Organization?

[Former_Member]

Hi!

I have to admit that I am one of the most un-organized people on the planet. I have polymer clay everywhere! When I want a certain color, I have to wade through a huge pile of clay to find the one I'm looking for. It's time consuming, irritating, and just a mess! What do you store your clay in, and how do you keep everything organized?

[Former_Member]

Hi!
Nice to meet you, up until now I was quite sure it was me being the most unorganized person in the world...
I was trying to fight this, but then I gave up and I converted my weak point into a strong one. So, the lack of organization is my way of organizing things and it works perfectly. I don't sort things any more, as soon as I do I cannot find anything back. So - I just put things on my workbench where I think is handy, I work, and that's it. I ALWAYS know where things are that way. Maybe my workbench is not going to win any contests in being nice and tidy, but at least I am not spending time on first sorting and moving, and then finding things back. If I don't try to organize things, I can find everything I need in a second.

[ChrisOsCreations]

Hii!!
i have everything in boxes but when i start messing around with my mats there is chaos everywhere again^^

[Former_Member]

Well, I have been in the process of moving for quite some time, so I no longer have a desk to keep all my items in, but I have a different tote bag for different types of materials (one for polymer clay, one for my paints, and one for jewelry findings, tools and random things). I work where I can find room. :\ I used to have a problem with my polymer clay because I would rip open the package, use some, and then put it back, and after a while, my clay would get other colors all over it and look really gross. So I cleaned them all up and put the individual colors in cello baggies and now it's much neater.
One day... I will have a studio...

[Former_Member]

I just recently got a little more organized - it was a problem before! Right now I have them in ziploc bags in rainbow color order so they're easy to find. And when I have a ball that is just left over, or a color I mixed and didn't use all of, I ball it and wrap it in cling wrap adding it to its bag. I have one box where I keep all my bags of clay and all my tools, etc so I can have it next to me while crafting.
This has been so handy. It was such a mess beforeI did this that I was throwing clay away because little balls were getting dirty or melting into each other.

[Former_Member]

I have to keep hundreds of pounds of clay organized so in the closet of my clay studio I have something like this except it's 6 cubes squared instead of five
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80071319/

It's the perfect size for some rubbermaid bins so all my batches of custom blended color go in labeled bins split up by shade (blue, yellow, etc.) and I usually buy the large blocks of clay in bulk so they get stacked up on the shelf also split by color. It works out pretty well... for small blocks (not all colors come in large blocks) I use the top two rows of shelves on a unit like this except my version of this is also wider and then my other supplies go below. http://whalenstorage.com/products/bin_rack_metal.html
Because I'm kind of OCD, everything is P-Touch labeled which makes it easy to find stuff.

[StarfallsAtDusk]

Plano brand storage containers fit sculpey blocks perfectly! I found my container at Lowe's in the hardware section. I can organize them by colors now! Plenty of room for my findings too!