storing your cel books

soda · Post by **soda** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:51 pm

Might someone be able to tell me the best way for long-term storage of your Itoya cel books. I've heard of people using pant hangers.

Like these???
http://www.storables.com/Shop/Closet/Ha ... ts+Hangers

Anything else?

EternityOfPain · Post by **EternityOfPain** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:16 pm

For my Itoyas (only works for standard size) I run a clothes hanger in the middle (where you see this metal strip inside the ITOYA book) filp it and hang my ITOYA on my closet rack (I have a part sectioned off just for ITOYA books) For oversized ITOYA (unless you have some method of obtaining extra-ordinarily large hangers.... I suggest just keeping them flat in a cool area (under your bed, in your closet)

iwakuralain16 · Post by **iwakuralain16** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:10 pm

EternityOfPain wrote:For my Itoyas (only works for standard size) I run a clothes hanger in the middle (where you see this metal strip inside the ITOYA book) filp it and hang my ITOYA on my closet rack (I have a part sectioned off just for ITOYA books) For oversized ITOYA (unless you have some method of obtaining extra-ordinarily large hangers.... I suggest just keeping them flat in a cool area (under your bed, in your closet)

I do the same EoP except the extra large one I do have under my bed but it is elevated off of the ground. It is on top of a cardboard box that has USPS Flat Rate priority mail boxes.

Moop · Post by **Moop** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:32 pm

I do the same. For the 14x17 ones, though, I loop some heavy duty gardening wire where the hanger would ordinarily go. Then I attach that to the hanger. Works like a charm.

rallihir · Post by **rallihir** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:42 pm

I also use the coat hanger suspension method for my standard size Itoya cel books. So far after 5 years, this method has worked well for me. The larger sized cels and in flat museum archival quality boxes without any excess weight on them.

metheus · Post by **metheus** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:58 pm

I have a rather deep set of shelves built into my study's closet so I store my books including the over-sized Itoya on the shelf vertically. My really large cels I keep in museum boxes like rallihir mentioned. I should probably buy a few more boxes & limit the number per box even more to keep the weight down.

I'd really like to get a flat file someday to store my large cels in some day, but they're spendy so I'll have to wait for a lull in purchases.

Startyde · Post by **Startyde** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:34 pm

Guess I'm lazy...that and my woman doesn't allow for closet space.

I stack them two books at a time under the bed and in very large and thick zip lock-ish plastic bags that I believe are made to vacuum hold clothes.

klet · Post by **klet** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:28 pm

So, what kind of hangers do you hanger-people use? Plastic? Wire? The kind soda linked to?

Cordelia · Post by **Cordelia** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:10 pm

Instead of hangers, I use bookends to prop them up in the position like how they would be if they were hanging. If the covers of the portoflio tend to bend then the cels would have cardboard bagged with them.

Caroline · Post by **Caroline** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:43 pm

isn't it better to store them vertically, like on a book shelf? this is where ive been keeping mine... i hope i havent been leading my cels to ruin! the books are quite heavy, so i was afraid to lay them flat...

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:12 pm

I'd use those super-duper, strong, large hangers if I could, but my room is on the dark side of the house in the area that's the furthest away from direct sunshine. That side of the house is too damp to put anything I'm concerned about under the bed or in the closet. Even with the dehumidifer running, some areas of my room gather more moisture than others.

Caroline wrote:isn't it better to store them vertically, like on a book shelf? this is where ive been keeping mine... i hope i havent been leading my cels to ruin! the books are quite heavy, so i was afraid to lay them flat...

I'm forced to place my cel books in upright positions above my closet. That's the driest place of my room. The problem with having cel books vertical is that the cel pages sag from the weight and whatever is in them gets somewhat bent because of it.

Caroline · Post by **Caroline** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:25 pm

are there any known problems caused by laying cel books flat rather than vertical? possible sticking to the book sleeves? i want to make absolutely sure, before re-storing them.

Belldandy · Post by **Belldandy** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:40 pm

I just actually made a bin for mine, based on what a friend told me he did with his books. I took a big rubbermaid tub and poked holes in it with a screwdriver and then shoved wooden dowels into the holes (really tight fit) and now the books hang over the dowels. Luckily I don't have a billion cels, so just the one bin is working out fine for me. The only problem is my one lone oversized cel, that one is just kind of hanging out in its' original shipping cardboard.

miz ducky · Post by **miz ducky** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:50 pm

That actually sounds like a pretty good idea. I have mine in a large container, but the trouble I ran into was keeping them upright.

I put some cardboard in some of the books to keep them straight. Are thin dowels strong enough?
Larger ones would take too much space in the box I think. But, it would force me to keep less in the box so it would end up lighter... hm...

shellie · Post by **shellie** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:50 pm

oooo! Belldandy, I've not heard that dowel rod/rubbermaid bin storage solution before! Very interesting!!