New Copic Marker Storage

I saw a post on the Copic Marker facebook wall where some one had used an ArtBin Double Deep Satchel, some plastic grid that goes over a fluorescent light and wooden dowels to make wonderful storage for Copic Markers. A few posts below that was a link to a blog post about it, but it really didn't tell much, none-the-less, here is that blog post: Scrap Happy Ohio. 


[EDIT 08-11-11 to add: As can be read in the comments of this post the idea was born before the July 8 post I referenced above. Helen Johnson blogged this storage on 04/10/11 in this post: To Cut or Color. In her post she links to the 2 sources for the idea. I love my new storage and wanted to add this paragraph for the benefit of those who may not open and read the comments below. Thank you Helen!]


My markers were in a bucket type tote bag that made it hard to find the color I wanted. 

This image is an older image, so I already had more markers jumbled up inside the tote. And knowing my collection would continue to grow I knew I needed to put one together for my own use.


First thing was to find the ArtBin Double Deep Satchel. I had read on other discussion boards that they were available at JoAnnes and Michaels, but that it was sometimes hard to find them in stock so I just went staright to the internet. Little did I expect to find one in any color other than white translucent, but lo and behold, ArtBin recently introduced some new colors and one of those colors is "Raspberry"! A perfect match for the rest of my craft room accessories! Needless to say I just went ahead and ordered one direct from ArtBin rather than spending time trying to track down a raspberry color locally.


My case arrived Saturday and Monday I was off to the BIG NAME hardware store in search of the plastic grid for fluorescent light fixtures. Interestingly the BIG NAME store did not have any. All they had were the solid sheets of textures acrylic fluorescent light covers. Next stop was a small local hardware store. A hole in the wall, grubby feeling (like a construction site grubby kinda feel) place that has a ton of odd stock. YES! They had it. I was so glad. After the BIG Name didn't have it I was afraid I was going to have to locate that online and order it too. 


Got the dowels, but I could not get a perfect fit. One dowel was a slight bit too big and one dowel was a slight bit too small - no Goldilocks Dowels to be had. Papa Bear (that would be hubby dear, on a good day - LOL) said he could try to shave a little off the "too big" dowels, but I had a better idea, so off I went in search of rubber washers. It took a few attempts at testing the fit, but I finally found a decent fit that would go on the dowel and still be tight enough to stay where I put it. Here are my pieces and parts:

Next step was to cut the fluorescent light grid down to fit inside the case. I used the picture from the Copic Marker facebook post to count out how many squares to use. I trimmed it down using a Dremel tool - kinda loud and messy, but it worked great for cutting the grid down. The top section is 20x20 with sections notched out to allow for some raised flanges type areas inside the ArtBin case (the case came with inserts to allow the satchel to be made into divided compartments). Because the case has a slight taper to the sides the bottom grid had to be cut to a 19x18 grid. Straight sides - no notches required for the bottom piece.

Here is how the top grid is trimmed:

While I trimmed the fluorescent light grid down Hubby Dear took the wood dowel out to his workshop and cut four posts for me. We used a piece of cardboard to measure the depth from the position the top grid rested when set inside the bin and he cut that length, so I can't really say it was 4 inches or 5 inches, but something in that area is about right. 


Next step was to put rubber washers about .25" up on each of the dowels and then slip them through the four corner squares of the bottom grid. Once that was done we added another rubber washer to the top of each dowel about half an in down and positioned the corresponding squares from the top grip onto the dowels. With both grids in place we then added a third rubber washer to the very top of each dowel to lock the top grid in place.


I really love my new storage! Of course it's only half full, but as my Copic marker collection grows it will fill up more and more! :D