Print Storage - Portfolio Options

[KELPIE]

Hey gang,

Wondering if you can help me with some portfolio options to store my growing collection of prints.

I'm a bit of a novice as far as storing them are concerned and until recently left them all rolled in their tubes. Apparently this is a no-no.

The one portfolio I bought is great, but seems to be too small for a lot of my prints (not to mention I filled it up before even denting my cardboard tube forest).

Any help would be appreciated plus bonus points if I can buy one online, since no one around here seems to sell anything remotely similar to a quality portfolio. The one I have currently is one I bought while at Comic-Con.

Thanks very much.

[TheYoungWolf]

Itoya offers simple, efficient art portfolios in various sizes. Definitely my preferred method of storage.

If you don't have a Michael's in your area, there are several online retailers that sell them for affordable prices.

[Prevail69]

https://www.jerrysartarama.com/disco...tion-cases.htm

one of the only 24x36 presentation porfolios on the market... they go on sale cheaper every now and then. Im still waiting to buy one, every time they go on sale im broke... and the international shipping cost is killer

[Simplyrob]

Ok. I have the Jerry's 24"x36" case. If you have as many prints as it sounds like, and you're looking strictly for storage, don't get that. If you wanna put your prints somewhere you can regularly look at them (flip the pages), the the case is right. I flip through mine every now and then, but, not enough to elicit a special case. I'm in the market for a nice flat file. My pops has loads of tools, so, looking into heavily customizing mine. The presentation case probably weighs 50+ pounds and is any BUT mobile. The pages are kinda pricey and do indeed full up quickly.

EDIT: also, there are probably a dozen threads on this subject. Do a search.

[Sithlord32]

Because of the extent of answers to that question and given answers in some threads here I will keep it short and simple. Go to exspressobeans.com and search. Many many ways to store and display its all about preference. I will say you will have better luck finding something to tailor to your needs specifically online than you will locally. Not a fact just likely. If you have a specific question about anything you can pm me anytime.

[KELPIE]

Thanks very much everyone.

looks like I have a bit of research to do and I'm sure there's lots in the board. Just thought it would be a good way of introducing myself to this section of the site.

I'll also checkout the two sites mentioned since there is absolutely nothing available in my area.

I imagine it will depend on the print as to if it will be a storage portfolio (waiting to be framed) or a portfolio for display and viewing.

Thanks again all.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by bicoid18

Thanks for the tip OrangeCrush! Is this the storage/display portfolio that you would recommend?

http://www.amazon.com/Itoya-Profolio.../dp/B00009R8XD

Also, would you recommend some of the mat cutters by Logan? I'm thinking of purchasing one and just matting and framing my own prints and pictures. I have cut some mats myself, but I'd love to redo them with proper tools. If I can just get by with a bevel cutting tool, a straight edge, and a t-square then I'd probably make do with that.

No, while there are some people on here that like the Art Profolio by Itoya, I am definitely not one of them. In fact, I really hate that portfolio, lol. The hard polypropylene cover feels cheap and doesn't age well at all and the pages are milky and low in quality. They are really cheap tho, usually around $35-$40, so its simply a case of getting what you pay for.

IMO, If your going to be spending $90-$100 per print, do yourself a favor and buy a nice quality portfolio to store them in. As I said earlier, I would either go with the Prat Start 3 or 4 or buy a nice empty ring presentation case and buy the Itoya 18x24 Polyglass pages separately. Their sold in packs of 10 pages (20 prints). They really are some of the nicest and clearest pages on the market. Amazon has the packs for roughly $44 so your basically looking at $2.20 per print to use those pages. Of course, you have to find a ring presentaion case and add the cost of that as well.

http://www.amazon.com/PolyGlass-refi.../dp/B001AHXTSM

Myself, I prefer the Prat start 4. It has a nice leather cover and their just a real pleasure to look through. Here is a pic of Prat's Start 4. The price on Dick Blick is $199.25 but they always have a 20% off coupon for orders over $159. So the real cost is around $160.



