To Tidy or Not Tidy

I am spending quite a bit of time lately developing new systems – practices and routines - to improve my workflow and time management. I am an artist but, if I am to build a sustainable business, I must also become an effective owner/manager.

I was in college when my mother gave me a plaque that read “Creative Minds are Seldom Tidy.” I have accumulated decades of seldom tidy.

Untidiness on my bench occurs, in part, to all the tools and equipment I need to make jewelry in a limited space. For example, in the steps to make a simple ring with a cabochon, I need the following tools….

• Design: templates, pencil, eraser, design notebook, calculator, cabochon, calipers, plain paper, fine sharpie, sticker maker, and scissors.

• Shaping/defining the bezel, backplate, and ring shank: optimizer, silver sheet, wire, bezel wire, cabochon, calipers, ring mandrel, rawhide mallet, fine sharpie, saw frame with appropriate blade, miter vice, file, sandpaper, and bench pin.

• Soldering: optimizer, protective apron, solderite board, soldering pan with pumice on a turntable, wire nest, flux, torch and fuel, solder (hard and medium), solder snips, soldering pick, utility tweezers, shaped bezel, backplate, ring shank, third arm with cross-lock tweezers, titanium shims, copper tongs, water for quenching, warm pickle in pickle pot, water with baking soda to neutralize pickling, and clean cloth for drying. Plus, for safety, a fire extinguisher.

• Cleanup: fine sharpie, saw frame with appropriate blade, file, flex shaft (abrasives, radial bristle disks, ball burs or cross-cut burs, etc., and chuck), sandpaper, file, bench pin, scales, brass brush, dish soap (to clean over sink), and clean cloth to dry.

• Setting the stone: bezel pushers, ring clamp, and bench pin.

• Final cleanup/polish: flex shaft (radial bristle disks, buffing wheel, etc., and chuck), polish compound, ring clamp, and bench pin.

With 50+ items and my coffee, the bench is untidy. With 50+ items and my coffee, I am easily distracted by the chaos. Too many disasters waiting to happen. Too many disasters happening. Tools buried under tools. Stones knocked to the floor and breaking. So much time wasted looking for what I misplaced on the bench.

Obviously, the old system needs a reformation. The new system must unclutter the bench. The new process must encourage rhythm and flow. Time to tidy up with a system that works using the following bench rules:

• Every tool has a permanent storage place – not a spot wherever. I know where to find it when I need it.

• Maintain dedicated work areas for specific tasks - stations for (1) designing, (2) bench pin - hand tools - and flex shaft work, and (3) soldering.

• Do one task at a time with only the tools needed for that task on the bench.

• Keep the materials for a specific project together. The stone(s) and prepared pieces of silver are kept in a dedicated small bowl that moves from station to station.

• Put a tool away when no longer being used - not to the side, not on top of something, not balanced on anything – but back to its permanent spot.

• Put all tools away and clean the workstations at the end of every work session.

These simple changes have measurably improved workflow. The joy of being at the bench has returned. Determining the time spent on making a piece is straightforward and no longer a guess based around interruptions and distractions. Losing materials to the abyss known as the floor is virtually nonexistent. And there is a dramatic reduction in outbursts of foul language and threats of violence. No more stress produced by the mess. No more being side-lined by the chaos.

Y'all - creative minds can be tidy!