I take great care in keeping my artwork and cards clean and dry. One of the many measures I have taken to achieve this, is placing indicator silica gel pouches in every box or drawer containing artwork or cards. These easy to make indicator silica gel pouches can be reused time and time again. I will show you how I make these in order for you to make your own.
To Make A Single Indicator Silica Gel Pouch
You will need:
- Scissors
- Sewing Machine or Needle
- 100% Cotton Reel
- 100% Natural Hessian Fabric
- Orange Indicator Silica Gel Beads
- Scrap Card
- Tape
Step 1
Take your 100% hessian fabric and using a pair of scissors, cut it into two rectangles roughly 10cm x 8cm.
Step 2
Place one rectangle of hessian fabric directly over the other and sew together the two long edges and one short edge to produce an open pouch. You can use a sewing machine to do this, or alternatively a needle and cotton thread. It is important that you only use 100% natural cotton thread to sew the fabric pieces together. The reason you must use 100% natural fabric and thread because the pouch needs to withstand being heated in an oven at a later date during reactivation of the silica gel.
Step 3
Take your scrap card and roll it diagonally to produce a funnel shape with a small opening at the bottom and a large opening at the top. This card funnel will be used to transfer silica gel into the open pouch. After you have a funnel shape you are happy with, it can be taped together.
Step 4
Carefully take your indicator silica gel beads and pour them into the open pouch using your card funnel. Ensure you fill the pouch well but also leave enough room so that you can press the pouch together easily with room to sew it closed without silica gel beads rolling out.
Step 5
Finally, you can carefully sew the remaining ends of the pouch together to seal the pouch.
Reactivating Your Indicator Silica Gel Pouch
When oversaturated, the orange indicator silica gel beads change colour and transition from orange to pale yellow to dark green. After you’ve used your pouch for a while, you may want to check if it needs reactivating. By holding the pouch up to the light, you should be able to see what colour the silica beads are.
As soon as I notice a pouch that contains mostly yellow coloured silica gel beads, I know it is time to reactivate it. To reactivate a pouch, take your pouch and place it on a non-food use oven proof tray and put it in the oven at 100℃ for an hour or two.
Remove the tray from the oven and leave to cool for an hour or so. Word of warning – these get very hot. Once the pouch is finally cool, you can hold the pouch to the light to check the colour before reusing.
I hope you found this helpful and above all, I hope this helps you to keep your precious items dry.