Hi all.
I'm collecting quite range of stringers these days - must have 20-30 different ones at the moment - but I can't work out a good way of storing them. The problem is the "bits" - a tube system sounds OK (although quite expensive when you cost it out) but the shorter bits just get lost at the bottom of the tubes.
Initially, I made a simple shallow tray out of 10mm polystyrene sheet with dividers to hold about 20 different colours. It's light and a bit flimsy but works quite well - you can get hold of both the long and the short lengths with a pair of tweezers - and I can see the all the colours at a glance - but I've outgrown it now.
I could just make a second one but I wondered if anyone has any other tricks for storing them?
TIA
You will need a whole collection of jam jars.
One for normal stringers, one for black white and clear, one for silver glass, one for stormed silver glass (if you get into that), one for ivory/silvered ivory, And then a shallow one for the really short ones you can't get out of a standard sized jam jar.
Then keep another one for the stringers in the colours you are using that session. It's a real pain if you can't find the colours you want and at least this way I don't pick up purple instead of black, or horror of horrors use psyche thinking it's just plain purple. And I always need black, white and clear, so it's good to have a good stock of them, different thicknesses as well.
Sorry, forgot, you'll need another one for when you start making twisties.
And if you get into the bullseye colours remember that it's a different coe, so more jars to store that so they don't get mixed up.
I use spice jars.
I've got those graduated tube pencil pots ;D
I use some tall drinks glasses which are fab. Apart from the other excellent suggestions...you could also use those tall pasta jars which might be better as the lid would keep the dust off!
I use a wire rack, I think its meant to loop onto something, I then folded stiff card into short tubes and squeezed them into this rack, voila a storage rack with separate tubes
I like pencil holder idea then came to mind loo rolls or kitchen paper roll inders all gued together. Ah good old blue peter loo rolls and sticky backed plastic.
;D ;D ;D ;D
jenny
I have mine in an old wooden cutlery tray the different sections for different lengths as i'm not that organised I tend to just make them for the session and store the leftovers but I like the idea of filing them into categories.
If I was mega organised I'd file them with the glass they were made from but most people seem to go for the jar option.
Jam jars here too ;D
Stringers are like sunday dinner leftovers, you put them in the fridge til Thursday and then chuck them away!!! Since I had a lesson with Lorna, I only keep silvered ivory stringers and the rest are made when needed, kept til the end of the week and then chucked in the bin :o!!! Life's too short to mix up effetre black and hades!!!
Kazx
Ah....but mine are boro stringers and I keep every last mm ;D
When I have too many, I twist 'em all together and make spacers, or swipe them down a rod and make a seahorse.
I don't know, maybe that works in soft glass too? Stripes of random colour down a rod, melted in and twisted. Interesting and random twisties?
Mine are in cheap glasses from Ikea, and I put any murrini, encased stringer or stringers/twisties of other COE's in old Pringles tubes. I use a cuttlery tray for sorting my twisties. Fancy in one, transparent in another, opaque in another and all the short bits go in the small sections at the end.
I seperate my stringer into colour groups, but also have glasses for things like very reactive stringer, CG, Rubino, OY and IB, and then another for silver glass too.
I mainly use all my ends up as I work but the ones I don't use go in a tub and then when I'm ready to pull twisties I just use up the ends. I'm trying to save for a pot melt but I'm too stingy and use up all my ends! LOL ;D
Raided the charity shops today for pottery mugs and jars 'cos I'm a bit fed up withall the jam jars also found a little bud vase thingy that will do for a few shorts. ;D ;D
I use jam jars as well, big ones. My frit are in jars from Ikea, that come in sets of 3/4
Quote from: Kaz on May 28, 2010, 08:46:41 PM
Life's too short to mix up effetre black and hades!!!
Kazx
;D ;D
I have one of the test tube racks from eBay that Kaz found a while ago. £16.50 I think? I just group them in similar colours and keep things like rubino, silvered ivory, silver glasses etc in thier own tubes.
Jam jars and cutlery tray
Different size glasses from asda , very cheap, heavy bottom so they dont fall over.
I do like the pencil holder idea though :)
Hey people, thanks to all for your swift replies - most interesting. A frequent use of jam jars it seems, with also a regular incidence of cutlery trays.
