasives, and finishes take up the remaining area.

I moved this part of my operation out here because I can heat the small space comfortably, even during the winter. The much larger basement shop, has howling wind whistling through rough stone foundation.

A few other reasons apply as well. My cat likes the space in winter so I sometimes have her company as I carve. The small size also puts size limits on the commissions I can accept -” downsized the shop. Can’t do that stuff anymore.” A final reason is that, in the winter when I am sitting in my little shop with a visitor, it takes me back to coastal Maine. I recall the hours of conversations with craftsmen and fishermen in similar small shops. It’s a link to other tmes and places on which I set a high value.
But, It’s not Instagram ready. The rows of small plastic storage containers would look much more “crafty” if they were shop made from wood. The untidy piles and boxes of extra wood, half-finished projects, patterns, and drawings should be cleaned up. Ain’t going to happen. At root, I don’t care if my shop is not Instagram ready.