Storage for Tsukineko DewDrop Inks

My mother-in-law always comes bearing gifts.  To her, many times, I know they're just castoffs (like 28 practically brand new Tsukineko Dew Drop inks), but there's a lot of new stuff in there, too.  I got a stamp set from the most recent Sale-a-Bration through Stampin' Up! because she always orders a lot and then sometimes doesn't want any of the free stuff, so I get the free stuff.  It's so awesome!

I'm pretty sure most people know how to make these little boxes, but just in case, I'll give a brief explanation.  If you need a ton of details, look around online at how to make cardstock boxes, but chances are you can figure it out just from written directions.

Each of these boxes will hold 24 Tsukineko Dew Drop Inks.  These are not the sturdiest boxes, but I will say that the first one I made several years ago is still practically perfect even though I repeatedly dragged it with me to classes in tote bags (laying flat, of course, not on its side) over the course of about 3 years.  For the purposes of neatly storing your inks, they work perfectly.

The inks fit into the boxes as shown below... one pointed up, one pointed down, six of them across the slightly longer side, and four down the slightly shorter side.  I use regular cardstock to make these and, as always, my favorite glue is Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive.  It dries hard and makes the finished boxes feel more sturdy.

The box size is 7.5" by 7.75", with one inch sides.

To make the bottom, cut a solid piece at 9.5" by 9.75".

To make the lid, cut one piece at 9 5/8" by 9 7/8".

Score both pieces one inch in from each edge.

When you've scored the papers, you'll notice little squares at each corner.  Cut into ONE of the sides of each square, creating little flaps.

Fold all of the scored lines in.  At this point, you should be able to visualize how this is going to turn into a box.

Glue the square flaps to the OUTSIDE of the sides of the box.  No matter how you cut them, you'll end up with four squares glued along the edges, creating the sides of your box.  Complete this process on both the bottom and the lid, gluing the flaps along the outside.

At this point, I like to make a mosaic of favorite scraps along the top of the lid.  This is for decoration as well as strength.  The first box I made a few years ago is on the right, the most recent one is on the left.  Basically, glue pieces down, and when you get an odd hole, measure it with your ruler, cut a piece that fits, and stick it in there.  Because the lid is actually 7 5/8" by 7 7/8", you will end up with some pieces needing to have an extra 1/8".  Go until your entire top is covered.

Glue one inch strips along the outside edges of both the lid and the box bottom.  I basically just cut a bunch of one inch strips and start wrapping all around, not cutting at the corners.  Gluing these strips makes the box sturdier and hides the square flaps you folded and glued to create the box shapes.

Arrange the inks inside according to color.  I go pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, neutrals.  It creates a nice little rainbow look that is really pretty!

I also take the time to stamp with each pad.  This makes sure that the inks are still good, but also, since I store the inks upside down, it helps me identify what color I'm looking at.  The tiny strip on the bottom of the ink is not enough for me to see very well.  I use a roughly 1/2" stamp (a wood mounted rubber stamp, ideally, because of how often you'll be cleaning it, but another stamp will still technically work) and a 1/2" circle punch.  Punch each stamped image and glue it towards the top point of the back of the ink so that you can see the color itself in the stamp and the name of the color just over the bar code at the bottom.

The boxes stack really nicely in my second desk drawer, towards the back.  The footprint of these boxes is somewhat large, but they stack nicely and as you can see, I have nice, deep desk drawers and I stack almost everything in layers to fit more in.

Hopefully this was helpful to anyone!  I'd love to see the box you made to hold your little inks.  They're so handy and so cute and I love having that many colors at my fingertips in a relatively small space.