Tattoo Artist Cardboard Helpers

So I don't really have an "ible" because I didn't really think about it until I was done. My daughter tattoos and her inks are just kind of lying around with nowhere to go. Pics 1 and 2 are made from the same 24x18 box, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, Gorilla tape, Duck Tape, and a shoestring. The first box will hold about 40 inks and the second one only 6. She needed a smaller one for when she's tattooing at somebody else's place and doesn't need her whole collection. I had scoured the Internet with the hope of finding something like this but didn't so made my own, probably around $15.

The third pic is that of a light box, using another 24x18 box. It was more expensive but probably less than what it would have cost to buy one, especially since this measures about 24x18x5. The most expensive pieces were the 1/8" plexiglass and the $24 light. Also used Gorilla tape, Duck Tape, aluminum foil tape, Rust-Oleum Frosted Glass paint (Home Depot), and some 3/4" elastic to help keep the plexiglass in place.

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I'll try to do this by memory, now that I have some more time. Sorry I don't have pics of the steps.

Big box: Cut 40, 2-1/4" lengths from the toilet/paper towel rolls and them in red duct tape. Put them in 4 rows of 10 and stapled together. This determined the length and width of the bottom of the box. The inks are under 4-1/2" so that's how I determined the height of the box (length, cut box 24" plus another 9" (4 1/2" each length side) by 18" plus another 9" ( 4 1/2" each width side). Make sure your utility knife is sharp. Used a window screen tool to mark the lines for bending at 24" and 18". Taped up the inside of the box (after bending) with the Gorilla tape. After bending and taping the ends of the box together with Gorilla tape, I then proceeded to decorate the outside with Duck Tape, which sells for about $4 a roll. Then I made the lid basically like the box, only slightly larger so that it'd fit over the box. Then I took a long shoe string and made two holes on both sides of the length sides and ran them through and knotted them so that the box can be carried.

Little box: Cut 6, 2/14" lengths of toilet/paper towel rolls, etc. and made the box determined by the length/width of those rolls. The lid I made by adding the length of the box plus another 2" or so for the flaps (not on the width side). Covered the inside of the lid with Gorilla tape (after bending) and then decorated the outside. The flaps fit nicely inside the box.

Sounds like I used a lot of tape. I did. I think I like tape. But the boxes are strong and the cardboard won't break down. Obviously, you could choose to not decorate it at all or use as much tape as I did.

Light box: Made the box in the same way as the big box above; however, I covered the inside with the aluminum foil tape to be used to reflect the light. I guess you can use aluminum foil or maybe paint the inside white. Then my thought was that if I cut 12 more pieces of cardboard (and also covered in aluminum foil tape), 3 for each side of the inside of the box, and about a 1/4" lower than the height, that I could then place the 1/8" plexiglass on this ledge and everything would turn out beautifully. But it didn't. Turns out I cut the plexiglass just a little too long and a little too wide, thus, the 3/4" elastic. Anyway, I bought a fluorescent light at Home Depot. It measures about 18" long. I set it in the center of the box. Then I cut two more approximately 23" pieces of cardboard (also covered in aluminum foil tape) so that I could angle them down towards the light. I cut a hole in one of the width ends so I could run the light cord through and then secured the sides of the light strip with more aluminum foil tape. Used Gorilla tape on the bottom of the box and decorated the outside. Cut the plexiglass and secured it with the elastic.