Learn How To Sort Your Craft Paper

There are many ways you might come across paper and various things that can be done with papers. From running a printing press to having a paper crafting hobby or business, to being an artist, you come across a wide variety of paper that is dealt with in many different ways for a certain kind of end result. 

But when it comes to storing these different kinds of paper, one kind of instruction just does not apply to all of them. At ThunderBolt paper, we would love to educate ourselves on better ways to handle, store and create new things with paper while helping you learn all the ways to do the same as well. 

All kinds of paper require somewhat different handling depending on how long you may wish to keep it.

Here, we will discuss a few ways you can not only store and organize different varieties of paper that you may have, but also lengthen its life

Reduce and recycle

One of the most important ways that we can make better use of all the paper and paper products around us is by reducing the amount of paper that ends up in the landfills. 

Even though we may think that paper will become obscure with the digital age, it's still here in more ways than one. So a way to directly reduce the amount of paper that we use is by going digital and reducing the use of paper where possible. 

The best ways we can make the most amazing material paper is used by making sure that we recycle the paper that we use and use recycled paper to ensure there is a lesser need to cut down trees. 

Mind the acidity

If you are willing to take care of your essential documents for a long time or reserve the quality  of your artwork that you spend multiple hours on, you must educate yourself about the ways paper interacts with the environment. 

Paper made of wood as the raw material has a component called lignin that interacts with the environment to form an acid overtime which can n.a. paper not only brittle but also turns visibly yellow.

In order to properly preserve your papers, make sure you invest in acid free paper and store them away from direct sunlight or moisture. Acid free paper and archival grade paper can be exceptionally helpful in storing them unharmed for a long time.

Mind the size, color and type 

If you enjoy doing paper craft regularly and use a variety of craft papers, then it is obvious you will have to make a proper arrangement for keeping all the papers organized. 

One rule of thumb to follow can be to keep up 1 kind of paper separately from another kind in labelled zip folders. Thick paper such as cardstock holds up on its own, so you can stack them in magazine holders neatly stacked up in the similar sized folders. 

You can let the paper such as gift wrapping that comes in a roll be stored in a roll and let other paper such as vellum paper be stored flat so that it does not curl from the corners. 

Keep the moisture away

Moisture can ruin your paper craft creations for art work overtime. It's only necessary to keep your storage area free from humidity and direct sunlight or high heat. Dark and cold conditions are ideal for storing all your artwork as well as papers to keep the acidity of the paper away.

Having multiple shelves installed for storage of different kinds of papers according to its size and kind can also help you keep them separated by sorted and perhaps in a climate controlled storage area if possible. 

Photo paper preservation

If you store photo paper then you would know that it already has a coating on one side that is not supposed to be exposed to bright or direct sunlight or even moisture just like any other paper.

If you are working with fresh printed photos, then make sure to let the ink dry completely before putting the prints together in a moisture free storage away from light.

When it comes to storage or organizing, every person can have a different approach, and we have only managed to provide only the basics to go forward as you may please. As long as you keep in mind the basic needs of the paper and the few things that you need to protect the paper from, you are good to go. Have you ever tried to organize and sort your craft papers?