Designing with scrap

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Dancinbaer

Dancinbaer

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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Apr 26, 2002
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De Pere, WI
Scenerio: I get a project in that uses 1/3 sheet of mat. I take the remaining 2/3, mark the number and size on the back and place it in a rack within its color group. Near the rack are pieces of paper, each one a list of different color groups where I mark the mat number and size. Then before ordering more mats I go through the lists to see if I have the number and size of what I need.

Question: Does anyone use a "system" where, as you are designing, you know which mats you have pieces of on hand so as to try and use them first?
 
After ten years, we have a scrap of EVERYTHING.......

At least it seems that way. We used to file by color, now everything is filed by number. Before I do my order, I check to see what we have. Quick and easy since they're filed by number. So many of the mats could be filed under two colors. Is it gray or is it blue??

On a typical week, I only have to order between 1/3 and 1/2 of the mats that I've sold that week. More $$ to the bottom line.
 
Like Maryann, I seem to have scraps of every colour too!

I keep track of the size & colour of mats that I have left over from a particular job. I keep a spreadsheet with all mat colours/sizes that I have in stock. That being said, I don't check to see what I have in stock before/during the design process to try to use up a particular colour. Although my husband urges me to use up my existing inventory, I must design for the particular piece of artwork. If it so happens that the design uses mat that I already have, then GREAT - I won't have to order a new mat. I always check my spreadsheet before ordering the mat to see if I have enough in stock and double check the piece to make sure it is still in excellent condition.

Same goes for moulding. I don't have a lot of storage room, but seem to have accumulated various lengths of moulding. In the perfect world, it would be great to use up the existing stock, but if it isn't going to make the framing design a 'wow', I don't want to use it.

In my case, I think I would be wasting time in the design stage if I was trying to create a design to specifically use up instock material.
 
I have a similar system...but when I get busy it goes out the window.. sort of. But I still check my inventory before I order a new sheet of board. As far as designing around what I do have - I will only do that on small jobs where it would be cost prohibitive to order a full sheet of board for an 8 x 10 - Unless it is a very good loyal customer!!

Roz
 
What Karen said.

Dave Makielski
 
I don't have a system! Unless you can call this one ....

I have two tote boxes for scraps, one for neutrals, one for everything else, if they fit, that's where they go, nothing much over a quarter of a sheet goes back with the full sheets. These scraps are used for needlework lacing, making fillets etc flush and of course for the odd small job, when the boxes get stuffed they either get bagged up and sold in the shop or dished out to a local school, or two.

As for designing I don't worry about neutrals, I'll always have stock, also the faster moving colours, the more obscure ones I'll also have a good idea of stock as ordering them and using them is unusual!

Unless a colour or finish is really unusual, I'll order in packs of five to get the best price.

But I don't worry about what I have or don't have in stock when designing, I'll pick what suits/what the customer wants and if I don't have it - tough!

However, a local supplier - 15 mins away has just gone bust, in the past I could just nip down the road for the odd sheet of flourescent pink, or whatever, now I need to be more organised and need more than the hard drive between my ears, somewhere!

So, I'm paying attention here!
 
OK!, I'll admit it and I bet others do the same thing. For that second or third layer with only 1/4" or so showing, and if color is not critical (if I and not the customer picked it out) I will look thru my cutoffs and see if I have something close that will work and not compromise the design and if so I will use that. Face it, most customers would never know the difference and they are trusting our disign cababilities anyhow.
 
j Paul said:
OK!, I'll admit it and I bet others do the same thing. For that second or third layer with only 1/4" or so showing, and if color is not critical (if I and not the customer picked it out) I will look thru my cutoffs and see if I have something close that will work and not compromise the design and if so I will use that. Face it, most customers would never know the difference and they are trusting our disign cababilities anyhow.
Click to expand...


Oooooh NEVER, 3/16 maybe, but 1/4" is right out
23_29_107v.gif
 
...but jPaul...where does it end?

Repent...repent...ye too shall see the light!

