How I Store Polymer Clay Canes

Storage is always an intriguing dilemma for any crafter or hobbyist. We have lots of little bits of stuff, and unless we can see it easily, we tend to forget we have it. Some things are easily stored (such as blocks of unopened polymer clay), but other things are more awkward and tricky.

I’ve tried a ton of methods to store polymer clay canes, and most have been problematic. If you let the canes touch, they’ll stick together. Laid on their side, they roll around. If you wrap your canes with plastic wrap (or waxed paper or deli sheets), then you can’t see the end of the cane. Plus, that takes a lot of time to cut little pieces of plastic wrap. You can’t store them in the open, or they will get dusty. But if you stack them in a box, it’s hard to see what you have. Dilemmas, dilemmas.

Here’s what I’m doing now and…it’s working! If you’re not happy with your system, this one might be worth trying.

I found these low, wide scrapbooking boxes (Affiliate Link – learn more here) with a latch-on lid. The bottom is flat. They’re tall enough that most of my canes can sit vertically, and the lid is easy to see through. The boxes stack easily. It’s easy to sort and organize the canes by type (or theme or artist) and then you can take just that box to your work table. I’m sure you could find similar boxes. The ones designed for storing scrapbooking paper would be great.

This system did need one modification, however. The canes tend to fall over easily because they don’t stick well to the plastic bottom of the box. So I put a piece of glass into the bottom. I bought some cheap picture frames at Hobby Lobby and cut the glass to fit. (The glass is very thin and super easy to cut with a simple glass cutter.) But you could also get glass cut to the right size from a frame shop. Make sure you measure the bottom of the box, not the top, though. Now the canes stay vertical, and I can easily see what I have. Perfection!