convenient material storage

[netabrookie 0]

What Im talking about is rings to store or hang your various bags of materials. My wife is a cross stitch fanatic and while on one of her resupply trips I came across a product called Floss-A-Way. Its a pack of 36 3"x5" zip-lock bags with a hole in one corner and a ring that is hinged on one side and snaps together on the other. I have since then came across just the rings in sizes 1" to 3", without having to purchase the kit with the bags. The rings are handy to put your bags of what-ever on them and then either hang them or toss them in a drawer. I hate digging and searching for something that I think I have, but not finding it because a drawer is piled with loose bags going everywhere. Now you can have each different kind of dubbing on a seperate ring and not have it all mixed up. I have about 35 or 40 of them at least with a lot of different things on them. Now if I want moose main/hair I just grab that ring. If I want elk or something I just grab that ring. I have a lot of stuff hanging and I always want the item that is in the back, so now its as easy as grabbing the ring off the hook and flipping the packs and opening the ring. The bags in the kit are handy also for storing small stuff. I would have shared this sooner but Im just a dumb ex-hippie that has painted too many cars and breathed too many paint fumes I guess..... Having a cross-stitching wife is handy too because I have bought her every color of embroidery floss that DMC makes, and thats at least 450 different colors....thats some serious woven nymph bodies....if she don't catch me.... Take Care....

[terrymiller1973 0]

That is a very good idea and I would not have thought of it. Another suggestion if someone cannot find the rings you are speaking of is the old metal shower hooks. The hooks would not be as easy as the split ring but would serve the same type idea if someone cannot find the rings easily. A suggestion for a little more durability of the plastic bag would be a little strip of duct tape then redo the whole with a paper punch.

[flytire 0]

 

not a bad idea

 

but i dread the thought of having to repackage everything i have stored away for 30+ years :)

 

[Chefben4 0]

What Im talking about is rings to store or hang your various bags of materials. My wife is a cross stitch fanatic and while on one of her resupply trips I came across a product called Floss-A-Way. Its a pack of 36 3"x5" zip-lock bags with a hole in one corner and a ring that is hinged on one side and snaps together on the other. I have since then came across just the rings in sizes 1" to 3", without having to purchase the kit with the bags. The rings are handy to put your bags of what-ever on them and then either hang them or toss them in a drawer. I hate digging and searching for something that I think I have, but not finding it because a drawer is piled with loose bags going everywhere. Now you can have each different kind of dubbing on a seperate ring and not have it all mixed up. I have about 35 or 40 of them at least with a lot of different things on them. Now if I want moose main/hair I just grab that ring. If I want elk or something I just grab that ring. I have a lot of stuff hanging and I always want the item that is in the back, so now its as easy as grabbing the ring off the hook and flipping the packs and opening the ring. The bags in the kit are handy also for storing small stuff. I would have shared this sooner but Im just a dumb ex-hippie that has painted too many cars and breathed too many paint fumes I guess..... Having a cross-stitching wife is handy too because I have bought her every color of embroidery floss that DMC makes, and thats at least 450 different colors....thats some serious woven nymph bodies....if she don't catch me.... Take Care....

 

If you suddenly go missing we will know it was stealing your wife's embroidery floss!!

[Piker20 0]

The zip lock bags are a great idea and I had started punching holes in some old ones to do similar thing but they weren't strong enough to last long. I will probably look at this idea if they are cheaper than the clip lock boxes.

[Demps64 0]

I've been working on this type of solution as well, and like Piker20, I found that poking holes in the bags myself wasn't ideal. Nor did I care for the corkboard and thumbtack approach that I tried. I also tried sticking strips of velcro to the bags and hanging them, but the velcro likes to grab every kind of material and once I ruined a few hackles I threw that idea out the window. My latest idea is working very well for me... I picked up a 25 foot roll of 1 inch wide magnetic tape for about $5 (it's just like refrigerator magnets), and I stick a strip to the bottom of the bags. Right now I am sticking the bags to a thin metal dry erase board I had laying around, but I'm working on finding a better surface to use that is still inexpensive and can be cut and shaped for the areas I need to mount it. I really like the idea the OP brought up, I didn't think of using those bags that have the rings through them... I have a unique desk setup and I might be able to use the ring ideal as well as the magnets. More to come, thanks for sharing!

