Published Apr 13. 2017 - 6 years ago
Updated or edited Apr 13. 2017

A leather folder for your flash

This small DIY article shows you how to make a leather folder or jumbo-wallet for convenient flash storage.

A row of holes
Tools for the rivets
Through hole rivets
Through hole rivets
Stefan Lambaek

Many tyers would like to have their fly tying materials out and ready, so that they can sit down any time and tie flies. I want to store things so that they are ready when I want to tie flies, but I don't want to have them laying around gathering dust, and I'd also like to be able to use the space for other purposes periods where I don't tie.

My fly tying materials live in a flight case contained in new and old tin cans. But I didn't know how to store flash materials. The racks you can buy are meant to stand on a table and take up too much space in a flight case. I have had the flash in photo pockets, but it curls and also falls out all the time.

I want to store things so that they are ready when I want to tie flies


Connect and tighten
Catch the label and the flash
Pull tight
Tag on the backside
Trim tag
Placing the flash
Stefan Lambaek

But the other day I came across a piece of skin I had cut out of a discarded chair long ago. The skin was about 80 x 58 centimeters, so it could be folded around the materials.
I have made a series of holes with a hole punch in the skin and put rivets in 15 centimeters from the top. The holes are made with 2 centimeter spaces - 3 centimeters may be more appropriate. The rivets have a hole of about 5.5 millimeters and can be purchased in most hobby shops. When the skin is cut and the rivets inserted and the skin has been treated with a little leather conditioner on the outside, it is ready for use.
Opposite to the side where the flash will sit, I stick a 2.5 millimeter cable tie through the rivet hole. I lead it around the flash where flash is already tied in a bunch from the vendor. The strip is then passed through the hole again, connected and drawn tight. I then cut off the excess of the strip.
Along with the flash, I usually stick on the label from the bag. I make a hole with a regular hole puncher for paper.

Rivets and strips do not have to have exactly the size that I have specified. The essential thing is that the head of the cable tie cannot pass through the hole in the rivet.
When the materials are to be packed away, I fold the skin over the flash both from above and below. I then fold the skin together in thirds in the other direction and it can now be packed into the flight case ready for the next time it is needed.

The flash mounyed
Folded and ready to pack
Fold leather over the flash
Folding the folder
Stefan Lambaek
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