Buying a nice quality presentation case like the Start 3 or 4 only adds like 2 to 3% cost to each print. So basically, your talking about roughly $2-3 per print to store them in a quality case or portfolio. Again, if your already paying 90 to 100 per print, what another 2-3 bucks to store them in a quality case?

As for Logan matt cutters, if your just looking for a basic cutter I would go with the Logan 301-1 Compact Classic. I used one of these throughout my entire time in art school and they are great for just basic matt cutting. they cost around 80-90 bucks. If your looking for something a little nicer, the 550 and 560 Simplex classic are really nice. the 550 is roughly $225 and the 560 is roughly $325. Really, anything beyond that and your getting into features that you probably will never use.

I was actually looking over some of the matt cutting that Sideshow offers with some of their framed prints and some of them are really intricate cuts. I am betting Sideshow is using an automated cutter. You design the matt in a computer program and the cutting process is fully automated. Those cutters are extremely precise and they can cut hundreds of matt's per day. This is the matt that really gave it away:



Those kinds of cuts are not easy to make and it would be a total pain and very time consuming having to cut 100+ of those. Yeah, I am betting Sideshow is using an automated matt cutter. Makes perfect sense for them to go that route. It may cost more up front, but in the long run it would save them a ton of money in man hours.

[biglebowski9999]

Originally Posted by bicoid18

I apologize as that's my fault. He was kind and generous enough to take his time to answer my questions. I didn't see the other art portfolio thread.

No need to apologize, there is nothing wrong with posing a storage question in a thread dedicated to prints. The two go hand-in-hand.

My "overkill" comment was not directed toward the length of his post but rather his suggestions. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going with an Itoya. Portfolios are not meant to be permanent storage for your artwork. They serve as temporary storage to keep your prints flat and safe and out of the tube (which is not recommended for storage). If something spends more than 6 months in your flat file then chances are you are never going to frame it so why are you buying it anyway.

His suggestion is for professional artists who need to transport their work to and from shows, clients, etc. where presentation is a consideration. This is completely unnecessary for your average print collector and a complete waste of money IMO. He sounded more like a sales rep for Prat than anything else lol.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by biglebowski9999

No need to apologize, there is nothing wrong with posing a storage question in a thread dedicated to prints. The two go hand-in-hand.

My "overkill" comment was not directed toward the length of his post but rather his suggestions. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going with an Itoya. Portfolios are not meant to be permanent storage for your artwork. They serve as temporary storage to keep your prints flat and safe and out of the tube (which is not recommended for storage). If something spends more than 6 months in your flat file then chances are you are never going to frame it so why are you buying it anyway.

His suggestion is for professional artists who need to transport their work to and from shows, clients, etc. where presentation is a consideration. This is completely unnecessary for your average print collector and a complete waste of money IMO. He sounded more like a sales rep for Prat than anything else lol.

First off, I never said there was anything wrong with using Itoya's portfolios. In fact, I have stated MANY times on these forums that I use Itoya's Profolio professional portfolios almost exclusively for prints that are 13x19 or smaller. In fact, I just purchased 20 - 4x6 Profolio Professional portfolios as I am in the process of redoing all of my old family picture albums and decided to go with the Profolio Professional line. All in all I own 14 - 13x19 Profolio Professional portfolios, 11 - 11x17 Profolio Professional Portfolios, 7 - 8x10 Profolio Professional Portfolio's and 20 - 4x6 Profolio Professional Portfolios. Not to mention, Itoya's Profolio Professional portfolios are the portfolios I send out to potential clients. On top of that, I have stated many times that Itoya's Polyglass pages are some of the clearest and highest quality pages currently available on the market, even slightly superior to Prats pages. So I hold Itoya, and many of thier products, in very high regard and have made that perfectly clear in many of my posts. That would be a pretty stupid thing to do if I was a sales rep for Prat, lol. In fact, over my entire posting history, I have been a far bigger sales rep for Itoya than Prat.

