There has been a lot of discussion about cel
storage, so I thought this review of the new
binder I got might be of interest to some
people. Pictures are below ^_^
I've been using the standard 11" x 14" Itoya book
to store my cels in, and I wasn't completely
happy with it. The pages seemed a little flimsy
and my cels were sliding around horribly. I
decided to look around for something that the
cels fit in a bit better but wasn't too
expensive. I ended up at IconUSA under
the oversize albums and got a ring binder and
pages, which I will review below.
Turbo Folio - $10: This binder measures about 12"
x 13 5/8", making it slightly shorter and squarer
than the Itoya. It is about 1 1/2" and is said
to be able to hold 20 - 25 pages (I have 20 in
there right now and I think at least 10 more
would squeeze in fine). The cover has a rubbery
feel to it and is a series of gray raised circles
over black. It is kind of hard to describe, and
slightly odd-looking, but as a person who likes
to fiddle with things, I like how the little
circles are squishy ^_^ The inside is black,
with three black o-rings. It is VERY sturdy, the
inside of the cover fells almost like it is made
of that board Taro uses to ship. The down side
to this is that the binder is rather heavy (think
textbook-heavy), but the nice sold feel makes you
feel safer about how protected your cels are. It
is definitely not for everyone, but I like it a
lot.
Clearfile Portfolio pages (9" x 12") - $10 per 10-
pack: I really like these pages and am glad I got
two packs of them ^_^ They are made of heavy but
crystal-clear polypropylene, and have a black
acid-free card inside, so they are two-sided,
much like the Itoya pages. These are mach
sturdier though, and hold the cel securely.
Despite the given measurements, they are actually
a bit larger; the pockets (not counting the part
with the holes for rings) measure more like 9
3/4" by 12 1/2". They display standard-size cels
very nicely and securely, and would hold very
slightly oversize cels, but not larger pans or
standard backgrounds. There are different holes
that would seem to fit several different style
binders. The only downside I have noticed so far
is that the pages are highly reflective, which
might be a problem for some people who are
bothered by glare.
All in all, I am very satisfied with my new
storage system. For $30, I got a binder and
pages with similar capacity to the Itoya I had,
but which I feel both stores and displays my cels
I feel much, much better. I'll keep my Itoya for
larger things, but my standard cels (pretty much
all of them at this point, will go in the binder
^_^
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