What's your Boro Storage Solution?
 

I have a shoe storage cube with cubbies divided by PVC fencing sections for all the 104 etc. Within that box I have areas devoted to silver glass, gaffer, Moretti and so on. Under my kiln, I have round PVC for boro. that would be fine and good, but I don't have pounds and quarter pounds of boro, I have a piece here and a piece there, lots of short pieces, samplers - these get lost in PVC, so I end up with little jars full of shorts and I have to dig through a ton to find specific colors or a brand's specific one. Not like 104 where you can group them by blue, green, WYSIWYG.. What's your solution for storing and organizing the myriad of boro colors?

I have the same thing...just single rods of boro colors.

I found large, clear flower vases at the thrift store and divide the colors out by crayon, WYSIWYG, Opaque silvers, transparent silvers, and clear....seems to work well for me. I found a cast iron tray that I throw the little shorts in when they are just too short to put back in the vases.

This is an old picture, heck, I even have a different torch now, but you get the idea:

I use a few pvc setups like in the first picture except they are cut to 20" length and a metal rack i bought from home depot that i keep the bundles of glass in plus it holds one of my kilns.

I basically have piles of glass all over the place, in no particular order. Not something I'd recommend to anyone else, but for some reason it works for me...

PVC dividers, drawers, tables, vases, the floor, boxes, shelves and probably 20 other random places... it's all over the place. :lol:

So basically you'd all be right at home here and nobody has any brilliant suggestions for me! :badgrin: (I didn't include the vases, trays, boxes & jars in the pic)

Here's my old solution using the pvc drainspout:

http://munkinarts.com/images/mess/P1030583.JPG

Here's the new version using the fencing:

http://munkinarts.com/images/glassStorage.jpg

The glass in the lower left of the top crate is 90, the rest is all 104, the 33's in the bottom, though I may have to muddy the upper one a bit, I'm running out of cubbies down below.

My only regret is that In order to keep it from tipping forward I have to cut my rods in half. I don't mind that so much, it's easier to use and I can weld if I need to, but it's just a hassle if you get a couple pounds of a particular color.

In addition to the glass here, I have two cases laying down (in the picture) of 12mm tubing and 7mm rod, there's a new case of 1.5" Schott rod, and there are two cases in another corner of 25mm and 40mm tubing.

Oh, and the frit's in jars just off the edge of the picture (other side of those mandrels).

Christy, I arrange my boro by manufacturer then color. I use the black utility crates from staples ($7) and cut 2" pvc into 12" sections and fill the crates. The 2" sections leave enough space between each color bundle to locate a color easily. I stack the crates on a heavy duty metal shelving system (Lowes).

I have some extra storage square tube 1.5x1.5x12inches white pvc like material 10X10=100holes some are 5x5=25holes

I use it for Boro and let the back end stay a couple inches from the wall so the ends of the rods hang over - this way it holds about 2.5lb of boro full rods


about $2 a piece with postage and all about 8 years ago

I will try to post a pic later - pic below

I would love to see it Tamara!

Please indulge us when you can :-).

I thought they were cool and it works very well - but I over purchased
and since I have downsized - selling off my Kinari & Sataki - after working Boro these are way too soft to deal with
there is a large gray area in my life between "need" and "want"

Yeah - we all have that area! can we see these? Did you take pics yet?

PVC Rail - Boro Storage
 

OK - I could have made 100 beads in the time it took me to figure out how to post pics. I actualy had to resort to reading the directions :(

A little messy as I am trying to move stuff over to make room for new TAG colors

- one tube 1.5x1.5x12 - hold about 35-40 Boro Rods
- the larger 2x2 hold 50-60 rods


- one on desktop with Boro Rods

- The Boro Rack - the metal shelves are from Menards and are rated for 1000lbs - I may be there now - under the rack I also have a few wood blocks to help support the weight. If I was to re-purchase these I would only buy the 4 foot sections because the do not bow from the weight like the 8 foot sections do. The rack also has 1 inch thick plywood


Here is a closer pic of a section



The PVC stuff is some type of "rail" I was fortunate to find a place in Texas who cut it in 1 foot sections and Sent me 1000 pieces by UPS - but this was about 8 years ago so I am not sure where you would get it today. Before this I has the round pipe PVC and it was too heavy - I also used gutters and they broke - and before this I tried aluminium gutter - it was too flexable and in general hard to deal with

This PVC rail has thin walls and the weight is light but it is strong as long as it is stacked tight to compress the cube.


I hope this helps anyone who is trying to create a storage solution

I won't tease you all by posting the other couple racks of glass.

%$^&* me. That's a LOT of beautiful glass. Fabulous storage. Each rod marked too!

I'm green with glass envy. WOW, look at all those colors. I only have about 12 or so colors besides a sample pack. I wanted to buy your shorts from the Garage sale, that was a really good deal, but no money right now :cry:.

Every single rod is labeled?! Holy cow! That is also a solution I hadn't considered.

omg:jawdrop:=P~
I'm so envious. That is so sweet.

OH YUM!

I mark every rod of glass that goes into my studio too, I did that when I first started and was using 104 and didn't know the different colors very well. Plus I just like being organized.

The best labels I have found are from Quill - 7-10796 1/2x 1 3/4
white lazer labels - they stick super well

I can't say I found this on my own - I asked GA what they were using. 8000 labels will cost you about $22 with shipping


I use to use the Avery Permenent labels but they must have changed the sticky stuff - the box I bought this summer would not stick well - I returned it - got a diff box, then a different box - all from different stores -

Before the glass goes on the rack every piece getts a label - for the Boro I also label the date when possible because stuff changes over time - the old GA yellow Tsp formula changed from the new GA yellow and other differnces that cause the glass to react a little different

yeah but. WOW 8) !!! That is a LOT of glass. And it's all boro... and I though I had storage issues. I can fit all my GA in one vase, all my NS in one vase and -- you get my drift.. Wow. I think I'll just keep looking at that because it makes me happy.

Gorgeous storage!
I'd pay money to have someone tag all my glass like that! :lol:

My husband built these a while ago. I put a thin piece of wood in some to keep colors separate. The left is soft and the right is boro. Bullseye I keep in a plastic tub. :)
Bless my husband he went out in the garage and cleaned it out this week.

Very nice Heidi! I soooo wish my hubby was handy....

You may want to check out a sale at Danczak.

http://www.jcdanczak.com/our_products/subcat_113.html

We ordered a few cartons of the 2"x24" square tubes with extra caps and then cut them down to size. Until DH has a chance to build a cabinet, we used a very strong cardboard box. The "shorties" will be used for miscellaneous storage. Hope this helps.

Linda

Thank-you Lori!
He made it out of Plywood and its really crude/unfinished but its in the garage! That strip down the middle hides the thick center support and it was left over from shelving in my closet. lol
I am really excited about how he cleaned the garage! He cleared off two work benches so I have some room for either fusing or jewelry making! :)

I used some of these clear tubes for a while but if you stack them more then 10 high and put a lot of glass in them they begin to bend - they are a little on the thin side.

geez you guys are organized.
i have one box with all my clear rod & tubing, then another box with my color in it. i don't even seperate shorts out.

but i'm also insane, so..

this makes me feel better, i'm not the only one.

My husband's handy, but it doesn't have to do with building anything :biggrin:

sorry, I'm immature

Thanks for the idea of the Quill labels! I've been using the Avery, and they've worked ok for me. But, it's good to know that there's something even better out there :)

Now, have you found someone that makes these labels in different colors? Sometimes, I *need* to color-code the glass (student's in workshops don't read labels :( )

Malcolm