On reflection, perhaps I'm a bit too a*al, as my homemade polystyrene tray seems a bit OTT in comparison - and yet, it does offer easy access to each colour, and clear sight of the little bits too. (pics below in case my initial description was unclear). I'll give it some more thought but more of these trays, despite being a faff to make in polystyrene/PVA, may still be my choice. I have two contrasting colours in each slot at the moment, with 8 more little bunches in rubber bands waiting for a home
Thanks for a great response to my first post!
(http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab116/Grody_21/P5310817_50pc.jpg)
(http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab116/Grody_21/P5310813_50pc.jpg)
mine are all jumbled up on a baking sheet but I do have test tubes with some in and I try to have a rod and stringer in each and I reserve them for specials
I stick mine in an oasis foam block.
I group colours together and they are easy to get hold of when needed.
I've got testtubes in racks and love them. I label each tube so I know what's what. I don't have very long stringers so it's fairly easy to get hold of the ones I want without breaking others.
Quote from: Grody on May 31, 2010, 09:26:38 PM
...perhaps I'm a bit too a*al...
Nope, please continue. This way my glass database complete with session log does not look OTT. And my habit of cleaning all the glass and labelling it with supplier and date received does not look like a step to far.
So I expect you to post often ;) :-* (please ;D )
Are you all mad :o All that stuff eats into torching time :P
I only label stuff I can't identify by eye!
I pull them as I need them - if I have a decent size left and it's not to fragile I'll pop it in the rack with the rest of the glass!
I have some test tube racks that I store goldstone and dichro stringers in - but again, I don't make loads of it, just what's left over!
Kaz - I've recently had to start labelling things like straw yellow and rose glass (I there are a few pinks that look so similar in the rod!) and I label my silver glass now too as there are a few that look quite similar!
I gave some glass to a friend a few weeks ago and it was all ready when I sent it to her.
I think it's going to be a while before I can identify alot of it by eye and not using the words that's a yellow
Quote from: Trudi on June 01, 2010, 09:59:54 AM
I pull them as I need them - if I have a decent size left and it's not to fragile I'll pop it in the rack with the rest of the glass!
I have some test tube racks that I store goldstone and dichro stringers in - but again, I don't make loads of it, just what's left over!
Kaz - I've recently had to start labelling things like straw yellow and rose glass (I there are a few pinks that look so similar in the rod!) and I label my silver glass now too as there are a few that look quite similar!
I keep them in the batches and ensure that one rod within each batch is labelled. I also have the eff chart with the samples in. CIM, Reichenbach and ASK is easy to identify and most Bullseye comes pre-labelled anyway. I do label silver glass of course - it's over £3 a rod so could be an expensive mistake!!!
The interesting thing for me is to pick up on the different approaches between beaders and fusers. I hadn't realised (until asking my question) that I'd stepped into a beader's stronghold! - or is it just that beaders are nicer, more open, more helpful people, who are willing to contribute to a friendly exchange of views? Yay!
(I'm a fuser, as if you hadn't guessed!)
Anyone know what % split there is on here between the two?
Ooo that's very neat and tidy
For all that I do to organise my workspace so I 'know' what rod I'm using, my actual work space is quite a mess when I'm using it regularly.
(It's looking most forlorn and tidy at the mo)
Quote from: Ilona on May 31, 2010, 09:50:45 PM
I stick mine in an oasis foam block.
I group colours together and they are easy to get hold of when needed.
Thats a blinkin good idea! Might have to try that, my current storage is a foil tray with lots of short 'bits' and the rest lying scattered on my bench under all the normal sized rods, then various scrabbling around when looking for a particular colour!
So right Kaz - including those 5" lengths of twisties that aren't enough to do anything with. The amount of times I have used what I thought was a stringer of aurae only to discover that it was some sort of pale purple trans and wouldn't reduce ! :) :) Also effetre black, hades or psyche...could be anything ....
Quote from: Kaz on May 28, 2010, 08:46:41 PM
Stringers are like sunday dinner leftovers, you put them in the fridge til Thursday and then chuck them away!!! Since I had a lesson with Lorna, I only keep silvered ivory stringers and the rest are made when needed, kept til the end of the week and then chucked in the bin :o!!! Life's too short to mix up effetre black and hades!!!
Kazx
I've bought 12 sets of salt & pepper jars to storage my stringers:
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3/Maria1110/StringerStorage.jpg)
Works perfectly.