All-In-One Ribbon Storage, Working, and Transport Box
$13
2 Hours
Medium
I can craft anywhere now, on a moments notice!! And that means either at home, or anywhere I need to be, cause the box I can just grab and go now!
lets see my diy ribbon storage, working and and all-in-one transport box!
Pre-Project Suitcase
Here is the "suitcase" before we began any modifications
Now that we had everything ready, we did a bit better on the measurements we needed to line everything up correctly.
You see the little eraser behind the ribbon there? That, we used kind of as a spacer, to see how much clearance we would need behind the ribbon in order for them to be able to spin freely.
We also had to make sure they wouldn't touch the bottom of the suitcase for that same reason…so, you can see we also had it on top of a ribbon for that clearance, and it does extend a bit over the bottom lip of the suitcase, so we also had to measure thatl, so that the box would close completely…. we marked that with a pencil, and then got the "real" measurement with a ruler, in order to then be able to mark the others and ensure they were in a straight line, see below…
We marked that with a pencil, and then got the "real" measurement with a ruler, so we could then mark the others and ensure they were in a straight line.
As you can see here, we also have smaller ribbon spools, so we were able to get three rows total into my ribbon storage/transport box, and here is the spacing again, for the smaller rolls, and then our measuring again.
Now you are ready to make your holes for the dowel rods, and this is when the power tool gets used. We didn't quite have a drill bit as large in diameter as our dowel rods, but after we made the holes, we just kind of slowly, made them a bit larger on our own, using the rods themselves, make the holes large enough.
Here we are, ready to drill the holes, after we marked everything and measured it! What is the saying? Measure twice and cut once? We did it correctly, and thankfully no mistakes in our measuring! Now, we had the holes, and after kind of wallowing them out a bit with the dowel rods, the outside of the box looked like this…so…we had to carefully trim off the excess box, that got pushed out when making our holes a tad bit larger.
Now, we had our holes, and this is when the afterthought about reinforcing the holes came to us. Because this is not a regular, sturdy, real suitcase, but actually a glorified cardboard box, we wanted to make sure that the weight of the dowels with all the ribbon wouldn't make the holes too large over time, thus dragging the ribbon on the bottom of the case, and not allowing them to turn freely on the dowels, and eventually, wearing the box down. As I said, we found the grommets we had, and they are a cute flowery shape, so it goes right along with the box theming, we were lucky there!
Don't they look cute? And we just used super glue to make sure they were on good. So far, so good! If my tip on the above photo is confusing, basically….when you are putting the ribbon on your dowels, some may not have the same size opening in the center of the spool, simply cut a small cross or plus sign, and then you can get them on the dowels easily.
And, here is the finished product, ready to store here at home, or take on the road….no packing or planning needed, just grab and go!
I couldn't be happier with the finished product! I'd love to hear comments, if anyone else has done this, or if you will now, and to hear how it went for you!
Keep crafting! And you can see my Etsy shop Royalremnants to see what I use all this ribbon for! http://etsy/store/royalremnants/
Koleta and Christian Huntsinger
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2 of 9 comments
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Thanks Nicolette!
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I can't wait to do this!! I have been searching for a way to store my ribbon and this would be perfect in my case since storage is a problem right now and a suitcase can fit just about anywhere thanks for the great idea!!
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