Entry Details

This is a wall cabinet designed to hold ink pad cases for my wife's rubber stamping hobby. There are 4 color families of ink pads, each family consisting of 12 colors. Each color family also has 12 coordinating felt tip markers. The cabinet provides storage for all 48 ink pads, along with quick access to each matching marker.
The case construction consists of mitered birch plywood, with solid maple edge banding and purpleheart splines added for strength and aesthetic appeal. The door is made from solid maple, with 45 degree miter joints again using purpleheart splines for aesthetic appeal. A contemporary patterned glass subtly hides the interior contents, while providing a glimpse of the contents within. A stainless steel T-shaped handle accents the contemporary design of this cabinet.

The door hinges from the bottom, employing fall flap hinges allowing the door to stop at a 90 degree swing. A stainless steel chain mounted on the right side of the door provides additional support when the door is opened. Recessed rare earth magnets along the top edge of the case provide for secure closure. The back of the case is constructed from white hardboard, allowing light to reflect off the inside of the case, preventing the case interior from appearing too dark.

The storage dividers consist of 2 subassemblies to store the felt tip markers. The matching ink pad cases are then placed to the immediate left or right of each marker. Each subassembly slides into the case, guided by shelf pins. The case depth is designed to accomodate the length of the markers. Since the ink pads are roughly one half the length of the marker, there is a "false back" installed at the rear of each divider subassembly to prevent the ink pads from being pushed too far into the cabinet. A permanently-mounted left, slide-in center, and permantly-mounted right divider subassembly completes the internals of the case.

This detail below shows the purpleheart spline and maple edge banding used to conceal and strengthen the mitered case joint. It also provides a close-up view of the internal divider detail, showing the individual ink pad cases along with the matching felt tip marker storage to the immediate left of each pad. The "false back" behind each ink pad allows for a slight reveal, making for easy removal of each ink pad.

This detail below shows the recessed fall flap hinge at the bottom left of the case. The decorative glass is recessed into the solid maple door, captured by maple stops screwed to the inside of the door frame.

The entire case is finished with a satin water-based polyurethane. The case mounts to the wall using a french cleat.

As an added accessory to the case, I designed 4 ink bottle caddies, each holding the 12 refill ink colors for each color family. These 4 caddies are constructed from solid maple, with white hardboard dividers. The 4 caddies are stored on the top of the case.