What I did say is that I hate the Art Profolio Line from Itoya and I stand by that statement 100%. They look cheap, feel cheap, don't age well at all, and the pages are low in quality and have a milky appearance that severly degrades the overall appearance of the artwork you store in such pages. Then again what do you expect from an 18x24 portfolio that only costs $35-$40. As I said, this is simply a case of getting what you pay for. You can't even buy a single 10 pack of 18x24 Polyglass pages for that amount. Itoya's Art Profolio line is a very low end portfolio, period, and storing valuable prints in such a portfolio makes absolutely ZERO sense to me and I have no problem stating as much. If people can afford $100 prints, they can certainly afford a quality portfolio/presentation case. I also made it perfectly clear that some collectors in here actually like the Itoya Art Profolio portfolios and those people are entitled to thier opinion and can continue on buying those portfolios to their hearts content. People are entitled to buy whatever portfolio they see fit. My posts on this forum, in regards to storage, were merely to show people the different options available, all of which are vastly superior to the quality of Itoya's Art Profolio.

And the rest of your post is simply 100% dead wrong. The portfolios/presentation cases I have suggested are absolutely not just for professional artists who need to transport their work from show to show. That statement is nothing short of absurd. Those portfolios are just as viable for collectors as they are for artists. If you want to store $100+ prints (equaling $5000 in prints when the portfolio is full) in some cheap $40 portfolio that has cheap milky pages and doesn't age well, then by all means have at it. That's you choice to make. That said, its not something I would ever do myself nor recommend other people doing, but again everyone in here is entitled to their own opinions and can make their own choices. I used the Art Profolio line all throughout art school so I have plenty of experience using that model and I really can't say a single positive thing about them beyond their really cheap price.

Again, to suggest the options I have presented here are only for professional artists looking to transport thier artwork is not only dead wrong, its nothing short of laughable, as is the statement that portfolio's are not meant for permanent storage. As long as their archival, they absolutely are meant for long term/permanent storage, especially when dealing with print collectors. to suggest otherwise is nothing short of absurd. I would love to see you try and find a link, or get a statement from one of those companies, that suggests portfolio and presentation cases are only temporary or short term storage solutions. Sorry, but your just dead wrong.

And if you think my posts are in any way overkill, then by all means just skip right over them and give them no thought whatsoever. I have had countless PM's thanking me for the information I have provided on these forums. In the end, that is all that matters as that was the sole purpose of making these posts to begin with, to help people out.

I may sound like sales rep from Prat, but at least I don't sound like someone that has absolutely ZERO experience when it comes to storage solutions for prints. Portfolios/presentation cases aren't meant for permanent print storage? Honestly, that is one of the biggest lines of nonsense I have seen yet on these boards.

They serve as temporary storage to keep your prints flat and safe and out of the tube (which is not recommended for storage). If something spends more than 6 months in your flat file then chances are you are never going to frame it so why are you buying it anyway.

Just pure nonsense. So what your saying is unless your planning on framing a print, there is no point in buying it? Wow, just wow. Honestly, I'm speechless on this one as clearly you just have no understanding of print collecting in general.Most people have very limited space overall for framed prints so print collectors use portfolios, presentation cases, and print boxes to store their pints and each and their absolutely suitable for long term/permanent storage.

[qz33]

I appreciate OrangeCrush's information very very much.

Just like someone appreciates the art of comic but does not have all the pages framed and mounted so to can someone appreciate prints. Protfolio's allow you to do just that and browse them in the easiest method possbile -like pages in a comic.

Before OrangeCrush's posts I never knew things like these existed. I have prints in a box and larger posters rolled.
This is all slowly changing. His posts concerning quality are likewise helpful. At least for myself I don't want to spend $40 and find out later I could spend $60 more for something that will add to the enjoyment of the prints for which significant money has already been sacrificed?