QUESTION Pin Collection Organization
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QUESTION Pin Collection Organization
- Thread starter Adele0904
- Start date
- Messages
- 20,867
- Location
- California
Mine are all in the closet, lol.
Some are in pin bags; some are in boxes; some are in frames; unfortunately, no where to display them.
Some are in pin bags; some are in boxes; some are in frames; unfortunately, no where to display them.
My collection gets put into zip binders as they come in. My ultimate goal is to get them framed tho (I am very behind.) I also use bins for the boxed pins in my collection.
I store keepers by color I associate with the collection. Red binders for Mickey Mouse, Black binders for Star Wars, Purple for Maleficent, blue for Moana etc. Inside are various sized baseball card sleeves. This is a 'temporary' storage until I have time to frame them.
My traders are mostly in labeled stack-able plastic bins. The first bins I bought are normal seal, but lately I have started buying air-tight bins. At some point I plan to replace all the bins with air-tight bins. The bins range in size so I can fit single carded pins up to boxed pins/sets. I sort by pin source into the bins and label the bins as such. Loungefly blind boxes, Loungefly non blind, uncas, park pins, disney store pins, DSSH, etc. I have 5 or so zip binders where I rotate traders in and out to take to pin events. To keep my mystery pins together I use bubble mailers (received from mail trades). I cut down one side of the bubble mailers and poke the pins through the bubble mailer. I can then stack the bubble mailers and the pins are protected. Learned this trick from another pin trader. It also is a great re-use for the multitude of bubble mailers I receive.
I store keepers by color I associate with the collection. Red binders for Mickey Mouse, Black binders for Star Wars, Purple for Maleficent, blue for Moana etc. Inside are various sized baseball card sleeves. This is a 'temporary' storage until I have time to frame them.
My traders are mostly in labeled stack-able plastic bins. The first bins I bought are normal seal, but lately I have started buying air-tight bins. At some point I plan to replace all the bins with air-tight bins. The bins range in size so I can fit single carded pins up to boxed pins/sets. I sort by pin source into the bins and label the bins as such. Loungefly blind boxes, Loungefly non blind, uncas, park pins, disney store pins, DSSH, etc. I have 5 or so zip binders where I rotate traders in and out to take to pin events. To keep my mystery pins together I use bubble mailers (received from mail trades). I cut down one side of the bubble mailers and poke the pins through the bubble mailer. I can then stack the bubble mailers and the pins are protected. Learned this trick from another pin trader. It also is a great re-use for the multitude of bubble mailers I receive.
Other than a handful of framed sets, mine are all in the black official pin collecting bags. Those are organized by collection themes (NBC, AiW, Villains, etc) with a tag on them indicating what they have. Some of the bags are mixed themes or things I don’t really think of as a collection but I guess kind of are like annual event pins, etc.
My traders are in similar bags - one for oe/hm and one (currently two) for LEs. Those are not particularly organized beyond that.
My traders are in similar bags - one for oe/hm and one (currently two) for LEs. Those are not particularly organized beyond that.
Sithathoriunet
Super Active DPF Member
- Messages
- 1,884
- Location
- Provo, Utah, USA
I've got some of my collection on cork boards and in open frames hanging behind my bedroom door. The rest are in random binders (and a bag) that I've picked up over the years. The first were a binder and a bag created by Disney for a particular pin set (Magical Musical Moments), then I got a binder for some plastic pin display pages from Amazon that I was given for Christmas one year, then I discovered and purchased some Pinfolios, though those pages haven't made in into a binder yet, they're sitting in a box in front of my closet. My traders are in a zipped Pinfolio binder, with the carded pins living in a Mickey Mouse metal lunch box displayed in my bedroom.
I love the color coding!
I've been collecting since 1990, so my collection is very, very large. So my answer is "anything and everything." When my collection was smaller, I framed a lot of stuff or put pins on cork boards. But I don't have enough wall space to frame everything. Everything else has plusses and minuses. I have a lot of pin albums, or binders with the pages you used to be able to buy. It's easy to add new pins, but the pages twist and warp due to the wait. I have about a dozen pin bags (with corrugated plastic) with hold my Cast Lanyard / Hidden Mickey pins and a few other things. Pins that are still on card, or without a permanent home are stored either in plastic storage containers I have gotten at Ikea or Costco. Or in boxes meant to hold baseball / trading cards.
I have a couple "new" solutions I am trying. First, are pin bags from an Instagram seller named Daisypins which uses Kraken foam in their products. I have a couple of their bags, and purchased 4 more in pre-order. These bags seem great for securely, holding a large number of pins. However, they are not cheap. Also, my holy grail has been a system where I could store pins on some sort of board and then swap them into a frame seasonally (for holiday pins) or as the mood strikes. Michaels and other places have standard shadow boxes or deep frames, but what to put the pins on has eluded me. I know I could cut or make something, but that was too much work for the volume I have. However, another DPF person recommended a completely surprising solution, and I have done a test, and I think it will work out! I am planning on writing a Guide about this solution, so stay tuned!
