On the Plastic Posse Facebook group, someone asked about hobby room/bench lighting. Thought I’d share my reply here.

I’m a big big believer that light plays a significant impact on our comfort in most any space. And the warm, softer light the more the comfort. But squaring that against the reality that we need a lot of light in our hobby spaces is sometimes hard. So what I do is three things:

1. Room lights – I have several very bright LED panels (via Home Depot) and set them to the warmer setting before installing. At full blast, these three panels in my relatively small room are great. They fill light in every corner and if I’m leaning over my bench, i’m not creating a massive shadow. Bonus: I have a dimmer on those ceiling mounted lights so that I can adjust to the task. If I’m just cleaning the space, it’s at nearly 1/3 bright. If I’m working at my bench on tiny stuff, it may be at closer to 2/3 bright. If I’m doing non-tiny tasks, I’ll have it about 1/2 strength. Highly recommended.
2. Bench lights – I have two swing arm lamps over my bench as well as an old LED photo light panel thing above the bench. This helps to fill in shadowed areas and ensure that what I’m working on is specifically bright enough. I really like the adjustable light temp version I have (BenQ) because I can use the warmer setting for most of my work time but adjust it when I want to see what the piece will look like out in the fluorescent lights of a show or public spaces.
3. Mood lights – Lastly, I have a couple of very cheap, small Amazon lamps with lamp shades with warm bulbs in them. This creates comfort and doesn’t a) mess with the overall light temp of the room, and b) provides some coziness to the space that makes it easier to sit in there for hours.