Probably the most therapeutic video I’ve ever watched. I am a 78 year old maker, hobbyist, that always felt guilty for many, many years about my shop. Until today. Now that I’ve and heard your honest shop-talk and tour I am at peace. At times I have felt the same way as you when you said you just wanted to burn that one room. (That gave me goose bumps) The evolving shop is normal? My God I’m normal??? Thank you so much for showing the failed projects, which I also have, and call the “Fairbrother Flaws”. I’m so thankful to have stumbled upon your channel and gotten a new friend. Now I can binge and not cringe, lol.
The little grappling hook is actually a bomb disposal tool. If you saw a trip wire from a booby trap, you could throw, snag the wire and set off the explosive from a safe distance. The first producer was EOD Robotics.
I’m so INSPIRED by finding you!! I’m a fifty year old woman who has made and renovated and moved and changed so much stuff in my life! And guess what, I didn’t document it! Thanks so much for this, you make a difference. Can’t wait to see you back and see the progress with the house.
It may seem inconsequential to many but hands up to all my people who frothed at the sand paper storage 😍 Thank you for the shop tour and I’m really loving the house build. Your tenacity is contagious.
You say "document your stuff", and I agree. I'd love to see a video about how you document your projects and another on how you organize all your digital files to make finding them efficient.
Inside a person's shop is like . your being in the inside of their thoughts ? Creative energies, potential projects, successes, and the steps it took to get them to be a success.. I find it the best kind of tour ever !!
Idea for your movable clamp storage; see if you can find a school blackboard, the type that can move up and down. You might be able to either use the mechanism of it, or look how it works and imitate it.
Mixing station is my favorite 😁 Brilliant. Everything is fantastic. Thank you for the inspiration. I’m setting up a shop in my basement with a paint room that I added a ventilation window that partners for airflow with a screen door (rest I added glass block), work table with wall shelves, storage shelves in zones for tools, kits with tools, paper, too. Your storage is phenomenal. Very inspiring. I appreciate the new ideas to help me improve my setup
If CNC isn't your thing there's no shame in that. If it doesn't make you happy you don't need it in your life :) Good luck and fun with everything. Your work and attitude are inspiring.
And I remember watching most, maybe all, of the videos inspired by these projects. Fun to see your appraisal now. Whether they proved themselves or not, the projects were always fun to watch. Carry on !
Have you considered storing by base material? ie metal, plastics, wood, then when you have an idea, and know what base material you're going to work in, you can go and be inspired by what you find in the corresponding area.
I loved this whole video, especially embracing the multi-part map on the side including the carpet, and all the marker squiggles as part of the graphics. So much content is just here is the perfect, the flawless; you embrace the "didn't go as planned" with such grace and joy at the discovery. Your enthusiasm is wonderful and always makes me smile. Thank you for sharing all of this with us!
You should create an art installation where you use all of your neon letters, combined into a composition that doesn't read as literal words. Instead of keeping everything readable, you could key off the colors and shapes of the neon to form a cohesive visual experience. The letterforms don't even have to be in the correct orientation for reading, you could flip them upside down, put them diagonally or rotated 90°. I think it could even be the kind of thing where you can assemble it in multiple panels, so it's mobile and you can set it up for events and whatnot.
"My shop is only a mess because I do not have more space!" Yeah... right. Laura's Shop is probably the biggest one I have ever seen and... I guess every shop is a mess, always. We should just make sure that our shops are at least not dangerous and we spend more time making things than looking for things. :D
That was a fantastic tour! I really love all your work stations. I think I would just live in your shop, it's so nice. I appreciate meeting another human who collects things of beauty, interest and usefulness, but then has storage problems. Thank goodness I collect smaller things than you, so my storage challenges are not so difficult.... yet. Thank you for the 'honest' tour of your space! Work shops are not supposed to be neat and tidy, they are supposed to look like you're working on projects. A neat and tidy work shop means you are not working. (this is what I tell myself when I look around at the sea of stuff I'm fiddling with)
I loved this tour of your space. I'm an artist and absolutely love seeing how other people store their stuff. You are such aa happy and joy filled person and I'm so glad to find your channel.
Whether shop materials, or sewing rooms, art supplies, baking supplies - all need specialized storage solutions, that's for sure. I admire and take inspiration from all the projects you have taken on to make your shop more convenient and useful in your work. All the best to you Laura as you work on your home as well!
I joined during the house project and didn’t explore your history being fully satisfied with that present. I am completely floored!! It’s like finding a treasure trove that is only partially revealed!
I've sorted storage areas in my current/past jobs at times and I've never really found a one-fits-all system. It's something nuanced that won't fit every scenario it's even being used for anyway. The thing well all do a bit wrong if we're not careful is not taking the time once we've sorted everything to keep it tidy. That stuff snowballs so hard
Thank you so much for this authentic and honest tour. I believe that this honesty regarding imperfection and all what's not going like we would wish it to encourages peoples to love not just the perfect part of others and themselves but the whole person. So, cheers to life! And cheers to you all!
Thank you for everyone who answered the riddle!! Lol, very nice shop Laura... I wish you were my neighbor, I could take care of your garden and setup the sewing room, in exchange for letting me use your shop every now and then, I dabble in DIY but mostly building things for my overflowing balcony garden and overflowing sewing desk.
