I am quite happy to say that my design for what I am calling my Apothecary Paint Storage option is finally finished, after a couple of months of design, test cuts and revisions. Everything fits together well, and all the sizes are accurate (at least for my materials of 2.8mm and 5mm thickness). I have added the plans to Etsy, available immediately for purchase for anyone interested in building their own. The plans are also added to our YouTube Membership rewards, if and when we grow to that level. I do not currently plan on selling physical versions, both due to the time necessary to cut and the shipping costs (hard to find boxes wide and long enough to ship with).
The box itself holds 120 Army Painter dropper-bottle sized paints, organized into 20 drawers of 6 colors. I chose 6 since that is the format Army Painter uses for their Triad systems, with either 3 or 6 colors for each shade of a primary (base, mid, and highlight). On the front of each drawer is a grid, within which I place a drop or sample of the color, so that I can locate the proper range easily. In my case, I was doing this with just a direct drop from the bottle, which worked well in most cases (though there were a couple of blow-outs). A safer method would certainly be to hand paint each color, but I was ready to put the box to use.
This style of storage does run counter to “typical” racks, in that you can’t see the paint bottles directly. Most racks (and my previous designs), arrange the pots in a grid format where you can see the lids, the bottle bottoms, or the labels. That works, and is nice, but I have not yet found a design that hits all my key needs – ability to see the color, find the specific set of colors you need fast, and not take up a lot of space on the desk or wall. Most designs hit the first one, generally the second one is a compromise, and the third one is pretty much a lost cause – they are either very wide or very tall (and unstable). This box definitely minimizes the space and makes locating color sets easy. The ability to see the specific color (to me at least) is the lowest priority – if I can see a representation, I really don’t care about the specific bottle. Of course, your preferences may vary.
This design is specifically for dropper-bottles. I did try Citadel pots, and they are just too wide for the drawers – I can only fit 2 in each section which is far from practical. I can certainly expand the case to fit them, but that has limited value for me. Not only would it make the size of the case much larger, or have a lot less drawers, but it would take up a lot more space. More specifically however I basically only use Citadel Contrast paints, which don’t really have a color coordination scheme. There are various reds, greens, greys, etc, but not a consistent number or format like the Triad system. That makes it difficult to organize in a logical fashion. I am not that familiar with the rest of the range though, so if there is a pattern, let me know and I might be tempted to design something.
Instead, my next plans are to add a support base to the cabinet. Right now, it’s a box sitting upright on my desk – very compact. But it would be nice to elevate it with some sort of base or “feet”. At the same time, I do have Citadel pots which I need to store. So, my theory is a bit of both. Combine my prior iteration (the hex grid), with a larger back section sized to fit the cabinet in directly. That would elevate the box for easy access and viewing, and provide additional space for the Citadel paints, all in one convenient space. Look for that in the future, as inspiration hits me.
As always, if you have any feedback or questions, or suggestions for improvements or changes, let me know.
