Sketch Collectors: How Do You Store Your Goodies?

[monkeymcgee]

I've got all my sketches sitting in a 1600 count box right now. I have a couple binders ready to fill, but since these are "premium" binders with non-removable pages, I've been putting off filling them until I figure out how I want to organize them.

So, I'm curious: how do your store your sketches? I've got some options in the poll, but feel free to comment as well.

For our purposes, let's exclude the case-incentive cards that (if you keep sealed) force your hand in how you store them.

[mwheeler27]

I currently store mine in binders by release and then by artist. I will eventually have them slabbed for protection.

[dd316]

Binder by subject matter... to an extent. I have all my PSC's together, then I have my horror PSC's together, then I try to keep my Star Wars, Indiana Jones, LOTR, etc., together but it never happens and they're all kind of jumbled up.

[Ronin]

sleeve + toploader + teambag for anything I intend to sell.

personal collection in semi rigids, magnetics, and screwdowns depending on their worth.

store my hinged in wide magnetic. wide toploaders for anything i intend to sell.

shadowbox etc in snap cases. i don't use binders anymore. i don't collect sets so no need to. i did years ago for magic and garbage pail. a shoebox works just fine for me.

[Rian Fike]

I like to play with mine. Top loaders only, and I rearrange them in different combinations on a table according to my moods.

[aggie4ever]

I keep all of mine in top loaders (in sleeves of course), sorted by set in the order I pulled them. Don't know why I keep them that way, sorted by artist would make more sense. Guess I like to look back and see how my case breaks went. I have a 3 day weekend this weekend, maybe I will take the time to sort them by artist.

I've thought about putting them in binders, since that would take up less space and make it easier to look at them. I just don't know what to do about new pickups or ones that get traded/sold, it's too much trouble to resort them by artists, unless you leave spaces in your pages, but that also is annoying to see an empty spot. In any case, I've been pulling enough sketch cards the past couple of months that I decided to finally buy a case of toploaders, so I guess I am stuck with my method of storage.

I keep the top loaders in 2 row shoe boxes.

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by Rian Fike

I like to play with mine. Top loaders only, and I rearrange them in different combinations on a table according to my moods.

I like the way you think.

[t2554]

I'm still not sure what I want to do with my collection. I can't afford to go all out on every set that I'm interested in so I pick up a little of this and a little of that. Therefore, I don't have enough to fill out individual binders sorted by set. I like the security of One Touch magnetics but they are big and bulky to hold when I want to bring them out compared to toploaders (plus the cost adds up). I may just keep the most valuable in One Touches and the rest in toploaders from now on.

[galar]

I store expensive ones in screwdowns/magnetics and less valuable ones in Toploaders.

I have a question for people (and hoping Ted D. can lend some expert advice) that directly relates to this post.

Please excuse my lack of knowledge in art mediums, but sketches that are drawn with markers (copic?) or water colors, I see no problem putting in toploaders or hard cases. But art done in pencils/charcoal/or anything like paint or oils that sit on top of the cards, what is the best way to store them?

My concerns are:
In toploaders, the soft sleeve is in constant contact with the art, so I am afraid of friction or some weird adhesion occurring possibly damaging the art. In hard cases there is generally a little room but the inner surface is hard and the cards are loose in the holders, so I am also afraid of friction occurring also.

[galar]

Oh, my sketches are organized by throwing them into any available shoebox style card box that has room. (Not kidding)

[ifish73]

Official binders by release. Alphabetical by name in binder.

[dd316]

Originally Posted by galar

I have a question for people (and hoping Ted D. can lend some expert advice) that directly relates to this post.

Please excuse my lack of knowledge in art mediums, but sketches that are drawn with markers (copic?) or water colors, I see no problem putting in toploaders or hard cases. But art done in pencils/charcoal/or anything like paint or oils that sit on top of the cards, what is the best way to store them?

My concerns are:
In toploaders, the soft sleeve is in constant contact with the art, so I am afraid of friction or some weird adhesion occurring possibly damaging the art. In hard cases there is generally a little room but the inner surface is hard and the cards are loose in the holders, so I am also afraid of friction occurring also.

Wish I had an expert answer for you. Truth is, I don't know!

[nabzy28]

I had to answer 'Depends based on value'. I have 2 artist proofs in those double glass frames. (Glass front and back, so it looks like the card(s) are floating in the frame. BUT, I am strongly thinking about removing them from these frames because I have the same concern voiced above. I don't trust that it isn't going to eventually ruin the card(s) when I take them out of there in the future. I think some of these markers, paints and other mediums will chip and/or stick to the glass. I want to see if I can actually just find frames and mattes that fit and go that route so the fronts of the cards aren't in contact with anything.

From a sportscard standpoint, it's gonna happen. Just ask anyone who ever owned or purchased a card that was stored in one of those screwdown slabs that put pressure on the front of the card. Corners chipped, cards peeled apart, flaking... you name it. After a while, the pressure and contact surface will have a detrimental effect on anything pressed against it. For that reason, my Charles Hall Emma Frost AP remains in a thick toploader locked in the safe. I'd love to display it but, until I figure this out, I take no chance.