I have a couple "new" solutions I am trying. First, are pin bags from an Instagram seller named Daisypins which uses Kraken foam in their products. I have a couple of their bags, and purchased 4 more in pre-order. These bags seem great for securely, holding a large number of pins. However, they are not cheap. Also, my holy grail has been a system where I could store pins on some sort of board and then swap them into a frame seasonally (for holiday pins) or as the mood strikes. Michaels and other places have standard shadow boxes or deep frames, but what to put the pins on has eluded me. I know I could cut or make something, but that was too much work for the volume I have. However, another DPF person recommended a completely surprising solution, and I have done a test, and I think it will work out! I am planning on writing a Guide about this solution, so stay tuned!
Hi Adele and all!
When I first started collecting, I used a Dollar Tree corkboard. Did the trick for the first 25 pins maybe. Now, I got these stick on cork boards on my wall from Amazon and they are great! For my rarer pins, I have a shadow box from the Disney Castles collection (I never collected the pins, just used the shadow box! I keep the overflow rare pins in a lunchbox I got as a prize for doing the Ratatouille Hide & Squeak in EPCOT (haha!). I am going to be looking for more shadow boxes as I like to keep my rare pins on their card backs!
When I first started collecting, I used a Dollar Tree corkboard. Did the trick for the first 25 pins maybe. Now, I got these stick on cork boards on my wall from Amazon and they are great! For my rarer pins, I have a shadow box from the Disney Castles collection (I never collected the pins, just used the shadow box! I keep the overflow rare pins in a lunchbox I got as a prize for doing the Ratatouille Hide & Squeak in EPCOT (haha!). I am going to be looking for more shadow boxes as I like to keep my rare pins on their card backs!
I've been collecting for ~20 years just about but mostly non disney pins if I'm being honest. I have an array of different style corkboards for similar themed ones (pizza topping and space themed that are in the shape of a pizza and a star system respectively) and a few that I have arranged so the pins are in a certain shape or spell a word or initials (takes a little bit of extra effort but then it becomes artwork as well which helps vary wall space) some are shadowboxed. some have gone onto jacket lapels and pockets (my Ruth B Ginsberg is a fave on one and another jacket has hidden mickeys on it). Ita bags are great because you can support smaller creators on etsy or kickstarter and have diff bags for diff occasions (and you can swap out pins as you want to). I have an official trading binder thing that zips which is great for my nicer pins, travel pins, and ones that aren't complete enough for a display. Traders, I have on various lanyards but those can get heavy and I have suffered a loss of one of my Figment pins back in the day that I'm still a little salty about so wear lanyards with caution. Others I keep vaguely sorted in boxes until I determine if they're going to be binder, display, gift, or trade.
Regardless of what you do, make sure you have extra pin backers, and that all pins are as secure as they can be. (for displays, honestly a glue dot can save you a LOT of heartache and are fairly easy to remove) you want them secure. in something, zippered, buttoned, taped, screwed, whatever, double check. Do a quick shake test. See if they're going to clank together or scratch or come loose. You can make a Martha Stewart worthy system, but if they are able to fall off or get scratched than what was the point?
If you want any pics lmk and I can take some tomorrow as examples. My organization system is highly varied but far from the most cohesive lol. Mostly based on vibes ngl.
Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk
Regardless of what you do, make sure you have extra pin backers, and that all pins are as secure as they can be. (for displays, honestly a glue dot can save you a LOT of heartache and are fairly easy to remove) you want them secure. in something, zippered, buttoned, taped, screwed, whatever, double check. Do a quick shake test. See if they're going to clank together or scratch or come loose. You can make a Martha Stewart worthy system, but if they are able to fall off or get scratched than what was the point?
If you want any pics lmk and I can take some tomorrow as examples. My organization system is highly varied but far from the most cohesive lol. Mostly based on vibes ngl.
Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk
PixiePinTrader
New DPF Member
- Messages
- 18
- Location
- Florida, USA
Ah the evolution of how to display collections... Let's see I originally started with Michael's shadowboxes but as I kept adding, the little metal hinges broke off. So then I found these cute open frames at Walmart and added foam backing. Really cute but then my collection grew too big. Next up: black canvas boards and the idea was that each would hold one character collection. Outgrew that. Moved on to large cork boards that I spray painted black with 2 collections per cork board. Inevitably, I couldn't balance to keep them evenly spaced so I scrapped that and moved on to my FINAL answer: front loading shadow boxes which I absolutely LOVE! Yes, it was an investment, but I bought the pro multipack from Michaels and then black EVA foam from Amazon that I spray glued so the pins could stick on with less damage than cork. Yes they are heavy but oooooh when I tell you how pretty they are 
And the BEST part? It now forces me to limit my collection! If something new gets released that I "must" have, something's gotta go to make room for it. Hubby keeps teasing me that I'm going to buy more but I have no more wall space unless I start taking down Disney art. Backing cards and pin backs are stored in a drawer.
And the BEST part? It now forces me to limit my collection! If something new gets released that I "must" have, something's gotta go to make room for it. Hubby keeps teasing me that I'm going to buy more but I have no more wall space unless I start taking down Disney art. Backing cards and pin backs are stored in a drawer.