As I mentioned before, I love zils. Nadira, my dance partner in ATS, also loves her some zils (she’s currently got brass Afghanis, Arabesques, and Nefertitis), but frequently loses them. She’s pretty notorious for leaving zils behind like breadcrumbs at Pennsic. So in the interests of keeping our zils both protected and safe from wandering off, I decided we need new zil bags. I bought some silvercloth, intended to keep silverware from tarnishing, at Joann’s, in hopes it will also keep zils from tarnishing. I’m going to line the bags with it, and thought to use some sort of pretty tribal-y fabric, maybe a batik.

But then Shira tweeted about this fabric. And I had to do it. So I ordered a yard, and eagerly awaited its arrival from Australia. It arrived in very short order – I was highly impressed by their shipping speed. And it’s so cute!

I’m totally in love with this fabric.

The zil bags are now completed, and the silvercloth seems to be working well:

My tips for storing zils, then:

• Always wipe them down before storing them.
• Store them in as dry a place as possible. NEVER put them away damp.
• Have a dedicated place to store them so you’re less likely to misplace a zil.
• Small zippered or drawstring bags are the most popular to keep your zils in, and there’s good reason for that: it keeps them together, the soft fabric is less likely to let them get dinged or scratched, and it keeps the air off them a little bit more.
• Storing them loose in a basket is generally not a good idea.

My recommendation is a zippered pouch, preferably with pockets. You can create one – or purchase one – to hold everything you need for emergency zil repairs and the zils themselves. Small makeup bags work great – they tend to be quite inexpensive, are easily purchased anywhere, and are generally the right shape and size to hold two or three pairs of zils.

What else needs to go in your zil bag? If you have room to tuck it in (side pockets are very handy), you can keep a mini-sewing kit with some elastic, a bit of thread and a needle, in case one of your zils breaks and you have to repair it on the fly. I also keep a small pouch to reduce the humidity in the storage bag, with baking soda and rice inside it and sewn shut. If you have those little silicate packets that come in many electronics and other purchased items kicking around, throwing one or two of them in the bag will also help to slow oxidation.

The biggest thing in storing your zils is keeping them together. As long as you’ve got that, you’re less likely to misplace them. And count them before you leave a gig, if you took them off and set them down somewhere before putting them away. Zils have walked off on me more than once because I set them on a table and then only grabbed three when I left.

This is the end of the Care and Feeding of Zils series. I hope you enjoyed!