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I've always wanted an applicator for every color ink pad I had, but obviously can't afford using the Tim Holtz ones. But, I love using the round ones. I was looking for something in my room and found a whole bunch of wine corks. Cheap, round & will hold Velcro, and the foam rounds. Might not be anything others would use, but I love em. Now I don't have to keep pulling one color off & adding another. FYI
__________________ Keep what is worth keeping
and with the breath of kindness
blow the rest away.
I use large wooden spools. Since I have been sewing for years I still have them from the years when they made wooden ones. You could use the plastic ones they make now, or buy a 3 foot length of 1" dowel and cut it to the length you want. Should make a bunch.
I purchased a 1 1/4" dowel at the hardware store, used my husbands table saw to slice it into approx 3/4 to 7/8 inch pieces. A little sanding on the cut ends...label and varnish of you want. Joanne has sticky velcro sheets that I die cut to fit one end. Now my little handles take the regular Tim Holtz round blending pads. BIG BONUS...they are the perfect height to store in the old style SU stamp case. Med case will hold 20 tidy and easy to see! I had enough slices from one dowel to make some for me and a friend.
A friend of mine has a great solution and you don't need alot of handles. She puts a velcro piece on the back of her ink pads for storage. That way you have the exact pad with the color ink. She then only needs a small nbr of the handles. I love her idea and plan on organizing mine soon. I'll then get a small zip lock bag and put some of those plastic type corks in there for extra handles.
I store my foam pads under the ink pad. For mini inks, the foam just sort of stays there. For the larger pads, I tried the velcro underneath but then the ink got all over and I have cardboard ink storage. So I added a piece of ribbon long enough to go over the foam pad and leave some space for adhesive to hold it to the bottom of the ink pad. I adhere it so it isn�t tight but not loose either. I place the foam ink side next to the ink pad so the clean side is down. No ink everywhere! I have three applicators so I don�t often have to switch while working on the same project. I did make some using makeup sponges and furniture feet covers but I didn�t like them as much. The dowel idea is good if I ever need more applicators.
I tried putting a piece of Velcro under my inkpads, but I couldn't stack them anymore, and I need to do that for storage. I just use the same dauber/applicator sponge for each color group (one for blues, one for greens, etc.).
I save the plastic tops off alcohol and lens cleaner spray bottles, and stuff them with makeup removal sponge from the dollar store. Total cost ~1$ +trash. The tops are nice and rounded already and the tapered shape means the foam doesn't want to end up sliding up into the cap. And when the foam gets worn out, easy to pull it loose and put in a new one.
Inexpensive ink applicators
