Storing Artist's Papers

One of the greatest obstacles that I personally have faced in my studio is how to store the larger sheets of artist's paper. For this post, I'm grouping all large sheets as artist's paper regardless of whether it is a watercolor, handmade, large printed sheet, or a speciality imported paper. Do you remember when I stated most sheets are cut by the mill to a 22"x30" size? Well, not all are but the majority will be. Some samplers packs on the market will be half sheets that meausure 11"x15". Japanese or Oriental papers come available in a variety of sizes; some 38" x 25" while others are 24"x36", and to add further insult to injury of how to store them, some are 22" x 30". Some watercolor paper such as the Arches come in a variety of sizes as well, some standard 22"x30; while others are larger and measure 30"x41-42". But one common denominiator they all contain is many artist's struggle with storage.

I'm certain most watercolor artists, book art artists, and basically anyone would love to have either a wood or steel flat file cabinet for storing these papers. I know I most certainly would, however, I simply cannot afford one at the low end of $700.00 and upwards of over $1000.00 and for another reason, I personally wouldn't have the space. Now I am fortunate enough to have obtained a large cabinet that I use to store my bookbinding supplies within my studio. I am able to store large sheets within in laying flat, however most paper artist's won't have been so lucky to as to find something. For those, I'm writing out some storage solutions.

One of the neatest options available today is to create a way to display them within one's studio. I discovered this option while visiting Hollander's in Ann Arbor, MI. Within their store, their papers are displayed for sale by using 1"x3" inexpensive pine board in an 8' lenght. Two boards would be required to make a free-standing structure. Each board is cut in half, creating four 4' boards. Two boards are screwed together at the top while at an 45 degree angle and the bottom of the boards that rest on the floor are cut to maintain level on the floor. Once all 4 boards are formed in this fashion, two board per side, dowel rods were screwed in from the outside of the legs through the side supports and into the end of the dowels. The bottom is spaced approximately 16", maybe 18" up off of the floor and then spaced in 2" or 3" increments up the support. Both sides of the free standing unit were completed in this manner. To prevent the weight of the paper from collapsing the structure, a chain cut to a pre-determined lenght was used along with bolts, nuts, and washers to allow the structure to only open to a certain point. It really looks like a small "A" frame from the side view, with the chain forming the center line across the "A". I'm not certain if I can find a picture to show you, but I can assure you I'll be happy to take one of the one I intend to create. This is one of my dreams to have something of this nature but there are several other options.

Another option is to purchase an Artist's Print Rack. They are available in wood and or a lighter weight aluminium with a heavy nylon canvas. These can be purchased inexpensively enough at the low end of $29.99 up to over $100.00 per rack. Even a smaller table top one can be used to hold artist's paper by using foamboard as a support on front and back sides within the trough to store the papers without damage.

Need something cheaper? Desire to spend your $$$ on art supplies and materials vs. making a huge investment in your studio. Use the mailing tubes your online orders of handmade and imported papers come in for storage. You can purchase them at a lot of container stores and mailing facilities. I used to use this storage until I ran into a problem with moisture from cement block in my own studio. Luckily for me, I discovered the problem early and was able to get all my papers out, laying flat to dry back out and the damage wasn't too extensive since caught early. One of the down sides was each container had to be labelled with the contents inside since you cannot see into them.

Since I had a problem with mine, I had to seek out another storage solution and lucky for me, this is the one I use today and love the most. I took my dried out artist papers, handmade, watercolored, imported, Italian marbled --- well, all of it and gently rolled it. I cut fibers and strings to gently tie them into the rolled position and used metal rimmed tags to label them with the type of paper, where I purchased it, and the price. I purchased a trash can, plastic, lined it with a new trash bag and inserted the rolls into it. It works perfectly for me. I can see what I it is that I desire easily and the tags help me identify each and every sheet. For smaller scraps of these same papers, I used the same technique rolling them up, tying them, and labelled them with the project that I last used them on vs. the type and where purchased. I promise a picture of my inexpensive solution soon! {*smile}