Sorry.

I know I started talking about organizing the shop last week, but Dwolf sidetracked us a little.

We were talking about organizing, I think.

So let’s get back to the original path and I’ll continue my thoughts.

“Dwolf.”

“No.”

“Look. An acorn.”

...

That should keep him busy long enough.

Grab another cup of coffee and let me tell you about organizing.

The shop had started getting more chaotic than even I was comfortable with.

That distinction probably matters.

I have never been what most people would call organized.

My brain just doesn’t seem to work that way.

What looks like chaos to somebody else can make perfect sense to me.

The calipers are in that pile over there.

That stack of papers has the things I need in it.

The jig for the laser lives on the shelf beside the laser.

I know where stuff is.

Please don’t help.

Seriously.

Stop touching my stuff.

The problem was that the shop had started getting a little too chaotic even for me.

There were products in different stages of completion all over the place.

Some coasters were finished.

Some still needed work.

There were ornaments for an event months away, other things that needed to be finished for events coming up sooner, and piles of inventory waiting to be staged somewhere.

At one point I looked at a big pile by the door and thought,

That’s the finished stuff.

Then immediately wondered,

Is all of it finished?

I didn’t know.

So, naturally, the only solution was to unstack the entire pile and check.

Clearly, the shop needed some organization.

And maybe a little vanity.

I don’t need one of those perfectly staged workshops you see online where every screwdriver has an outline painted behind it and somehow nobody has ever actually made anything in the room.

But I wouldn’t mind being able to show somebody the shop without them looking around and asking,

“How can you work like this?”

I can work like this just fine.

Mostly.

Still, I could see what I wanted.

Better workflow.

More storage.

Places for finished inventory.

Places for things still in progress.

Longer work surfaces instead of the mismatched desks and shelves I had accumulated over time.

A shop that still worked for the way my brain works, but maybe required a little less archaeological excavation.

So I ordered shelving.

The shelving arrived.

I assembled it.

I even started using it.

This was going well.

For approximately five minutes.

Because apparently the first step in organizing a shop is taking everything that was already somewhere and putting it somewhere else.

Usually somewhere temporary.

Which is how I now seem to have more stuff than I had before I started.

Every work surface is covered.

The floor has become additional storage.

There are piles beside other piles.

And in order to organize one pile, I first have to move the pile sitting where I need to put it.

Then I have to move something else to make room for that pile.

At some point this stops being organizing and starts looking suspiciously like one of those little sliding tile puzzles where there is only one empty square.

Except mine has no empty square.

A few days ago I needed the jig for the laser.

No problem.

It lives on the shelf beside the laser.

Except that shelf isn’t there anymore.

I moved it while putting in the new shelving.

I also moved the jig somewhere so it wouldn’t get damaged.

Somewhere safe.

Somewhere logical.

Somewhere I was absolutely certain I would remember.

I have no idea where that is.

So now the shop is better organized enough that I can’t find the thing that used to be exactly where I left it.

Progress.

The funny part is, I’m not regretting any of this.

I can see the shop I want at the end.

Or maybe that isn’t quite right.

I can see the desired end result.

I don’t know exactly what the finished version is going to look like yet.

I don’t know where everything will eventually live.

I’m pretty sure some of the plans will change once I start actually using the space.

But I can see the general shape of it.

A place where completed products have somewhere to go.

A place where work in progress doesn’t get mixed in with finished inventory.

A work surface that is actually a work surface instead of a temporary parking lot.

And, somewhere in there, hopefully, my laser jig.

Right now, though?

Right now the shop looks worse than when I started.

Which feels a little unfair.

You decide to clean up.

You buy shelves.

You assemble shelves.

You start putting things away.

And somehow the reward for all that effort is standing in the middle of the room wondering where you put everything.

I suppose this is just the middle of the project.

Not the satisfying before picture.

Definitely not the after picture.

Just the part nobody takes pictures of.

The part where the old arrangement has been taken apart and the new one hasn’t figured out what it wants to be yet.

So tomorrow I’ll move another pile.

Which will probably require moving two other piles first.

Eventually the shop will get there.

Probably.

In the meantime, if anybody finds a laser jig under something, let me know.