Monday, June 22, 2020

My new ink hotel

Hello.  I know it has been a long, long time since I posted.  Maybe my life is just that boring?  Well, I don't think so, so I guess I have no excuse.  I know I'm a big procrastinator.

Anyway, for mother's day my daughter made a new header for my blog as you can see.  I had completely forgotten that I'd asked her to make one, so that was a nice surprise.

Six years ago I created an ink pad holder for my distress ink pads.  You can see it here.  Well, it wasn't too long after that Ranger introduced some new colors, so all my inks didn't fit in the holder.  Then, they also produced all the colors in distress oxide inks.  These are the things I put on my wish list for my family to buy as gifts, so I now have the full set of those as well.

So I decided that it was time to make some new storage.  I wanted all the distress inks in one place, so I started construction.  Now be advised I'm not an engineer, and I design as I go, so the final product is certainly not perfect or even designed well, but that's OK by me, as long as it works.  My husband kept calling it a roach hotel, but I think ink pad hotel is a much better description, since we do not provide housing for roaches here.

I should warn you that this will be a long post with lots of photos.  I wanted to give a lot of the step by step procedure that went into the making.

I built the entire unit from cereal box (cracker box, pizza box, etc.) chipboard, corrugated cardboard, and tacky glue.  There is also a small amount of stamped cardstock.

I started by cutting pieces which would hold the ink pads.  These are cut 2-1/2"x8", and scored at 1", 4" and 5".  I taped the edges together.  The ink pads will hang out the front by about 1/2", so I can pull them out easily.  The total unit will hold 144 ink pads, so that's how many I cut and folded. 
Yes, that 2nd picture is the whole bunch!  Then I started gluing them into towers of 12 each.

The next step was to add extra chipboard on the sides for support and then glue towers together in sets of three. 
As I said earlier, I design as I go, at this point, I thought it would help if they were brighter, so I painted all the insides with white acrylic paint -- not spray paint, because I didn't have any -- with a brush.  A lot of work, but it made such a difference.  After I finished painting, I added a back panel.  These were already white on one side, so I didn't need to paint them. 
Because of the way I was going to put the towers together, one side needed some decoration, so I stamped white card stock with ultramarine stazon, and then sponged places with azure stazon, and coated them with matte mod podge to help keep them clean.  I attached these panels before gluing the triple towers together.
Now, since it's obvious that with four sides, the unit needs to turn, so there is access to all four sides.  I had an 8-sided lazy susan that I decided to use.  There is a small indented cavity on the top, so I decided to utilize that to keep the unit from sliding off the base.

Since the towers act like walls, there is a large open area in the center.  I did the same stamping procedure to cover the top around the opening. 

I built a base that fit into the cavity, as well as up into the open area of the storage unit.
The unit sits nicely on top of the base.

I thought it made sense to use that open area on top for additional storage, so I made a partitioned box to hold my blending brushes, and some other items (which I haven't figured out yet).
Since this box was going to be sitting at the top, I needed to add some braces for it to rest on.
I added an additional flat square made from two layers of corrugated cardboard on top of the braces, and the box sits on top of that.

Here is the completed unit.  The base is not permanently attached to either the unit or the turn table, and the storage box on top is also not permanently attached.
And here's a photo with some ink pads in it.  I did not fill it with all my ink pads, because I thought it would be too heavy to move, and it needs to go into a different room -- as soon as I clear a space for it.

Thanks so much for taking time to visit today.  I hope you enjoyed the process of building my ink hotel.

Edited to add:  Please see my next post to view the unit with the gazebo dust cover on top



16 comments:

Sharon Madson said...

Wow! It is a stamp pad hotel! Very impressive, Melody! TFS

TLady said...

I HAD TO come over & see how you did this, Melody! WOW!!! I LOVE the print paper you used to decorate this too! A SUPER JOB!!!! ;)<3

kiwimeskreations said...

A wonderful ink hotel, and a very resourceful way of creating it too!
Stay safe
Blessings
Maxine

Shelly Schmidt said...

Wonderful ink hotel- I love that you have it on a spinning platform! Also love the birds you added to the sides, and what a great storage compartment you added on the top!

J said...

Hi Melody, just popped over to see your tower, it’s amazing, you are so clever, I love how you’ve covered the outside, the pattern is really pretty, the top inside part for your brushes etc is such a great idea! It looks very solid to say you made it from cartons although I see you covered the sides to give it more strength.
I like the party Susan idea to be able to turn it too, for some reason I thought it was one sided!
I don’t have that many inks but I might just try to make a flat version to go on my shelf as they fall about when I use them.
Have a great day
Jan x SCS

Jayne said...

Wow Melody this is awesome and thank you for the details on how to make it. Happy day

Shelly Schmidt said...

Melodie- this is an amazing project! I love everything about it- especially the birds in blue and the fact that it spins! Thanks for sharing!!!

Kathy said...

7th floor please! This came out so cool, but I never doubted it. You are so clever!

Gracie said...

Awesome stamp pad holder! Amazing work Melody! I love the brush holder on top too! An Ink Hotel...how clever!

Lois said...

Melody, that turned out great! Congratulations on a job well done!

Conniecrafter said...

so clever and it looks terrific too!

BrendaLea, the Prpldy said...

This is amazing. Thanks for the great instructions. I will HAVE to make one for myself. I can’t wait!

Kazuko Kocho said...

 Wow! what a charming name and practical project.

Bluefairy4U said...

Thank you for your stamp pad hotel, very entrepreneurial loved it. When I’ve got time I will attempt it xx

Bluefairy4U said...

Thank you for your stamp pad hotel, very entrepreneurial loved it. When I’ve got time I will attempt it xx

Bluefairy4U said...

Thank you for your stamp pad hotel, very entrepreneurial loved it. When I’ve got time I will attempt it xx