I’d like to start by giving credit to Honl Photo for the design idea. I had the supplies already so I wanted to see what I could come up with.

For those of you who don’t want sticky-backed velcro on your flash, this is the perfect solution. It’s quite simple to make and only takes a few minutes if you have a sewing machine.

Supplies:

• 1.5″ wide loop velcro, about 10.5″ long and non-adhesive-backed
• 1.5″ wide hook velcro, about 1.5″ long and non-adhesive-backed
• a piece of bicycle inner tube roughly 11″x1.5″
• needle and thread/sewing machine

I started by trimming the inner tube slightly narrower than the velcro
so that it didn’t stick out from underneath. Then I sewed the inner tube to the loop velcro and let a piece of the inner tube stick out past the velcro a little to act as a pull-tab. On that same pull-tab end is where the small square of hook velcro goes, sandwiching the inner tube. I used the standard box-X on each end.

Now you can use a variety of velcro accessories like grids, snoots and bounces without having to use stick-on velcro.

Oh, and to the guys who feel that sewing threatens their masculinity, just think of a sewing machine as a [potentially dangerous] power tool. Have you ever impaled your fingertip with a needle? I hear it isn’t a pleasant experience…