My last post commemorated my former hobby space, now defunct as the Missus and I downsize and set out on a new domestic adventure. The lessons-learned from this experience made me ponder ways to keep my hoarding habits at bay and confining my hobby area to a smaller space seems like one reasonable solution.
How small a space is the question and a reasonably challenging answer is: whatever I can fit on a small table. I’ve therefore sketched a custom crafting station design, to help me keep everything tidy and near to hand. I won’t know until I buy all the pieces and put it together but the to-scale model below, built from online research, suggests it should work.
Three silicone muffin pans (of the type pictured here) form the foundation of the crafting station. The pans can nest inside each other for easy storage when not in use. The muffin cups on each pan serve as obvious mixing containers, with the silicone construction making for easy clean-up. The cups offer temporary storage for scratch building bits, or receptacles for more permanent tool-holders.
The stacking nature of the muffin pans should allow interlocking them, Lego-style, as shown in the mockup plan view below. A cheap wooden cutting board with four added plaster “feet” will complete the station and provide the main working surface. Casting the feet directly in the silicone muffin cups ensures a perfect interlocking fit for the cutting board, itself attached to the feet via two-part epoxy.
Assembling the crafting station leaves eight open cups on the left side of the cutting board, four to the right, and five more across the top. I estimate all eight of the left cups plus one along the top will house various tools. I’ll likely squish a plug of silicone putty into the bottom of each cup, into which I’ll imbed a short length of PVC pipe. A thin layer of dish soap should prevent the silicone putty from sticking to the inside of the silicone cup permanently, but the silicone-on-silicone interface should be sufficiently “grabby”. Alternatively, I can just imbed the PVC pipes in plaster. The PVC tool holders serve to organize the different tools by categories.
The remaining cups will remain open for use as temporary bits receptacles and mixing cups. Sponges, cut into muffin shapes, will occupy two of the cups to act as wet palettes.
The entire assembly sits at only 54 cm wide, with the cutting board spanning only 30 cm; definitely a micro work area. At the scales I like to work, it should be plenty though. I can’t wait to build it!
Assembling the crafting station leaves eight open cups on the left side of the cutting board, four to the right, and five more across the top. I estimate all eight of the left cups plus one along the top will house various tools. I’ll likely squish a plug of silicone putty into the bottom of each cup, into which I’ll imbed a short length of PVC pipe. A thin layer of dish soap should prevent the silicone putty from sticking to the inside of the silicone cup permanently, but the silicone-on-silicone interface should be sufficiently “grabby”. Alternatively, I can just imbed the PVC pipes in plaster. The PVC tool holders serve to organize the different tools by categories.
The remaining cups will remain open for use as temporary bits receptacles and mixing cups. Sponges, cut into muffin shapes, will occupy two of the cups to act as wet palettes.
The entire assembly sits at only 54 cm wide, with the cutting board spanning only 30 cm; definitely a micro work area. At the scales I like to work, it should be plenty though. I can’t wait to build it!
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