New Shop Space...

I had my first chance to get into the workspace I will soon be using to work on portfolio projects over the coming months. It is in a friend's one-car garage, and while I'm very happy to have any space at all, I must admit that I was spoiled for several years using the school woodshop at UNCG. Nonetheless, I'm fortunate to have a space at all, and this one is free of charge. I will be handling tool maintenance and such in exchange for the space and electricity. That's better than the shop space I have right now...which is nothing.

The beauty of small spaces is that they require you to keep an orderly environment: everything needs to be put away when not in use, otherwise a tiny space gets cluttered fast. Yes, its nice to be able to walk away from one project to work on another when you had your fill of frustration or failure on a given project, but learning to work through problems of this type is a skill quickly acquired in small spaces. Simply having less space to clean and manage is a blessing, though, and smaller can sometimes be better regarding overall organization. I'm certain that the transition will make me pay more attention to the sequence of operations than I did in the larger shop. You can't really move through a variety of unconnected processes in a small shop; you start and finish work (if possible) with little deviation from the sequence, and the whole endeavor moves much more smoothly. Above are pics of the new place; all 260 sq. feet of it. It's in a space originally slated for a one-car garage. It has no official heat source, but it is attached to the house and it has insulated doors, so I probably won't expire due to hypothermia...hopefully. All kidding aside, I'm very lucky to have access to space and tools on such agreeable terms. Thank you, Universe.