Public confession is good for the soul.

;)

Dave Makielski
 
I religiously (accepting that I sometimes fall short) write the mat number on the back of every scrap I save. I sort them by color. When I have a job, I try to look for the number I need in the scrap of that color group. I have heard that some cut their scrap to stock sizes. That would definitely help in finding a particular color when I needed it because you would have a neat row of scrap, but I can't yet bring myself to cut off all that useful matboard or take the extra time to do the cutting.
 
My "scraps" (I don't like calling them that, has negative connotations!) -I mean- less than full sheets, are stored by color groups. Rarely do I have a customer that insists the color be exactly #8561, for example, unless we're matching an existing order. So I go hunting before I do my weekly order, and look for #8561 or the closest thing to it, and still appropriate for the art, and if I can't find one, then I order. The whites I write in pencil on the back corner the ##. I have never had a customer say "That isn't the exact color I chose!" They just want it to look right.
 
I keep scraps separate from full sheets. I keep track of full sheets by their number and note on 4 x 6 cards the sizes of remnants. Also note mat number and size on the back of the remnant. I can do a quick look through the cards to see if I have a piece large enough for a particular project. Eliminates the hunt and peck process.
 
I've done all those things. Right now we have everything numbered. 16 and larger go with the full sheets, smaller go in "less than full" sheet area. The only ones that I do by color now are the mats formally known as TruVue that didn't get to play with the other mats at crescent. Works well for us.
 
I have 2 mat storage racks, one on top of the other. I store by color and use the top rack for whole sheets and the bottom for pieces. I stack pieces directly under whole sheets of the same colors. This really helps me to use up drops. I usually will write the # and color on the back of larger pieces. I check before ordering for a project but usually design without scrap in mind.
I give the smaller pieces to an artist/customer who also teaches children. Anything too small for her to use goes to another art teacher who is very creative in using even the smallest scraps. Almost nothing left to throw out.
 
I put a little piece of removable tape on any mat corner sample where we have some pieces in stock. That doesn't determine my design process, but like has been said, many of the colors are so close in shade that many times it helps. Plus, if, for instance, we're reaching for one in Crescent and the same color is in stock in Bainbridge - we use the Bainbridge.

We've only been using this "system" since we got all the new Bainbridge and Crescent samples integrated, (couple of months) but so far it is working great.
 
Numeric all the way

We use the numeric system, and keep the full sheets and scraps separate. It's so quick, and easy to see what we have and what we need to order. We also mark in pencil in the corner the number and size.

Lori
 
Thanks all, looks as though I'm doin' what most of you are doing. I like Betty's method. If I get caught up I'll give it a try.
 
Maybe I’m not following this thread correctly, but it seems to me that having separate bins (one for full sheets and one for “leftover” scraps) is overly complicated.

We keep our corner samples grouped by color, of course, but our full sheets and leftover scraps are filed by number in the same bin. From the work order, we want Crescent 1621?, we go to the bin marked Crescent 1621. If there is a leftover big enough to do the job, we use it; if not, we grab a full sheet and slice it to size. We never substitute a “close enough for gum’mint work” color.

Leftovers are always placed to the left of full sheets for consistency. When we first trim a full sheet, it gets knocked off of our inventory list. When it’s time to order supplies, we look at the inventory sheet, note what full sheets have been reduced in size and reorder.

I’ve never considered doing it any other way.

Am I missing something?
 
Scraps!

I hardly ever post, but I love learning from all of you! Thank you so much for sharing.

I like to turn my "trash" into treasures, so I do all I can to use up the scraps of matboard. I store my full sheets by color in 20 numbered 4" wide (32x40 size) shelves with factory printed numbers all facing the same direction. On the back of my corner samples at my design table, I mark the bin number and draw one circle for each sheet of matboard I have in stock. As I remove a full sheet, I put a slash thru the circle so I know I have used that mat, and that I may have a scrap left. When my corner sample shows less than 2 full mats remaining, I add it to my ordering list. I currently stock about 350 mat colors, and only design with instock corner samples. These are the mat colors that work best with our local art. I have all the other corner samples available if we can't find the right one in stock.

