Organization

We mixed-media & collage people tend to accumulate a lot of paper.

It can be awfully hard to tame the ever-growing collection and organize in such as way that it's useful.

I found a system a few years ago that works for me.

I bought this mammoth file cabinet at a thrift store for $20.

It's ugly as sin, but it's well made, with deep drawers that roll smoothly.

 
It's squeezed into a corner of the art room, conveniently located next to my chaotic work table.

One whole drawer is devoted to images, sorted by categories that make sense to me.  (Animals, people, nature, architecture, body parts, etc.)

 That drawer also includes folders for security envelopes, old book pages, interesting packaging...

Another drawer is devoted to my hand painted papers, sorted by color:

 Within each color file there's even a separate folder to contain the smaller bits of colored paper that would get lost among the full sheets.

This drawer has folders of painted deli paper, painted tissue paper, altered magazine pages, multicolored marble paper....

In addition to those drawers, I have this little portfolio of magazine images sorted by color.  Sometimes when I'm working monochromatically I don't want to go looking through all my subject folders (Is there something red in the furniture file?  how about in the insect file?).  Nights when I'm sitting in front of the TV I'll grab a magazine and add colored images to this file.

 

 This bin holds specialty papers - little bits of colored rice paper and mulberry paper.  Pretty origami paper.  Cool vintage wallpaper your friend Mandy sent you...
 


 I have not one, but two, cigar boxes of text.  (one for small phrases cut from books, the other for larger bits.)
  


And then there's the junk basket.  This is where all new materials tend to land.  Anything that gets mailed to me, or that I pick up off the side of the road, or find in the recycling bin gets tossed in here.  Often this is the only source of collage materials I end up using!  Whatever is in front of my eyes is most attractive.
When the basket gets full to overflowing I take a half hour and sort it into categories and file it away.

That's what works for me.
Thanks to Marcie for your question, reminding me that I took all these pictures a year ago (in response to someone else's question) and never actually wrote the blog post.

What works for you?
Do you have a system?
Do tell!