Sunday, July 5, 2009

The Traveling Bead Studio

Inspired by That Celticat Chick, I decided to make a Traveling Bead Studio, and here it is. It's a plastic pencil case, eight inches by five inches. The usual $1.00 item at the back to school sale. Note the interesting reflection on the top of the box. That would be me. And, no, I am not an alien from outer space.



The bottom half is lined with a scrap of velux blanket, aka beading mat. The beading mat is held in place by the ever useful masking tape donuts.



So far, my Traveling Bead Studio has taken a train trip to Chicago, a ferry ride to Wisconsin, and a plane flight to St. Louis. All right, all right, so I didn't bead on the airplane, but I did bead on the train and on the ferry. And I did bead in the airport and in the hotel.

The Traveling Bead Studio works quite well. It holds enough little bags of beads for a small project, kindergarten scissors, thread, a pencil, and the always essential seam ripper. As an added bonus, you can stick the needle in the beading mat for safekeeping. For a larger project, a person could bring along an auxiliary container of additional beads. The high edges of the Traveling Bead Studio prevent embarrassing spillage that could call one to the attention of TSA employees.

The Traveling Bead Studio is an Open Source device. Anyone may copy it.

3 comments:

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Its a great idea. I have several of those cases. The kids need a new one every year...why I don't know. I always clean the old ones and find another use for them.

robin michelle said...

Thanks for a great idea! Much cheaper than the cases they sell at bead stores.

Timaree said...

After Christmas last year, I was shopping at Target and they were clearing out their plastic bins for Christmas decorations. I picked up a small carrier with four levels about the size of your pencil box (each just a tad deeper though) that click together. I put beads like you did in one, knitting stuff for socks in another, drawing stuff in the third and the fourth is for another beading project. I am set for travelling to the moon and back! I love the tiers capabilities.