Put that where, now?

Sometimes I think about a third of running a business that you run out of your home is thinking "is there a better/more functional place I could put/store/work on this."

Remember - I think it was last year - when I bought these wine bottle hangers to use for storing my rolling pins? I hope nobody ever buys them as actual wine bottle holders unless the bottles are empty, or made of rubber or something. They were great, until about the third time I went to put a rolling pin back, and then they would bend so the rolling pin would just... roll out the front. I tried bending them back up, but each time I did, they bent down even worse when I put a pin on them. You can see a couple of empty ones in this picture - they'll hang straight like that until I actually put them to use, and then they collapse like wet cardboard.

So frustrating. That was a really good place for the rolling pins because they were out where I could see them, and they didn't take up space in front of anything and I didn't have to move anything to store them. Dang it.

I did some research on how other people stored their rolling pins (for clay) and mostly got back... people were looking for advice on how to store their rolling pins. I can't get just a kitchen-esque rolling pin holder because the ones I've found AT MOST hold about four. I have... more than four. From what I've seen from people who have solved their rolling pin storage woes, answers include

• pegboard and pegs (the only wall space I have that's clear for that is out of reach)
• recycled wine bottle racks (I have a standing one but have outgrown it which is how all this rumination started)
• kitchen rolling pin hangers in different locations around the studio OR all on one wall (I'm short on empty wall space)
• wooden mounts built specifically for the number of pins you have by a woodworker friend (again, wall space)

AND THEN, about a month or so ago, in one of the Facebook pottery groups I'm in, someone posted a shoe rack they'd bought to store their rolling pins. GENIUS. It did take me a week or so to find one that had the dimensions I wanted, and then I let it sit in my Wayfair cart for another week or so while I kept looking just in case there was "something better" ... then I ordered it. It came in a few days ago and I haven't had time to deal with it, but today instead of making anything, I put together the shoe rack and transferred all my pins to it!



Here you can see the original standing wine rack that I have - I grew out of it pretty quickly, because I'm addicted to textures, sigh. Now I'm using that for most of my mug planks, and the pins are all in happy spaces on the shelves. One of the things I wanted in a shoe rack was one that had the ability to have angled shelves, so I could better see the pins without having to move a bunch of stuff each time I was looking for one. Which meant I also had to find one that had a lip on the bottom angled end so that the pins don't slide right off onto the floor.



I MEAN. How beautiful is this?!?!?! I will say that the rack is not 100% the sturdiest thing I've ever put together.... I would have really liked to have been able to wedge it in a corner or against a wall, so I could bolt it in place, but again... wall space. I'm hoping that because it's just me in the studio, it won't get bumped or fallen into.



And here are the majority of my mug planks. They just wanted to be in the post and admired, haha.



I did have to do one of my least favorite things, and move something to put the rack where something else was... this thing.



... and it was full of these, so ... when will I have time? Tuesday, I think? .... I'll have to find another place to put that, and put the forms back in it. I'm sad that the only place I think I have for it will be on top of the long bookshelf underneath the window that separates my office from my workspace - I really like that the natural light from the one window in the whole building actually makes it all the way across to the office. Putting the square shelves there will mean I'll be blocking that light, and that doesn't make me happy. But there's not really anywhere else I can put it.

2000 sq ft building, and I swear every single inch of it is being used!