IKEA Mala Sketching Easel Hack

[@ilustradsn]

I’m industrial designer and you made a nice practical adaptation of the drawing board ❤ I’m still looking for a practical lightweight easel, not the wooden heavy traditional one. Take care

[@eurekawanders]

Hey, thanks! Like you, I've also been searching for the perfect lightweight portable easel. This is close but there’s still a lot to improve on

[@ilustradsn]

@@eurekawanders ☀️😊

[@JohWong]

I got the mala bag! I love the hard surface so I can tape down my sheets and really soak it without having to worry about waterlogging my other pages in my book. It's a little bigger than my usual travel bags, but I love I dont have to compromise on what to bring. I love these hacks! Also, its only ~9 USD!

[@eurekawanders]

Yay! Glad that you loving the carrier. A big thank you to IKEA for making such an ingenious art product!

[@creativecolours2022]

By the time that you keep your sketching materials in the hip bag you don't need the storage space of the Mala Case. Or in order to phrase it better, the only thing that you use from the Mala Case is its hard surface that you can replace it with any other hard surface that is lighter in weight and you can modify it in order to be able to attach the strap. So here is what I suggest in the concept of keeping the weight of your sketching kit as low as possible and not get into the trouble to assemble the universe every time you want to sketch something. Buy a lightweight paper clipboard. Its size depends on your needs. A4 or A5. Drill two holes on it, one on the upper left corner and one at the right bottom corner of the clipboard in order to attach the strap. Pay attention to keep the clip of the clipboard on the right side in order to be able to open your sketchbook when you attach it there. With this modification you won't need to hold with you the super large bulldog clips the add weight to the whole kit. Then get a cross body flat bag, something like a tote or similar, made of lightweight material, ( fabric or nylon), of medium size. Don't go for something super large as the larger thing in your kit will be the clipboard and you need a bag that you can easily access your tools without having to dig into it with one hand. Use a rubber band to hold your sketching tools together in other words your brushes, your pencils and your pens. Add in the bag the magnetic water container with its clip, the clipboard with its strap already attached on it, your sketchbook or loose paper sheets, and also get a smaller flat flask because the one you have is way too large and heavy as well. Get one of those that are for alcohol beverages. The small pocket ones. And that because you will never need to carry with you that much water for your sketching needs unless you want it for drinking too...but the large bottle that you already have doesn't look like those that can keep the water at a cool drinkable temperature. So better get a smaller flask and hold a separate water bottle with you in case you need to have drinking water with you. ( which is not the case most of the times that you are sketching locally. It is not that you are going to sketch at a safari or something! ). Keep always all your sketching materials in this bag and just add into the bag your wallet, your keys and your phone before leaving home. The bag will be hang cross body on your right side ( because you are right handed ) and the clipboard will hang from your neck when you are sketching.

[@eurekawanders]

That’s a very detailed description. I should try it one day and maybe make it into a video and call it “sketching: the creative colours way”

[@creativecolours2022]

@@eurekawanders That is not a sketching way. It is just a suggestion to keep your sketching kit lighter as it seems from your other videos that your main concern ( complain) is that you hold a lot of weight.That is the reason why I tried to be as detailed as possible in case this suggestion of setup is of any help of you. :)

[@lulabelle33]

Very thoughtful and honest presentation. I'm happy you included the cons of the setup at the end. They made sense.

[@eurekawanders]

I try my best to make a balanced review. 🙂

[@chantalp.146]

Thank you Alice! While I may not use the Mala case, I was looking for an idea on how to create a foam board stekching easel. This has given me a good idea on how to start ….

[@eurekawanders]

You are welcome! Share your finished work with us~

[@Wei00]

👏 well done

[@eurekawanders]

Thank you!!

[@b.lab.__blab_colors]

It looks so cute and useful!! ❤️ I'll go to IKEA this week. 😄 Thank you

[@craftykat]

Brilliant idea! I wish we had an Ikea here.

[@eurekawanders]

🥲

[@djhadaverde]

Wow, I love this hack! Thank you for the ideas, pretty smart. I think that if it's becoming too heavy you just can rest and sit down somewhere to continue painting.

[@eurekawanders]

I didn’t think of it all by myself. They were wisdoms passed down by many generations of urban sketchers before me. 😬 but really, there are many creative pple out there!

[@cerealnana]

This is pretty cool! I just bought this mala table and was looking for videos on how people are using it. I already have most of this stuff around the house!

[@eurekawanders]

Awesome!

[@lynnemcnab76]

I have already bought the ikea bag, was wondering how I could use it strapped over shoulder like that, great idea.

[@gostowl]

A very cool hack.

[@okamiinukiba]

You could epoxy rare earth magnets to the bottom of plastic palettes and cups to stick them to your clips.

[@FayeWulf]

Wow, this is such a nice hack - beats spending hundreds on the etcher one when this is a fraction of the price :O

[@eurekawanders]

Unfortunately I don’t have the Etchr slate for comparison.

[@lindathaxton1994]

Nice! Innovative!

[@peterthedoodler8435]

Brilliant brilliant

[@ivanclinton6214]

Nicely Done! Picked one of these Mala cases up at IKEA (inexpensive) and like the hard surface to support watercolor paper, so I like magnetic accessory holder ideas. After looking at expensive Plein air easels, I want to adapt this case to a tripod mount so no weight on ones neck :).

[@eurekawanders]

That’s so cool!! I didn’t explore that option cos I didn’t want to cut up the case.

[@jacquicherry1721]

@@eurekawanders Would you really even have to cut up the case? Or could you simply unzip it, and let the bottom fall down behind the easel? Mount the bracket to the back of the work surface. It wouldn’t take up much room at all on the inside…it’s just a small bracket. That way leaves the case much more versatile. You could still zip it back up and use it on a table, or even your lap, at another time when preferred. By letting it fall behind, you could still use the pouch inside to hold any additional items that fit, inside the pouch, without fear of them falling out. 😊 I hope this helps! And I wish we had an Ikea store so I could get one. God bless you! And thank you for the videos. 😃 I just found your page a few days ago, and am really enjoying it. Jacqui

[@eurekawanders]

@@jacquicherry1721 thanks for the advice. I guess we could cut it up but I wasn’t ready to do that. 😅

[@deborahrech7429]

Very clever!

[@eurekawanders]

Thank you!

[@Justkisha]

Awesome

[@francesschatz3131]

How. To go. About getting easel,materials etc?

[@maralabas]

👏👏👏👍👍👍👌👌👌🙂

[@Axxel_]

Måla

[@eurekawanders]

My pronunciation😅…