I thought similarly! She should get some garden nuts, CNC Nuts, a sewing buddy, etc.....folks with skills, but not the space would be overjoyed to use her tools & space & possibly show her how to do some things ......
Every building has AT LEAST one dump room and every room has at least one dump corner Glad that it's not just me and seeing the whole shop is so satisfying Thank you Laura!
From an industrial engineering perspective regarding your storage, you should consider using shelving at ninety degrees to the wall you currently use. Stack each shelf heavy at the bottom light at the top, and try to maintain like items together, If it’s deep storage, this system will enable more shelving to be progressively added as needed and still allow space to move.
Laura, I feel you on the the "hoarding," but I prefer to think of it as "resource collection." I just finished building a tiny studio for a local music venue, which was built with 95% scraps I saved from the constrcution of my home. In order to create using reuse materials, it must first be captured and stored. Don't be too hard on yourself about the disarray. It is hard to construct storage for rotating stock of different shapes and sizes. But, I look forward to what you come up with.
How many hours does Laura have in her day??? Way more than mere mortals!!! Renovating a house, re-jigging a workshop, making RU-vid videos and creating cool stuff and having a fun life with friends, food, beers and ice cream!! Who else wants to be Laura??? Or at least like her, hard working, creative, funny,....
You should sell all of the CNC, because you don’t want to use it and it’s claiming space. Then, put all of your sponsor shop shelving in there and make it look like a store. Counter, some random cash register, a massive catalogue on a swivel holder… Make it look like a general store/auto store, from a few decades ago.
supe hyped about the riso printed stuff !! looks awersome when done well. Also great shop tour bringing back memories from both your and our personnal journey making stuff. Thank you !!
When you are mass producing the same product there is some hope of a relatively neat shop. When you are doing different projects, some at the same time, the most you can hope for is to be able to locate the tools and materials required. The 20% of always used tools will probably be nearby but the 80% of sometimes used tools will be an Easter egg hunt. Then making storage items visible can sometimes help cuz locating them requires looking around the shop rather than unearthing them from the pile of closed doors and lids. Because they are visible you will see them often even when not looking for them so your memory should be triggered when the tool or material is required. Multiple workers makes the challenge greater since everyone works differently.
Danke für die tolle Tour, in der du uns auf so offene und sympathische Weise dein Paradies zeigst. 😍 Übrigens: diese seltsame Figur auf dem Spielautomaten erinnert mich an Disneys Kater Carlo.
As a hand tool woodworker, not sharpening all the time sounds mad to me! 😅 Awesome shop, Laura! Awesome place! It's so human, has so much personality! Awesome!
Hi, thats interesting - You also use emulgated Ballistol/Water as a cutting fluid. I first did that 50 years ago, when i built rc-parts from metal and i did not have professional cutting-fluid. But it turned out, that it works perfect with all metals i ever drilled. Greets from munich!
For the deep storage, just look at Jamie Hyneman's wall, that's got to be one of the most efficient storage out there. And since you like one of a kind tools from small makers, check out Tim Sway's tools. They're really well designed.
@laura du solltest dir unbedingt so einen 'The FINGERSwAyVER! Highly Functional Push Stick' zulegen, hab jedes mal angst um deine fingerchen, wenn du an der kreissäge arbeitest
Thanks for the tour! I love your shop, even the messy parts. OMG, I'd love to have a go in you CNC room! I'm drooling over all your tools! I enjoyed this video soooo much! 😍I'm looking forward to future renovations ... or just anything you do.
I'm envious! I live in a flat in Dortmund, and my workshop is a 5x3 Keller where the tools and the materials share space with the food and the bikes....I even haven't a proper worktable!
Excellent tour and it's great that you show what works and what doesn't, both with storage and projects. I always feel you learn more when something doesn't work or you have hiccups along the way to success. Thanks and keep up the good work. Love my Leatherman Wave, it's so useful.
Probably people have gotten there before me, because I'm watching this two hours after it was posted, but I recognised "A FOOD AS WELL AS A DRINK" at 12:00 immediately, because my grandpa used to have that exact Rowntrees cocoa tin from the 60s in which he had nails. It's now in my shop, still with nails in it.
To save money, you can buy used sails. Usually the fabric is gently worn and sturdy enough for awnings. It usually does need a proper cleaning and an extra rinse.
Aghhhhhh!!! I missed the live - even though I clicked 'notify me'!!! Never mind I am watching now 🤪 Love the way your dog is now scouting for mice, after you asked him "is there any mice"!!
Hello from The Duke City, Albuquerque New Mexico. Unbelievable shop! I’m a retired machinist/welder… I was unaware that you had a machine shop! Very nice! But I was disappointed that you skipped over and did not really show your wonderful looking Lincoln welders.
Love a good honest workshop tour! Oh what I would do to have that kind of space to make stuff, right now all the ideas live on paper but someday they will be made real (I hope)
I always say don’t let the size of your shop stop you from building and being creative. My shop is small and I would love one the size of yours. I think a person always fills to whatever size shop you have. Love all your storage ideas and love how honest and easy going you are. Love to watch you from Kamloops, British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦
the thing in the floor is called an inspection pit. the boards are common so that if no vehicle over it it makes it safer to use the workshop. but how about an everyday carry of your pockets? adam savage and jimmy diresta did one years ago. it's always interesting to see what a maker has handy at any given time without a workshop
