You answered your own question! :D

Plug and patch. From 2 feet away nobody is the wiser. I buy maple dowels the same size as the holes. I glue a little disc of wrap on the end of it and use my wife's nail-file to shape it so it conforms to the same diameter as the dowel. Then I cut a plug long enough to be a little proud on the inside of the drum. Make the wrap flush on top and use a black sharpie to touch up any border gap. After the glue dries, sand the nib on the inside flush with the rest of the shell. It's a clean, neat and damn near invisible repair when done.

See photo. There are two plugs in that tom. -Invisible!- I'll give you $25 if you can spot them!

I was working with a very rare wrap on this project and I couldn't get a swatch to use for my plugs. I got the wrap for the plugs from underneath a bottom-rear lug on the bass drum! Perfect match!

John

John, you did an excellent job.

My case will be a bit different as there will be one large patch (to cover the large hole and the screw holes) and one smaller patch (bottom right).

What do you think, should I make the large patch round or diamond shaped?

I can see them! $25 please...

I must have missed something. How exactly does using a black sharpie "cover up" the border of the patch?

Circles are softer shapes and depending on the light source, only parts of the edge of a circle will be visible/reflecting light. Straight lines and corners are hard, hard lines are easier to see. I would go with a round patch. If you do it carefully, the patch will only be visible on close inspection, no one in an audience will ever see it. The kit will look fine from a foot or two away, not to worry.

Break a leg buddy, hope it comes out great for you. Photos when you're done please!

Caddywumpus - you just *deckle the edge of the patch with the pen. (*little, tiny scattered dots) It (visually) breaks up the outline of the patch. Makes it harder to see the edges. You just want to break up the edge line a bit so it doesn't look continous. You don't want to draw a hard circle around the edge of the patch, just 'speckle' it enough to make it blend better and fool the eye.

John

Retro, My vote is for #1..But i would not do the wood plug..The way i have fixed holes like that is..With RockHard wood filler.The way i do this is cut a piece of plastic and match it up to the hole you may have to file around the patch and the shell to make the best fit..Place some glue on the patch piece.Then place the wrap patch on to drum used tape to hold the piece into place,then mix up the RockHard filler you can also add some silver paint to match the inside of the shell into the filler.let it dry for 24 hours and sand down...Mikey

Thanks Mikey

I cant use the rockhard filler here (altho I would like to) because I'm planning on installing the round badge and the gromment directly in the center of the patch. So, I need to make the round plug, drill the hole for the gromment, THEN glue the plug to the shell. After the wrap patch is on, then I should be able to easily make the hole for the gromment and install the the badge.

That makes more sense than what I was thinking. Wouldn't you want to use a blue sharpie, though?

You'd think. But Blk does the trick.

John