My scraps larger than 11x14 are stored in 7 plastic bins along a hallway in the shop, each holding one of these color groupings: greens, blues/purples, white/creams, yellow/orange/browns, black cores, blacks, specialty mats. I always check the bins before I pull out a full sheet for a job...it's like "turning trash into treasures" when I find all the scraps needed to do a job! I also let my commercial customers buy scrap mats from the bin. They choose their colors, lay them out on a 32x40 sheet, and pay me for a full sheet. We also sell lots of standard sized mats to many local artists and photographers, mostly made from scraps.

We ship most of our supplies by barge from the Seattle waterfront to Ketchikan, so it is more profitable for us to by in bulk.

By the way, Ketchikan is one of the top 100 art communities in the country with over 1 million tourists visiting each summer. How many of you have been here? Next time, stop by and visit my shop.

Colleen Brown
 
I'm with Bill. I never substitute unless I have permission.

It's CUSTOM framing. We charge a premium price for it. Our customers stood at the design counter and designed what they want. I don't think it's fair to change the design in the back room. Close enough doesn't do it for me.

(Maybe that's why I seem to have a scrap of everything).
 
Bill Henry- said:
Maybe I’m not following this thread correctly, but it seems to me that having separate bins (one for full sheets and one for “leftover” scraps) is overly complicated.

Leftovers are always placed to the left of full sheets for consistency. When we first trim a full sheet, it gets knocked off of our inventory list. When it’s time to order supplies, we look at the inventory sheet, note what full sheets have been reduced in size and reorder.

I’ve never considered doing it any other way.

Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Maybe Bill. I have very limited space. As a rule I do not stock full sheets. Each week I order only the mats I need for the projects I plan to work on the following week. I have six verticle bins large enough to hold full sheets, installed by the previous owner. Occasionally I've mistakenly ordered to many mats so they go in those bins. But usually the mats lay in their plastic bags on a spare bench in the corner (or the vacu-seal) until I'm ready to use them. The unused portion (scrap) gets filed in a bin with cardboard dividers between color groups.
 
Creative Chicks said:
We use the numeric system, and keep the full sheets and scraps separate. It's so quick, and easy to see what we have and what we need to order. We also mark in pencil in the corner the number and size.

Lori
Click to expand...

Yep, we do it basically the same way. Our mats (full and scraps) are kept separate but under our work table. The table is 4' x 8' and on the 8' side it's open with verticle slots (about 4" apart) down the whole side. Works out well for us.
 
Ketchikan is one of the top 100 art communities in the country with over 1 million tourists visiting each summer. How many of you have been here?
Click to expand...

Ooo, OOO, me!

We walked around Ketchikan for a little while when the ferry from Bellingham to Juneau stopped to unload whatever. I remember near the ferry terminal, someone had a old moldy, moss covered work boot sitting on his/her porch railing. It was filled with flowers as I recall.

We were trying to find the old section of town, near an inlet or stream, (where the houses are on stilts?), but we were so nervous about missing our ferry, we turned around before we found it.

I also recall, if you want to drive, you can’t get there from here.
 
To those of you who sort and store your matboard by color: When you're working on the order, how do you find the mat you need? POS systems list the mats by number rather than color. Some of them at least will list the color description as well, but sometimes that's not very descriptive.

So if you have an order calling for C1523 Seawall, where do you start? Is it grey, green, blue? Do you find the sample to match it or go through a specifier?
 
I have very limited space. As a rule I do not stock full sheets. Each week I order only the mats I need for the projects I plan to work on the following week.
Click to expand...

Ah, now it makes sense!
 
"Question: Does anyone use a "system" where, as you are designing, you know which mats you have pieces of on hand so as to try and use them first?"

Denny

If your are looking for a good system, Yours is good.

"Near the rack are pieces of paper, each one a list of different color groups where I mark the mat number and size.

But try this.

