OK - Don't Laugh! Here is my Studio...

Yep, it's a 1960's Prowler travel trailer. You can stop laughing now, and the answer is "NO!" I am not going to change my name from Dragyn's Fyre to Trailer Trash Beads!

My husband tore out the cook stove and sink inside and set my torch up under the hood vent. And, all you lampworkers out there, I know this isn't proper ventilation. I am painfully aware of it when my chest starts burning and I get light headed after a couple hours at the torch! Actually, in the day time, with nice weather, it's pretty well ventilated when I open all the windows and leave the door open. I have a tiny fan above my head that blows the air around and I open the little crank vent in the ceiling.

You can see my little kitty, Shibby, in the first picture sitting on the chair outside the trailer. I didn't realize she was there until I was checking out the pictures.

But the good news for me is that we are in the process of tearing down the old shed in the back yard to build a new studio. We just bought this house last year and it doesn't have a garage, just a car port. My hubby has no place to put his tools, and I have no place to torch. So we are building a 12x24 building. I get 12x12 and he gets 12x12. The main problem with my trailer is that it is WAY to freakin cold in the winter to make beads. So, we are fighting time to get the new building done before the weather turns. But this is a picture of the old shed - which is where the new one is going:

Internet Listing & Shipping Dept (aka - my bedroom!)

Ok, this is were I "take care of business", you know - the not-so-fun part of being an artist. One of my customers complimented the photographs I take of my beads and jewelry and asked my what kind of set-up I used. I just laughed! As you can see, I have 2 cheap aluminum clamp lamps that have daylight bulbs in them. They are clamped to a wooden box that I bought at a garage sale. The whole set-up is on a shelf above my desk. My camera is attached to a really old - but cool Japanese tripod that I found in a thrift store when my tripod died. It is super heavy duty (unlike my expensive, yet dead tripod) and has a really nice crank. However, my little desk is not wide enough to accommodate the legs, so it is propped on 2 chocolate chip cookie tins! And, the answer is yes... The cookies were good! You can see my printer and props to the right of the lamps, my laptop below (with the cutest picture of my little doggie as wallpaper). On the shelf above my photo set-up is where I keep my inventory and shipping supplies. This is all supposed to be temporary until my permanent studio is built before it's starts to snow (in like 2 months). Later this week I will post pictures of my lovely Studio/Trailer (aka - 1965 Prowler camping trailer). That will be good for a laugh!