Organizing Your Calligraphy Gear
This week, friend of House Peace Heather McKelvey (also known as @kallialitheia on Instagram) orchestrated a huge online calligraphy “camp” called Kalli Camp Live taught by gifted artists all over the world. I was honored to be included to teach about organizing all these wonderful art supplies! The camp was hosted on Instagram live, and as of right now, those live teaching sessions are not available once they expire from the instructors’ Instagram accounts. But I am summarizing my session here for anyone to reference in the future.
A few things to keep in mind as you read below: I am a crafter and lots of these products (or similar ones) have worked well for me and for House Peace clients. Definitely use common sense and your particular set of circumstances to make the best system or product choices for your space! There’s really no one-size-fits all!
Before we get to the good stuff, it’s imperative to get your mindset right! Here are a few things I want you to tell yourself as you organize your crafts:
“I am creative and wonderful!”
“Having my space in order will give my mind more opportunities to be creative and wonderful.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me that my supplies or space are disorganized. This is a problem that can be fixed!”
Certainly, as you organize, you’ll be faced with the tension between these two thoughts: “I need to keep and store as much as possible” and “I only have so much space and need to keep only what I am using?” Only you can really answer this, but here are a few things that help our clients find that line.
Remember that your skill, taste, and circumstances change over time and that’s okay. Just because this XYZ thing was important to you 7 or 8 years ago doesn’t necessarily mean you have to keep it.
For “just in case” items, The Minimalists have the 20/20 rule.
Beware the “sunk cost fallacy.”
Keep in mind that the more you KEEP, the more you have to MAINTAIN, and PAY for storing it (whether that’s emotional cost or dollars).
Key concepts for successful organization in your studio: consolidation (like items all in the same place), consistency (use the same storage manner throughout) and separation (avoiding “supply soup”), and LABEL EVERYTHING!!
Okay let’s go! Here are some of my favorite recommendations for calligraphers, water color artists, and hobbyists of all kinds!
Nibs
Nib box from Amazon (as long as you get lots of them and separate them by use)
Stacking three drawer organizing units from Walmart, ideally lined with sew foam or a grippy fabric like suede to keep the nibs from floating around
If you have a million nibs, wax seals, and other small items, a hardware organizer like this would be ideal and you can label each drawer. Ink pots could fit in the larger bottom drawers as well.
This wood unit was made for small parts and tools used in fine arts.
Pens
White containers — all matching, or at least all white, such as a hobnail jar
Clear glass - such as pint glasses
Repurposed glass - random but my favorite glass jar is a Trader Joe’s corn salsa jar
Watercolors
Bed Bath and Beyond has some clear cosmetic organizers that would work really well to organize watercolors, whether you use tubes, pallets, tins, etc. And they are stackable! This one could be good for tubes and sponges, this one for pallets, and this divided container would be ideal to stack and store all kinds of supplies in a deep drawer.
Ink
Glass make-up jars will visually keep things uniform, and are heavy enough to not easily dump over.
Paper and Stationary
Separate various type of paper with the Ikea Kvissle .
For larger format papers, consider investing in a drawer unit with shallow drawers like this one from Ikea
This Amazon drawer unit has several drawers that are a little deeper than the Ikea ones
This drawer unit from Home Depot has bars you could use for ribbon, twine, and other types of string you may use in your craft.
If you don’t like the look of a “work room,” I like this piece of furniture from CB2 that has a couple of shallow drawers for paper, then deeper drawers for file storage (maybe for storing patterns, samplers, instructional books, projects in process, etc.)
Miscellaneous Storage
Matching plastic storage units are invaluable to crafters and creators of all kinds. Because our favorite Sterilite bins come in so many sizes, you could get this one for paper or pads, this one for nibs, this one for your stash of ink or paint, this one for adhesives or stamps.
The beauty of stacking storage only exists if you keep things uniform —if you choose any type of stacking plastic storage, stick with that kind so that you can mix, match, and reconfigure.
BONUS: Storage for Creating On-The-Go
Leather pouch for pens, nibs, scissors, and so on
Wood holder for 1-4 pots of ink
Acrylic cosmetic caddy with the option to stack on top of drawer units
Divided caddy with the option to stack other ones with it
Latched carrying case with space for tools and paper
If you have other suggestions, please let me know and I will update this post! tara@housepeace.net
—Tara
*Some of the links above are affiliate links and House Peace will make a small commission if you purchase through our links. Thanks for supporting our small business!
