Tubular Tutorial: Create a Craft Organization Station with Recycled Toilet Paper Rolls

My new favourite discovery is the virtuous versatility of the toilet paper roll. This sturdy paper tube is handy for so many things, and I find myself using it more and more in my studio to organize art and craft tools. My newest endeavour is an organization station (yes, I'm rhyming on purpose) for all my markers - made with 28 recycled toilet paper rolls - and I thought I'd tutorialize the process for those of you who could benefit from some colourful tidiness.

Here's what you'll need:

• a fairly sturdy box: use whatever size will accommodate your storage needs - I used a shoe box
  
• enough TP rolls to fill it
• double-sided tape (glue would also work, but DS tape is quicker for those of us who are impatient)
  

• something to add weight and sturdiness to the base of the box: I used an end piece off some hardwood flooring - another option would be to stick together a few pieces of heavy cardboard

Start by lining up your TP rolls inside the box to see how they'll fit. If you have a gap at the bottom, that's perfect: you can place your weighting wood/cardboard there. If you have gaps at the sides, you could adhere some cardboard to the insides of the box to fill the gaps (or get creative by adding in some other odds and ends).

I set my end piece of hardwood flooring inside the long side of the shoe box. If you have no room to set your weighting inside, just adhere it to the bottom of the box.

Now, take one of your TP rolls. Put a piece along the length of the tube at the side (at 9:00), and another one along the bottom (at 6:00). (Sorry, the TP roll in the photo is flipped over so you can actually see the tape.) You'll affix the 9:00 sticky side to the side of the box, and you'll affix the 6:00 sticky side to the bottom of the box. Repeat this across the bottom of the box. You'll need to apply double sided tape to three sides of the last TP roll in the row.

Repeat the process for the remaining rows. For the top row, you'll need an additional piece of double sided tape on the top side (12:00) of each roll. It's a little tricky getting the last TP roll of each row into the tight space, but you can be pretty aggressive. It's cardboard, after all.

And there you have it, folks: an uber cool organizer with lots of tubular compartments for all your crafty tools. If you're really ambitious, you can decorate the outside of the box. I covered mine with some old wrapping paper I had laying around.

And hey, if you're not arty or crafty - and don't get all keyed up by seeing beautifully organized markers - you can use this organization station to store other stuff around the house. You could use it to store wires and cables, your assortment of string and twine, pens . . . anything you like . . . except knives, maybe.

I like markers.