The Framers Forum

Hi Forum,

i am new to the business, and wondered how everyone stores their clients artwork etc before it gets framed?

Any ideas and tips or links would be deeply appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Alfie&Elsa

I have 2 plan chests.

Plan chest. Plus some vertical racking normally use for mount board when I store large jobs that need reframing ie come with an existing frame.

Artwork in a suitably sized Visifile along with a copy of the order for identification later. They are then stored in one of two plan chests.

We store orders under the order table with divided vertical sections approx 5 inch gap, so when customers comes to collect we can give them while serving another customer when we are busy, also with this you can show customer orders on what kind of work we can do

Plan chests are the thing. I got four. Three have x8 shallow drawers, ideal for paper art and another has x6 deep drawers OK for thick canvases. They are very pricey to buy new. Once upon a time they could be picked up from office clearance places quite cheap. Bit thin on the ground these days though.

Print browser sleeves are OK for some things, but you have to be wary of stuff sliding about and dinging corners if handled roughly.

Best to make your own from chipboard that's cheapest way

Your own what, plan chest, print browser? No-one's going to do that, not with the price you can pick these things up for, unless they are very handy with a saw!



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I'll send you a picture of one we have made from chipboard

Two plan chests here, top drawer of each removed for non-flat things which we wrap in tissue. Shirts are hung on a clothes rail in suit bags.

Artwork on paper, and some needlework goes in visifiles http://www.arqadia.co.uk/advancedSearch ... d=visifile.

Welcome to the forum BTW, Alfie&Elsa
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How much do they go for?

From £5.29 (A3) to £17.54 (A0) plus VAT.

Here's one on eeeebaay now.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Plan- ... SwVL1WDq0p


Doesn't look too bad, but have to go fetch it.

Punched pockets are £1 each for A1 size. Amazon link here:

http://tinyurl.com/q4xw2ub

And you can stick some corex board in them for cheap browser sleeves.

A0 is more problematic though.

Kwik Picture Framing wrote:I'll send you a picture of one we have made from chipboard

Go on then!

Plan chests (we have two) reasonable price from school supplies companies you can find online.

We also have some large cardboard tubes to store rolled items.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and advice, got a plan chest arriving in the next couple of days from eBay, just got to find a way to get it up the tricky stairs!

Simon

Looking at the prices on ebay, I'm amazed. I've only got the one plan chest (supplemented with several other racks), but I only paid £25 for my 8 drawer plan chest. I never knew that they would be going for so much!

alfieandelsa wrote:Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and advice, got a plan chest arriving in the next couple of days from eBay, just got to find a way to get it up the tricky stairs!

Simon

Our plan chests arrived complete but could quite easily be taken apart and reassembled in their final positions (bit like flat pack furniture).

Anyone with a modicum of woodworking skill and a bit of equipment could knock up a plan chest. But having contemplated it in the past I can only say there is more to it than it might appear. Still, it's only like a lot of deep box frames that slide into a bigger box.

Buying a used one is definitely the way to go. Even if it's knocked about a bit, as long as it'd not actually falling to pieces they are worth having. One of mine has big chunks missing, but I nailed a bit of varnished ply over the manky side and it looks fine.
I have two back-to-back in the shop that make a 6x4 island. Bit of carpet on the top - sorted.

New wooden ones are £1000+.

Don't buy a metal one.