Inspired by some comments in @Warden's paint blog, I got curious about what all of our workspaces look like. Here's a picture of mine. Because of the pet situation here, I try to keep everything stored away when I'm not using it. I keep the army I'm working on at the back of the bench, and otherwise store all my built models in either Citadel cases (upper right) or, if they're very large, wrapped in bubble wrap in comic book boxes. I keep all my paints, brushes, and other crafting supplies in three Citadel craft boxes in a cabinet just to the left of my bench. I'm a very methodical worker, so I only have the paints and supplies out that I need for a given step. Right now I'm set up to do the base coats on some Skinks. When I've finished that, I'll return all those paints to their boxes and get out the paints I need for the next step. This gives me some drying time between stages, and also an opportunity to get up and stretch.
Mine is pretty chaotic right now. Lots of stuff on it. I'll clean that up soon-ish. I normally like it more organized.
Agreed... mine tends to get cluttered very quickly. Always trying to improve the game room though, as it also functions as the hobby workspace! Having the table really helped larger projects, and the shelving has helped a lot to keep me more "organized" than leaving it all in boxes. Though there are still plenty of stuff in boxes too. I am impressed with both of the desk lamps you both use, what kind are they? Are those magnifying glasses built into them?? One of the future investments may be a glass/plexiglass/see-through-plastic cabinet to store painted miniatures, something like what I have seen over on @Ritual 's thread.
Yeah. I rarely use the magnifying glass because I happen to have excellent eyes, but the lamp - although it was cheap - is nice because it is movable and the light source is a ring of LEDs. That means if you position it well it is really bright and there are very few shadows because of the different light angles.
Mine is also a positionable circle of LEDs that provides excellent light, and I use the magnifying lens pretty much all the time because I decidedly do not have excellent eyes. Well, my eyes are gorgeous, mind you, you can just fall into them for days, so blue, so deep, but their acuity ain't nothing to brag about. I'll dig up the paperwork and find out the manufacturer and specs and so on--I know my wife got it off Amazon for about a hundred US dollars.
I've been looking for a glass like that but I was not sure about how the magnifying glass works as in can you still paint in the details.
I’m not sure if that shelf is entirely stable... My workspace is pretty basic - just an old table cloth on my family’s kitchen table, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I store the models I’m currently painting underneath the cupboards in the utility room with my paints in two toolbox trays in once of the cupboards and I store all the models I have yet to make in the wardrobe in my den - there’s currently a box of High Elf Spearmen (complete with the ‘Ham Hands’), a Dragonfate Dais, some Saurus Warriors, some Modular Movement Trays, a load of Airfix kits and a Revell Battlestar Galactica. I also have some unopened Star Wars figures I’m keeping for a day when University gets me down and all manner of other things. Most of my spare bits are stored in the loft in old Warhammer boxes (as you may well know by now I’m a hoarder) although these are gradually being clipped off the sprues and transferred to my bits box which is an old fishing box (don’t ask how it came to be in my possession as I’ve only ever fished once and put the fish back afterwards) with loads of small containers for different-sized bits.
The problem with the cheap magnifying glasses (like the one in my lamp, it was, like, 30€ or so) is that you have to place your head and the model in the exact right spot so you can have it in focus and see it with both eyes. So one should aim for something bigger in diameter. You will probably not find good stuff in the 30-60 bucks zone. The well usable ones start around 100€ I guess. The good ones probably start around 200€ and you can easily pay 400€ for such a lamp to get the really ones, or even 1000€.
I don't mind buying something expensive if it works well, I bought a cheap small one but it's pretty dire tbh.