Instead of using slips of paper to write the mat number of the scraps on, Keep the mat corner sample with the item to be framed. As soon as you have time check your inventory for a piece of mat board on hand. If you have a full sheet and have to cut it down, do it then. Then measure the left over piece(s) and mark on the mat corner the size and quantity you have left on-hand and the color bin you are going to use to store the scrap. Place the sized mat board away with the art, the scraps in you color bins and then replace the mat corner in your mat rack.

Mitch
 
FramerDave said:
To those of you who sort and store your matboard by color: When you're working on the order, how do you find the mat you need? POS systems list the mats by number rather than color. Some of them at least will list the color description as well, but sometimes that's not very descriptive.

So if you have an order calling for C1523 Seawall, where do you start? Is it grey, green, blue? Do you find the sample to match it or go through a specifier?
Click to expand...

I've started writing the color group on the work order as soon as I print it out while I still have the corner samples handy. That way when it comes time to pull the mats or search my bins I have an idea where to start. I use Lifesaver. Each mat layer has it's own column so I write the group next to the mat number/ name.
 
Mitch said:
Keep the mat corner sample with the item to be framed. As soon as you have time check your inventory for a piece of mat board on hand. If you have a full sheet and have to cut it down, do it then....Place the sized mat board away with the art, the scraps in you color bins and then replace the mat corner in your mat rack.
Click to expand...

That's just what I do. Then I note on the work order that the matboard is in the folder with the art. Having used this approach, I know right away whether or not I need to add this board to my order list. This system works like a charm, with one caveat. If you save too many leftover pieces, you will end up spending too much time searching for what you need until the value of the time spent exceeds the saving of not ordering a new sheet. To keep this at bay, use the white side of excess boards as backings. How many extra pieces of Majestic Purple do you really need anyway?

:cool: Rick
 
FramerDave said:
To those of you who sort and store your matboard by color: When you're working on the order, how do you find the mat you need?
Click to expand...

Dave, I take the corner sample to the back pronto after taking the order and see if I have any on hand. that way the size I need is already on my mind too. I have a tape measure attached on my rack so i can tell at a glance if I have enough.

I do substitute from time to time. Lots of very similar colors in all the lines. But only if it is a dead on match.
 
The two things we do to keep scraps under control are:
1. Stack scraps in descending short side, shortest to tallest, left to right in numerical order. This saves a lot of time hunting.

2. (thought of this after only 20 years...) put the size on the scrap (only the whole number, rounding down if necessary). This saves even more time.

We generate a weekly order and all not-stocked mats are checked for scrap size and pulled and marked with the order number. These are in a different slot in order number. I would not substitute unless the piece either didn't look as good as I thought it would or I spoil the mat the day before it is due, then I tell them that it didn't look as good as I thought it would. Well, almost never....
 
Organization is the key. Without a system (I use numeric) to store full sheets and smaller ones (I do not like to refer to them as "scrap" but rather "pure profit") and a good set of bins or cabinets to protect your investment you might as well throw the left overs away. What good is it to 'know you have one' or 'think you might' if it takes you forever to find it in that pile against the wall. Some times you dig that remnant out only to discover that it has been crushed (suede) or damaged. There are many ways to do it, some more affective than others, but what makes it work is a plan. And sticking to it.
JUst a thought...
 
I lived in Ketchikan several lifetimes ago while my husband was out on a government salmon survey. Had a little apartment up on the hill overlooking the waterfront area. We could watch the seaplanes coming in as well as the ferries. In those days, there were only 17 miles of road on the entire island. We hitchhiked when we wanted to go someplace. Good times, except for all the doggoned rain!
 
I had a system, Denny.

It was elegant in it's complexity. It took me a couple of years to implement and then nobody but me could understand it. It required a fairly fast processor to even run on a PC, but would not work on an operating system newer than Windows 98. If I took a 3-day weekend, I had to give myself a tutorial when I came back.

Is it any wonder I ended up in the health insurance industry?
 
