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How clean do you keep your workspace?

Because my workspace is usually a complete tip - you know when you start modeling and you get in the zone and sort of forget to put stuff away out of want to keep building? - I then clean every week or so - out of pure need as opposed to desire for cleanliness. And I wondered how everyone else operates.

Consider it controlled chaos. My smallest Xacto sits on a Butterfly Knife so it doesn't roll around. Paints are in no order, bits are under them or in a box nearby. Only time I have a problem is when something gets pushed off the table edge. But it's all easy to find. Hardest part is keeping the damn cat hair off the actual work surface.

My hobby area looks like a sharknado hit, back in June the storm drain outside backed up into my basement where I keep my stuff. Had about 5 inchs of water in my basement and found out battlefoam will float with models inside. Thankfully my basement is now dried out and nothing was damaged.

Mine is very clean. If I have a clean workspace I actually get work done. That said, while I was away this summer my paint rack broke and all my paints came crashing down and landed on my poor Blood Angels. Haven't even had a chance to clean it proper yet, which makes me a sad panda.

Very messy. I clean it every so often.

Generally it looks something like this:

I have to decorate my two boys' bedrooms before I get a dedicated workspace, so at the moment mine is an old-school MDF GW painting station that I get out and pack away for each painting / modelling session. Does hamper progress!

This is pretty typical:



Before I put up the shelves it was madness though!

Love the pictures... makes me feel good about my space...
But in the last one I thought the desk lamp was a toilet seat..

My work space is always nice and clean. Can't focus with a mess around me.

Takes only minutes to clean up, no reason to let it look like a storm has passed through.

Pretty messy WIP area, cleaner actual workspace.

Its possible to clean a hobby workspace? how? I mean in theory mine is clean, under there somewhere, no way any dust will find the surface at least, nor indeed light.

Every once in a while a bit of table is seen, usually something falls onto it following the golden rule of "nothing will stay where they puts it".

Its not just the table, its the trolly next to the table, the top of the fridge and indeed the freezer (with a bit of MDF put there as a 'temporary' shelf.. ha!), and indeed the sofa in the kitchen (long story, rodents) used as a shelf as indeed is the bit of floor beside it.

Overspill onto the dining table (my better half is worth her weight in gold, the only reason shes not killed me yet is shes not sure what to do with the body) for a few models, plus the gaming bags under it - fighting for space with a collection of tatty teddies - in theory this isn't a working area..

This is not to mention the WiP shelves in the back room, which are basically all of them.


I had some organisation once, but for some reason I can't find it

I've completely lost 2 unbuilt 15mm armies. That's how tidy my gaming stuff is. These days I tend to just have a few mini's, paints and brushes on a lap tray

After I've done a clean, I can mostly make it to my hobby desk without stepping on anything important.

Disaster area. And I spent the entire weekend looking for inexpensive plastic craft storage boxes deep enough to store paint bottles because I'm transporting my paints now.

Haven't started looking at hardware stores, though, so if anyone has any suggestions (Harbor Freight, Home Depot, Lowe's) let me know!

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
Consider it controlled chaos. My smallest Xacto sits on a Butterfly Knife so it doesn't roll around. Paints are in no order, bits are under them or in a box nearby. Only time I have a problem is when something gets pushed off the table edge. But it's all easy to find. Hardest part is keeping the damn cat hair off the actual work surface.

...you have a Butterfly Xacto?

My write in answer:



BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



Yeah... I would say it's "cleaned every so often, but between then it's a mess" but... it never gets cleaned. Ever.

At best, I may put some of the paint pots away if I haven't used particular colors in a long time.

My workspace is a card table in my bedroom. There are always WIP models all over it, and paint pots, and brushes, and my sprue cutters and x-acto knives. I did purchase a toothbrush caddy for my paint brushes, so that part of the mess is somewhat fixed. Next on my list is a wall-mounted rack of some kind for my paints...
As for the poll question, I put that I do clean it sometimes, but in between it gets pretty messy. I want to organize it better, more of "a place for everything, and everything in its place" approach, but so far it ain't happening.

I have boxes and shelves now, to organize things into.

They are mostly empty, and the table is full.

I tidy up once every now and again but the mess just comes back twofold each time.

I marvel at those with a work "space". I have a bedroom, it has a mattress, 4 good sized shelving units, some bags/storage devices, and a stack of boxes full of stuff that act as a "work table". Everything is everywhere and only I can find anything in all of it. It's so bad you need super glue? Ask me to find it on the "work table" right near the door with barely anything on it.

My hobby workspace is used for a lot, so hobby stuff gets packed up at least twice to 3 times a week completely.
With a 8 foot sowing table my bigist issue is putting everything out of reach, or if a bit hits the ground it's like going cave searching D:

Chaotic mind, i would probably be sleeping on the floor with so little space :( just couldn't do that.

Other: My work area is a cluttered mess - but I can put my hands on everything that I need without searching. (Go-Go Spatial Memory!)

I also have a smaller set, that fits in a sports bag and that I take to places like Burger King, and paint in public.

The Auld Grump - a habit that my good lady is coming to share.

No comment! how dare you assume that my work-desk is a mess! i demand satisfaction!

Clean as a whistle, OCD style.

Mine gets slightly disorganized between projects, but I generally clean it up every day to the point where most people would consider it spotless.

In large part, so that I can find my tools, and so that there is no dust that will get onto models.

My airbrush space is always spotless. Wiped down almost every day (I don't airbrush every day), because a thin layer of paint dust will form over time.

Mine is organized and relativly clean, all my bitzs and paints are sorted. But my WiP box are somewhat messy, same goes for my collection of brushes and hobby tools. So some room for improvment

I'm amazed "I think there's a desk in there somewhere" isn't an option. That's certainly my answer!

A bomb site! Thankfully I use an old writing desk so I can just close it up which is great. Never know what you will find either lurking under a pile of old sprues......
An old teacher of mine told me a clean desk is a sign of a sick mind.

I bought some IKEA TROFAST toy storage furniture and love the stuff.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/series/19027/

I have a desk setup with one of the older GW paint stations and have all my paints in a repurposed extra large spice rack on the wall. I run three painting/hobby projects concurrently and keep them in one three separate TROFAST bins labelled WIP #1, #2 and #3. When it comes time to work on something, I pull out the bin, work on it and then put it back when I'm done. My rule is that only fully completed items can come out of a bin... in other words, I have to finish something before I can start something new.

It's a good system and keeps things clean since your work in progress projects have somewhere to live when you're actively working on them.