[Spider-Fan]

a bunch of different ways...

(1) some I frame (mostly PSCs) - individual sketch cards in a 5x7 OR multiple sketch cards (puzzles or individual) in a larger frame, sometimes a combo of sketch cards and a pin-up or comic book in an 11x17
(2) some go in a screwdown on display in one of those little black stands that cost like $0.25
(3) i recently decided to get creative and make my own top-loader binder pages that hold 6 cards in top-loaders. I have all the Marvel stuff in one binder sorted by set, PSCs in one binder sorted mostly by artist, and 5finity stuff in one binder sorted by set

all the stuff in (3) was previously stored in a box which was totally lame

[andrewm6691]

Each theme stored seperately
- Star Wars / Indiana Jones / Marvel / Other
- All base sets/inserts/parallels/promos - in binders sorted by Year/release order
+
- Seperate binders for Sketches
: Star Wars sketches - Jason Potratz/Jack Hai sketches
: Star Wars sketches - set issued - sorted by Year/release order
: Other set issued sketches : Indiana Jones/Marvel/etc - sorted by Year/release order
: Star Wars sketches - PSC + Other PSCs
: Autos - sorted by Theme/Year/release

*all cards/sketches/autos - sleeved/ultra pro pocket pages/in BCW 3"binders

[AceGambit3]

sleeve, toploader, teambag like all my cards.

The highlights of my collection get put on display,
my card store has little stands (.25 a piece) that allow for stand up displaying.
the rest either get stacked on my shelf or placed in my special boxes.


Looking into a display for them all but until then, this works

[nabzy28]

Good Lord. I went to a local art store, pretty well known, and inquired about getting mats specially cut for my AP's. She puts the specs into the computer and says 'these will be $13.49'. I say, "That sounds good, but I need 5 in this size also." and show her another measurement. She throws in "These first ones are $13.49 each and would be..." I stopped and just said "Each?" She says yes and I then question why the entire mat board that is like 6 square feet on the shelf only costs around $20. I apologized for wasting her time and thanked her for her help.

So, headed home to the usual answer to incredibly overpriced stuff: eBay.
Find seller who owns a freaking Professional Framing Shop that does requests for under $4/mat + shipping. Now we're getting somewhere. Heck, if you happen to live near the place, apparently the Professional framer will charge you about 33% of what a general big box retailer would. Sounds like a plan.

So, if anybody is interested in framing up their APs or other sketches, hit up this seller on eBay: hoppyframer

I had to pay $8.99 shipping, but I picked up 10 of them for my AP's so it was worth it. I got all 10 I needed for the price of what 3 would have been at the art store. Good day!

[aggie4ever]

Originally Posted by nabzy28

Good Lord. I went to a local art store, pretty well known, and inquired about getting mats specially cut for my AP's. She puts the specs into the computer and says 'these will be $13.49'. I say, "That sounds good, but I need 5 in this size also." and show her another measurement. She throws in "These first ones are $13.49 each and would be..." I stopped and just said "Each?" She says yes and I then question why the entire mat board that is like 6 square feet on the shelf only costs around $20. I apologized for wasting her time and thanked her for her help.

If you're talking Michael's, yes they are very expensive on their custom framing. Their do-it-yourself frames are pretty cheap, but the custom framing is outrageous.

If you have a Hobby Lobby close by, they are pretty cheap on custom cut mats.

[Spider-Fan]

Originally Posted by nabzy28

Good Lord. I went to a local art store, pretty well known, and inquired about getting mats specially cut for my AP's. She puts the specs into the computer and says 'these will be $13.49'. I say, "That sounds good, but I need 5 in this size also." and show her another measurement. She throws in "These first ones are $13.49 each and would be..." I stopped and just said "Each?" She says yes and I then question why the entire mat board that is like 6 square feet on the shelf only costs around $20. I apologized for wasting her time and thanked her for her help.

So, headed home to the usual answer to incredibly overpriced stuff: eBay.
Find seller who owns a freaking Professional Framing Shop that does requests for under $4/mat + shipping. Now we're getting somewhere. Heck, if you happen to live near the place, apparently the Professional framer will charge you about 33% of what a general big box retailer would. Sounds like a plan.

So, if anybody is interested in framing up their APs or other sketches, hit up this seller on eBay: hoppyframer

I had to pay $8.99 shipping, but I picked up 10 of them for my AP's so it was worth it. I got all 10 I needed for the price of what 3 would have been at the art store. Good day!

That's why I started cutting them myself All of mine are doubles, so the first price I got was almost $30 to do just one!!!

If they are all the same color (or colors that I already have lying around) I would have done 5x7's for $4 each.

[Spider-Fan]

Originally Posted by aggie4ever

If you're talking Michael's, yes they are very expensive on their custom framing. Their do-it-yourself frames are pretty cheap, but the custom framing is outrageous.

If you have a Hobby Lobby close by, they are pretty cheap on custom cut mats.

Beware - Hobby Lobbys 'base' mat is not archive quality (at least not at my local store), the ones that Michael's sells out of the custom frame shop are.