lukadian | ■ Shelves for Days (Reply)

Still plugging away at my new Tarot Deck cataloging and review system/template, but most everything has recently taken a backseat to my current IRL project: Installing some new bookcases!

Things have been going well, I’ve discovered I’ll have the space to install a third shelf and have been using these cases here. They’re a bit of a pain to build but I’ve been chalking that up to being out of shape and building these in an excited fugue state after a full day of work haha! But hey, they’ve been worth it!

So far I’m confident I’ll be able to not only rehouse my entire manga shelf on the new shelves but also be able to re-home all of my nonfiction, graphic novels, novels and some of my smaller art books!

Once they’re finished and fully stocked I’m hoping to collect some flameless/Electric candles for mood lighting/ambience. Been leaning a little more firmly into my “witchy” decor tendencies

As for the old shelf… that’s been an ongoing work in progress as well alongside the new shelf installation, I’m trying to convert it into an easily accessible and tidy alternative to craft supply and sketchbook storage. My priorities in order are the following:

■ Visibility – I want to be able to see what I’ve got in stock at a glance. A problem I’ve run into often with amassing crafting materials has been out of sight, out of mind and its close relative “eeeehn I don’t want to dig out that box”.

■ Accessibility – Close second, if I can’t see it, it’s likely also difficult to hunt down or dig out, I want to be able to locate, grab and go with exactly what I need.

■ Safer Storage – Since getting into book binding and zines I’ve amassed an… amount of paper and I’m always conscious of awkward sizes and large bundles of material I can’t use right away and not having a proper dedicated or large enough space has often endangered some of my more fragile materials with risk of bending, or crumpling

■ Growth Space – Much like with my book cases, I know I’ll be adding to my collection of materials and so I want to design my layout with replacing and adding new materials or tools in mind.

I’ve been trying to avoid sticking things on the top of my shelves for storage, especially my books but honestly, I’m seriously considering making an exception for the largest tools in my crafting arsenal which are currently my book press, my paper guillotine, and my button smasher. All three are large or otherwise a little unwieldly and weird and thus don’t sit perfectly on the shelves, and the only one tall enough to accommodate the button smasher is also the only one tall enough to accommodate many of my more oddly sized sketchbooks, binders of archived, older works and my large format A4 and “oversized” art and reference books, like Always Loyal or my new Twelve Kingdoms art books!

I’ll try to post photos as soon as these projects get closer to completion haha.

Close friends have been getting some of the play by play cause lol I’m just stupid excited to finally have new book cases and a better system going on, its been a huge room rearrangement goal of mine for a long time and once I finally pulled the trigger on cleaning out the closet and getting a new clothing storage system, it was just a matter of getting rid of the old monster room real estate hog, my massively under-used and bulky as fuck second hand dresser + vanity mirror set.

Its just really nice to see a multi-step personal project that involved a lot of saving and planning out finally coming together so well and so quickly! <3