Organize & Inventory your work....the way your grandpa did it!

[odie]

Baby, it's cold outside.....but, it's warming up! I just went out to the shop and turned on the heaters out there.....will be a few minutes before it's livable enough to crank up the lathe!

I almost posted to Mark Levitski's thread asking about computer software for organizing his artwork on the computer, but decided to tell you about this in a separate thread. I realize there are those of you who wish to use the computer for this, and that perfectly alright.......but, there is another way that works very well and isn't "high tech".....

......a 4x6 index card file box with tabbed spacers!

Pretty simple, huh?

Here's what I do.......

I have two of these 4x6 index card file boxes, one in the shop, and one in the house. EACH and EVERY piece of wood that I buy, gets an index card of it's own, and the information about what kind of wood, size, who I purchased from and where I got it, how much paid w/shipping, initial moisture content taken by Mini Ligno E meter, AND AN INVENTORY NUMBER goes on the card.

The file box in the shop gets this basic card, and stays there until the bowl, box, etc., is finished and ready to be photographed. The shop index card file box has the following categories:

Blank cards
Numbered cards
Bowl blocks assigned a number
Bowls roughed and being seasoned (weighed monthly)
Bowls seasoned (moisture content stabilized, ready for final turning)
Finished bowls ready for buff
Failed bowls

After the bowl is finished and buffed, the 4x6 index card goes along with the bowl into the house and placed into the second index card file under "needs photographed" category. The categories in the second index card file box are like this:

Bowls needing photographed
Bowls on hand and ready for distribution
Galleries, each with it's own tabbed spacer
Bowls sold
Bowls given as gifts

As the bowl block moves through the various categories, information is added that I'll need to know about this particular bowl. Moisture content by Mini Ligno E moisture meter, before and after rough-out. There are monthly weighings that tell me just when the roughed bowl has stabilized it's moisture content, notes during final shaping and sanding. If it is a gift, who got it. If it goes to a gallery, which one, and what is the sales price. When it sells, date, and place in under the sold tab.

Yes, this is the way your Grandpa might have done it........old fashioned, not complicated, works great because it's VERY organized.......

:cool2:

ooc

 

[Robert Manning]

I know a very fine landscape painter who uses inventory forms in a binder to keep track of her paintings. She has made these available on her blog and on Google Docs.

http://katherinekean.blogspot.com/2009/04/artwork-inventory-forms.html