I just posted this on my personal blog( so some of the wording may be strange but the content is the same) but kinda felt it was worth sharing with any of you that may find yourselves wondering what to do with all those paper patterns you get with magazines .
I subscribe to Google Alerts, for scrolling or Intarsia patterns; And I get them all the time. Today I saw one that caught my eye because it was called “keeping track of woodworking projects and plans” I have lived through this nightmare, and the writer of this article came up with something quite similar, however it gave me the idea to share mine.
First of all I am mainly writing about the plans you get with magazines. I am always writing about Creative Wood works & Crafts as my favorite wood working magazine (with patterns) and for the most part still is. Every 2 months you get a magazine and in the center are paper patterns for the projects, however inside the magazine is also the instructions, the type, the thickness of the wood suggested for the project, etc. So it is really nice if these items can always be together. It sounds easy but inevitably I end up looking for a pattern in a mag, I find the instructions for the pattern but now where is the pattern itself? Or worse I find the paper pattern but now “which magazine did this pattern come from?” so I can find or refresh my memory on the instructions. Because I have zillions of these pattern mags and books, I truly was going crazy trying to keep them all together, and I might add, I have tried several ways. I have come up with something that is simple and doable AND keeps your sanity.
When you get one of these mags, they always have a page, usually 2 that show the picture of the finished pattern along with the page # for the instructions. I always tear these out and place them face up, on the outside of the magazine on both the front and the back. I then slip them in a see through plastic sleeve that you can buy in any drug store, paper store etc. along with the magazine itself, and with the patterns all in the same sleeve. Then all those are placed into one of those heavy duty 3 ring binders. Now I have binders full of my patterns in order and by mag, (I will place one company’s into one binder etc.)
and all I have to do is open the binder and look at 2 pictures of each mag (What I have made into the front and back)in each sleeve and see right then what each mag has to offer. The instructions, the patterns, everything is inside the sleeve in one place. I do not have to open any of them to find anything, as it is all right there. I sure hope this helps anyone who has gone through this turmoil as I did. It’s funny how simplistic trying to keep all these in one place turned out to be. Plus having them in the plastic sleeves keeps them clean and all together so they don’t get all torn.
-- Allison, Northeastern Ca. Remember, Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic!
10 comments so far
lew
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4515 posts in 655 days
posted 430 days ago
Allison,
Thanks for the idea. I am currently trying to reorganize and this will help!
Lew
Bob #2
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3056 posts in 921 days
posted 430 days ago
I just toss em out.
I don need no steenking pattern! <g>
Bob
-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner
Allison
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653 posts in 698 days
posted 430 days ago
WOW! That cut like a knife!
-- Allison, Northeastern Ca. Remember, Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic!
oldskoolmodder
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707 posts in 580 days
posted 430 days ago
I’m with you in this idea or three ring binders, Allison. I don’t use the original pattern, so they go into a plastic sleeve and binder with info on the issue. I recently (this week) got a wi-fi printer that scans to pdf files to save me time, and I’ll be putting these patters on my laptop and DVD/CD for additional backups. You do great work, and have great advice, thanks.
-- Respect your shop tools and they will respect you - Ric
ChicoWoodnut
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895 posts in 715 days
posted 429 days ago
I don’t keep patterns but I do keep pictures of designs that I like and since I draw way more than I build I have a big pile of graph paper and pictures in paper bound binders that I keep in a wall cabinet dedicated to that stuff in the shop (along with magazines and books).
I wonder what my heirs will think when they find them after I’m done.
I often wonder how the digital age will preserve our legacy. Digital photos are so easy to delete and CAD drawaings go away with the hard drive every few years.
Ha!
-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net
Grant Davis
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481 posts in 808 days
posted 429 days ago
I’m like Scott, I keep mostly the photos for future reference.
-- Grant...."GO BUCKEYES"
GaryK
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9555 posts in 888 days
posted 429 days ago
I used to have a 4 foot stack of magazines. I have reduced it to 1 1/2”. Literally!
What I did was to go through them and take out the pages with something interesting and staple them together. 99% of the time no two atricles will be back to back due to advertisements.
I just group the results into projects, tools, and methods (tips).
It’s amazing just how much real content there actually is in a magazine.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
magicman
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48 posts in 509 days
posted 429 days ago
That is a great solution, I have been trying to come up with something myself. This sound really good.
-- Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didin't do then by the ones you did. - Mark Twain
romansfivefive
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258 posts in 673 days
posted 429 days ago
I purchased a bunch of unused pizza boxes from the local independent pizza place. They use plain white boxes.
i keep most of my patterns, research photos etc in them and I write on the edge of the box what is in them. I stack the boxes on an over head shelf. the boxes are study, stack well and are square so I can use all 4 edges for labeling before I have to tape them over. I also use these boxes for storing small pieces like wheels, caps, lights etc that I might use for the toys i make. I divide the interior of the pizza box into sections with smaller boxes that I make out of box board (cereal boxes that I disassembled) cut out on the scroll saw and hot glued together. it isn’t quite study enough to handle screws and hardware, but everything else seems to work well. The other great thing is thaty you can assemble and disassemble them as you need them so they take up almost no room when they are not needed
Most of my research comes from the internet, so I have a huge file of stuff saved as jpgs in a folder. If there is something I really like in a magazine or a pattern I have drawn then I scan it into the computer and save it in that folder. It is nice to be able to search for a word rather than leafing through pages. it is also nice to import the jpg into a program like publisher or paint where I can alter the size of hte piece to fit the wood that I have available. This way I print the pattern to fit the wood rather than find the wood that fits the pattern.
All this of course is assuming that I have actually taken the time to put the pattern away and that it isn’t sitting in heap of stuff on my bench.
-- www.robneves.com
jm82435
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509 posts in 642 days
posted 429 days ago
I can never find anything that is on paper. Seriously. If I can, I scan and pitch. (PDFs are easier for me to deal with and don’t take up any room.) A lot of magazines now have digital subscriptions, I actually prefer them. I can print (plot) at any size I want. (again, pitch it when I am done)
-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...