Cel storage is something which is forever an issue. If you want to frame your cels, you’ve to be extremely careful as UV light completely destroys trace lines and fades colour. Many cels I’ve come across over the years have been incorrectly framed or placed in a spot which receives sunlight and as a result, have little to no trace lines left, bleached muddy colours – it’s truly awful to see.

I’ve been keeping my cels in an Itoya art folder for years. However, that in itself has posed issues. Itoya were only available in the US (and cost quite the sum to import) – the sleeves were great, but had no hard backing, which leads to concerns about cels flexing (another way to kill trace lines as well as chip off paint!)

So, I’ve finally found a workable solution! An ebay seller in Germany selling Itoya landscape folders along with another UK seller selling acid free backing boards which fit the pockets exactly.

Because they’re landscape folders, you can stand them up and store them really easily. Therefore solving yet another cel related issue (they need to be stored vertically as weight can make the cel paint stick to the bags)

Quite a few of these are cel images I’ve already shared. But just to show you how they now look. It’s great being able to finally see them properly too, the previous pockets had black sugar paper backing which made them hard to see.

Here’s a setup which really benefits from the new landscape folder.