By kschroeter Follow
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Chalk bags are how you show your personality at the gym or local bouldering area. Make sure everyone and their brother knows you're a boss with this DIY chalk bag!
To make your chalk bag you'll need your favorite puppet or golf club head cover and a bunch of felty material. The material I used was left over and found in our scrap materials bin. You'll want something a little nappier than suede but not quite as nappy as felt. It should hold the chalk in the bag but not absorb all the chalk, feel the inside of a store bought chalk bag if you're really stuck. You'll need about a yard per bag unless you are a super high efficiency cutter. You'll also need a length of string and a little clamp end to tighten the string like a draw string. For the puppet just try not to pick something too bulky as you'll be carrying it when you climb.
The idea here is to make a little can shaped bag that fits on the inside of the puppet.
- Measure the circumference of the opening of the puppet and cut a circle of material with a similar circumference.
- Measure the depth of your puppet and cut a rectangle of felt with the depth as length of one side and the circumference as the length of the other. (This depth should not be greater then 2/3 the height of your hand.)
- Sew ends of the rectangle together that are the length of the depth.
- Next sew the circular piece of material to the bottom of your loop and be sure that the material you want to feel is on the inside of the bag.
- Finally, flip the edge of the bag over and sew it to the bag leaving a little opening to feed the string into and out of. The idea here is to create a little sleeve to put a draw string through. Feed the string through and cut it at an appropriate length and attach the string clamp.
Here you're going to put your new bag into the puppet and pick out some thread that matches the color of your puppet. Sew the bag to the puppet below your drawstring section so that there is enough material to make a closed 'lid' over the puppet when the drawstring is pulled tight.
The last thing you need is a way to attach the bag to your harness. I found some of my sister's hair ties around the house that matched the color of my puppets and sewed them on. You could also use a bit more string or a wider piece of material if you want to attach a belt to use it for bouldering so it won't spin. Take your pick!
Finally, attach a carabiner and get climbing!