[terrymiller1973 0]

why are we transferring the materials to another bag. The materials all come in bags from the manufacturer which seem to be pretty good bags. I am going to use the idea and either use duct tape to reinforce the hole or the product used to reinforce papers the little adhesive paper circle things.

[netabrookie 0]

I hadn't thought of the magnet idea for actually holding a bag. I tie on a split-level computer desk, and on the edge of the top level/shelf I have a magnetic strip that I place hooks on or flies on if Im doing some in stages. On the bottom shelf, where my vise is I have a magnetic strip along the front edge. If you lay a hook down and forget it for a moment and then a cape or something you are messing with brushes the hook and slides it off the desk top, the magnetic strip usually catches the hook so you are not crawling around in the floor looking for it. As for the bags, they are handy if you have been sorting feathers or if the original bags of materials that you want to place on the ring is of different sizes. Most of my stuff is still in its original bag on the rings, but I don't like uneven bags so thats when I use to other bags. Sili legs and Centipede legs come in one size bag while Rainy's round rubber comes in a larger, so I just shake the legs or whatever to the bottom of the original bag, fold it and place it in the new bag and put it on the ring and everything looks neat. Wally World and other places has a lot of different size zip lock bags in their craft sections and they work good too. I use a paper punch to put a hole in the top of the bag so I can place it on a ring if I have little stuff that needs a home. If the paper punch dosn't want to punch the plastic you can place a piece of thin cardboard (a phone book cover or old catalog)behind the plastic bag and the punch should make a clean hole. I have bugger packs and hen saddles and buck tails and all sorts of things hanging on the rings and they haven't torn the original holes. Im tired of typing and you are tired of reading, so Take Care....

[Piker20 0]

Items I cure myself or have donated don't come with one but I like to use one with a silica gel packet in to dry up any last bits of moisture. Then I have been transfering to a drawer system. The duck tape hole is an idea.

[netabrookie 0]

I have saved the little packs of silica also, but that was a brilliant idea putting it in a bag of something you cured yourself. I have a couple complete deer hides and all kinds of little critters that I have dried over the years and that would be insurance that all the moisture was gone. The worst thing I ever skinned was a ground hog/woodchuck. That was the greasiest mess I have ever got myself into. You almost need oil-dry that you put on a garage floor to get up all the grease while you are fleshing it. I just kept using paper towels and eventually got it. Thanks again for the awesome tip. Take Care...

[flytire 0]

why are we transferring the materials to another bag. The materials all come in bags from the manufacturer which seem to be pretty good bags. I am going to use the idea and either use duct tape to reinforce the hole or the product used to reinforce papers the little adhesive paper circle things.

 

good idea on reinforcing the original hole in the original bag. then just buy the loose leaf split rings

 

its also a good idea if you have just bought the material to reinforce the hole but a 30+ year collection of material bags will just have to wait. i'll probably end us selling stuff in the near future anyway. my system of rubbermaid shoe boxes works for me so its really what works for you.

[Guest rich mc]

very similar is the binder type tackle pouches the bass guys use for spinnerbaits and jigs i pick them up at garage sales . i have also heard of them being used as a fly box,especially the flatter patterns rich mc

[mikechell 0]

there are some good grommet setting systems too. instead of unsightly duct tape, brass grommets.

[Demps64 0]

why are we transferring the materials to another bag. The materials all come in bags from the manufacturer which seem to be pretty good bags. I am going to use the idea and either use duct tape to reinforce the hole or the product used to reinforce papers the little adhesive paper circle things.

 

 

I'm not transferring bags, I just stick the magnetic tape to the original bag. I agree, the bags they come in are generally good, and the right size. I like the ring idea, but I don't want duct tape on the bags.

[JSzymczyk 0]

the product used to reinforce papers the little adhesive paper circle things.

 

They're called Paper A%#holes... or at least that's what the office weenies in the Coast Guard always called them.