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I've read with interest the thread on glass storage prompted by Joseph (aka skin mechanic) and his toothbrush containers. I'm in the process of organizing my studio and would love some suggestions (and photos if you have any) of your solutions to glass storage. Thanks for all your help and knowledge that you'al share.

I have a shelving system that was originally made for LP's--that's fine for the square foot-sized pieces. Big sheets are in a crate. Since I work with a lot of small pieces, that's where I have the most "advanced" system, consisting mostly of lots of the little plastic trays from takeout sushi. I also have some great little containers from some kind of frozen food (my mom saves them up for me--I think they might be individual-sized lasagnas). Whatever they are. they're a nice sturdy black plastic that's about 2" deep and good for holding small parts. Oh, and I also have some kind of wire retail display for pegboard (it might have held those tubes of cross-stitch fabric they sell at craft stores) which has a grid design that holds stringer tubes and rolled-up thinfire paper.

It's funny. I just realized how often I get sushi, and I've never made a glass sushi tray for myself.

The most important tip I can give is: Glass is heavy. Keep it close to the floor. It's weight you don't have to lift and it's weight your shelves won't have to support. The biggest mistake some people make is to put up these elaborate shelves so they can see all their glass only to have them collapse as soon as they load them with $3000 worth of glass. So use industrial shelving or build them extra heavy for the weight.

Tony

It was Mimi!!! That's who had the studio disaster! My goodness - Joseph, and anyone else worried about storage for glass, read this thread:

http://www.warmglass.com/cgi-bin/wgarch ... read=57417

About 12 years ago, at the local hardware store, I bought some vertical pressboard storage units, with compartments about 3" wide. I'm not sure what they were designed for, but they work well for glass. Unfortunately, they aren't quite tall enough for a full sheet of BE.

I also have a metal cabinet with 33 drawers; each drawer is about 9-10 inches wide and 2.5-3" deep for storing scrap, sorted by color. I bought it used from an insurance agent some years ago. I wish I had another one! I also bought some of those plastic cabinets on wheels at CostCo for additional glass scrap and tool storage.

If you look around at used office supply stores and hardware stores, you
may find exactly what you need. It's amazing!

Geri

Mimi's was a VERY painful story to read, but I'm glad she shared. Hopefully that will help avert the same tragedy from happening to some one else.

I do have a story of my own, not nearly as dramatic, but at the time it was. I had just bought several sheets from my local supplier and brought them home in the back of my SUV. They wrapped the glass well, and I've got a system in the back of my truck, and it works. The problem was when I got home, I opened up the back of my truck/SUV to begin unloading and my 90 pound lab/mix thought it was his turn to go for a ride!! He jumped RIGHT on top of all that glass, only about 4 or 5 sheets, but enough to make my stomach sink. And right on top were two layers of the thin fusable I had never worked with. I lost several large sheets and I'm lucky I didn't end up with a vet bill.

Now my dog doesn't jump into ANY truck with out the "INTHETRUCK" signal. I make him SIT and WAIT for his invite. He is otherwise a very good dog, really.

Jackie Beckman wrote:It was Mimi!!! That's who had the studio disaster! My goodness - Joseph, and anyone else worried about storage for glass, read this thread:

http://www.warmglass.com/cgi-bin/wgarch ... read=57417

I came across that thread a couple of months ago, but couldn't find a follow-up thread. Does anyone know how she dealt with all of that glass?

I have a rather large photography light table that I bought at a yard sale. I built verticle shelves underneath out of 1/2" plywood. The shelf is on the ground and being supported by the legs of the light table. Nothing is happening to my glass..even in an earthquake (knock on wood).

Glass crates (free from the shop where I used to work). We cut about a foot off the end of the 4' Spectrum crates, and used the cut-off portions to make a floor and interior shelves of various heights to accomodate different size pieces. The crates are set on end with plywood fastened to the top to make an extra work surface. Works fine and the price was really right! I also use sets of plastic drawers on a "Gorilla Rack" (industrial strength) for sorting and storing scrap.

Thanks for your sage advice AV Lucky, Tony, Geri, SAReed and Lynn. We will be building our storage units and based on your suggestions, we'll be using strong materials and we'll be keeping it low to the ground!