Ron, what about "Documentation"? Didn't you have a cheat sheet next to your computer and at your design table and at your mat cutter and hanging in the rest room and.......
 
Wow! I can't understand how those of you who store your mats by color can ever find them. I always had mine in numerical order. Quick to find the colors I needed, and if the number was not important, but a color range was, I could go and look at my corner samples.

My mat rack was two levels, the bottom was used for full sheets, and LARGE scraps, the top was used for scraps that were half sheets, or smaller. Anything less than a 12X16, I bagged, and sold. Any bin that got too full, got bagged and sold.

Made it VERY fast to check my supplies, before ordering, and I could cut mats for customers while they waited, as I could find the mats in seconds.

When I checked the mats before ordering, I would put a paper marker on the corner to save the mat for a customer job. This way, I always knew which mats were being held for a job. The paper would be marked with the date, color number, quantity, and size needed.

If I had an excess of a certain color, I would lightly mark (in pencil) the corner sample on the back. Just a note, telling me that it is in stock. I might even move the corner sample to the front of it's color group. Since the mark was made in pencil, I could erase it later, when the scrap was used up.
 
The only tiime I worry about stock of matboard is when someone wants JUST a mat in an obscure colour - I think.

As for finding stuff - I store by colour, but I don't have to hunt, above each section is a 2" triangle of what is below, with the ref no written on the triangle. If I stored by ref number my storage racks would go - white, green, blue, yellow, white, black, whiter still, not so white, pink ... (you get the picture.)

Don't see why my storage racks should not mimick my corner sample caddys, if it's retina-burn white it's on the right, if it's black, it's at the back, if it's green, it's imbetween ......
 
We give each color mat a number on the specifiers then number each corner sample to match. That way when the customer picks a color from the specifier we can say ok number 128 go to the corner sample rack and pull that number. After you have 10 or 20 samples out any one can put them back in order. Our mats are stored by mat number(8462, 8463, 8465 and so on) Small sizes kept in a bin with numbers on back in the same order. When time allows mats pices are cut down to 8x10 9x12 11x14 some are then cut with std openings and sold.
Some smaller are cut with clipart for hand outs to kids.
 
Maryann said:
I'm with Bill. I never substitute unless I have permission.

It's CUSTOM framing. We charge a premium price for it. Our customers stood at the design counter and designed what they want. I don't think it's fair to change the design in the back room. Close enough doesn't do it for me.

(Maybe that's why I seem to have a scrap of everything).
Click to expand...

Mitch said:
Instead of using slips of paper to write the mat number of the scraps on, Keep the mat corner sample with the item to be framed. As soon as you have time check your inventory for a piece of mat board on hand.

Mitch
Click to expand...

Ditto on both of these. I have two map cabinets with "scrap fortunes."
 
One of the advantages we have found with the CMC was, after taking an order, we (ASAP) go, pull the mat board (if we have it), and cut the mat.

When you do that, you have 1) rechecked your sizes and 2) know exactly the frame size to order, or/and 3) know what boards you have to order.
 
Man, sometimes I can only read so much without wondering WHY?

I don't get storing by color. Numerical is much faster. We have a 3 tier rack, full on the bottom sitting on the 40 inch side, up to 20 inch on the middle then about 11 inch on the top. That rack stores pure PROFIT. In fact, you'd be shocked at the PROFIT held in those bins. Compared to the PROFIT, the time spent organizing and putting away is NOTHING. You are really missing out IMHO. Profit should be a priority. I mean it's sitting right there already paid for!

If you have to match a piece some day how are you ever going to know you changed colors? If you still use a paper system it would be no prob. Yeah, I know you are supposed to be able to EDIT a ticket in Lifesaver, but it totally screws up the financial records. Only in an extreme emergency would I change colors.

Why can't we just have the ability to put an alert on each order in LF as opoposed to an entire account? Sizes are forever having to be tweaked in the backroom so if it needs to be matched later whatcha gonna do? I know Mike Labbe probably has a perfectly sensible answer for me.:)
 
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