LL Roden Jewelry: Another New Year

Some people may think I'm unusual but like so many other people I do use the start of a new year to make good intentioned changes and finish old projects. Doesn't mean that it always sticks but some things are just tradition.

I recently inherited a bunch of sewing stuff so in addition to cleaning my work area I had to find room for the new stuff I brought in. To start I had to clear a space to fit an awesome sewing table built by my Dad. He's a thoughtful craftsman and built this table with a recess to fit the sewing machine. It makes a nice 4 foot square work surface. That gives me plenty of work room and enough extra room for my other two machines. I can just pull them forward when I want to use them.

Making room for the table, in my usual method, I made a mess on top of the mess I already had. One thing besides making messes that I'm good at doing is finding room for new things and throwing away things I don't use.

Isn't this a great table? I did have to have help from my brother and his boys to get it from the upstairs at my fathers to the basement of my home. Thank you brother and nephews!!

Dad even attached an electrical outlet to the side of the table so I don't have to crawl under it to plug everything in. In this case my nephew earned that chore (plugging in).

This table was piled high with sewing, soldering and forming supplies. I did take a before picture but it wasn't in focus. The hanging bar clock belongs to my oldest son. I'll be glad when he finally settles somewhere and can take it home with him.

This is another Dad built table. It's taller than a normal table and wide so I can lay out material. It also has extra support attached to the underside to stand up to heavy use. It's my everything table. I cut material, hammer and solder metal, cut glass, paint, work polymer clay, do lampwork and nearly everything else on this table.

Even though I didn't have to move my jewelers bench I did clean it off. I find that the more I work the smaller my work space gets until there isn't a clear space left. This table really needed cleaning.

Here's where I do my beading. Not very clean and never is. I usually have several projects going and plunked various areas on the table. You can see a few strands of beads and a container of mixed beads. Since I took this picture I did put the book away and finish the necklace I was stringing. It was a simple necklace, just a lot of mixed seed beads strung on 3 long lines, then braided. One of those mindless kind of projects. Next to the beading station you can see a TV. It's a great place to watch jewelry DVD's and programs such as Project Runway and Project Accessory. I also really like the DIY home design programs.