Inexpensive Ranger and Sizzix Storage

Being highlighted for my Stickles and acrylic dabber storage over on the Ranger Blog, as well as Tim's recent video about his storage cases has inspired me to document how I use plastic storage to store a large amount of Ranger and Sizzix product in a relatively compact fashion. I'm pragmatic, and cheap, when it comes to my storage so I use various plastic fishing tackles and storage boxes. Here's what I've found to work best for various sizes of Ranger products.

First up are boxes from Plano Molding, usually known for their fishing tackle storage solutions, though they have a craft line as well. It's the same box just with different colour latches. I use the 37xx series, which are all 14"x9" with varying heights and internal configurations, so they are perfect for stacking.

The 3700 (not available in the craft line) is perfect for Ranger embossing powders. It will hold 26 per container, and is absolutely the right height.

The 3780 is 2.8" tall and will hold 30 Distress Crackle jars.

The 3730 is 3.25" tall. That is the perfect height for Alcohol Ink bottles, as well as Pigment and Archival (new 1/2 oz. style) reinkers. As you can see, it will hold all 50+ alcohol ink bottles with ease. The rest of the space is Pigment Ink re-inkers. The alchol inks are arranged by earthtone/light/bright shades. In total, it  will hold 70+ bottles.

I also use Really Useful Boxes for storage. In the US you can find these at Office Depot. One issue I have  with their line is that the sizes vary wildly and so they don't stack well at all between different sizes. Still, I have found some to be idea; for storing Ranger products.

The 2.1L size holds all 2oz spray bottles, including Adirondack Color Wash and Perfect Peals Mists. You can fit 14-15 bottles per box.

It is also idea for storing Distress Stains, and dabbers as well since those are both shorter than the sprayers. You can fit around 20 Distress Stains per box.

Once nice thing is that because the stain bottles don't come all the way up to the top, you can stack the boxes on top of each other without putting the top on each one. You can't do then when using them for 2oz. spray bottles

Lastly, the 6.5L size, will hold 18 Sizzix Bigz dies with the lid on, 20 without the lid.

Cheap Stickles Storage

Back with more cheap storage ideas. Here's one for storing your Stickles. Here's a completed rack containing all 41 of the current Distress Stickle colours.

 

The key is the following: 1/2 inch Schedule 40 PVC couplings from Home Depot. I got them in a 10 pack for easy counting. They were less that $2 per bag. The holder above cost me less than $8 in parts. It's not the lightest of materials - the rack weights just over 1.5 pounds.

The coupling will have 2 ends-one with writing on it, and a plain end. I ended up putting the plain side down so that they sat a bit more flush. You might need to do some light sanding since the smooth end has some slight burs and could scratch up your work surface if left un-sanded. I used hot melt to glue them together in a space efficient honeycomb type pattern. I think it kind of has a "space station part" look to it.

If you're worried about getting the Stickles out from such a tight arrangement, there is enough give inside of the couplings for the caps to move around, like a joystick. They will move out of the way when you reach in to grab one. You could also assemble the couplings into rows, and then arrange the rows in an elevating fashion.

Adirondack Arcylic Dabber Storage

Here are some photos of a storage solution for Adirondack Acrylic Dabbers. I used 1" Schedule 40 PVC pipe cut into 1" lengths, which I then glued together. The Schedule 40 is pretty thick, but as you can see, it doesn't add too much room between each dabber. You can pick up 2 foot lengths of PVC at Home Depot. Normally it comes in 10 foot lengths. As you can see, I used hot melt to glue the tubes together. I have no idea if this is the idea adhesive, but it worked for me.

My cutting wasn't precise - I used a PVC blade cutter which tended to make some of the cuts uneven, but it didn't really affect the outcome. Hot glue helps cover up a lot of mistakes. As you can see, the dabber cap, the clear part, rests perfectly inside the tubes. I suppose if I had a mitre saw, and wanted to created a lot of white plastic dust, I could have used that.

I originally arranged my cut pipe in section of 12, and then glue each section together. The problem with this is you have to hit 12 spots which the glue gun pretty quickly. In adding my third row of 12, I worked in sections of 3. You can see the thickness of the PVC here.

I made up a triangular arrangement which has the advantage of not requiring a straight edge to assemble, and may possible be a bit more secure.