Paper for Printing Album Pages

[darkormex]

I, now, regularly print my own album pages, having purchased the cd from Stamp Albums web back in 2010.  I use a 65lb. card stock that is off-white, acid-free (Stardust White) and with a bit of color speckling in it.  The paper is produced by Neenah and I found it at my local big-box office supply store.

Problem is now that this office supply store has decided to discontinue stocking this paper and I want my pages to have some consistency.  There is another competing store in-town that, according to Neenah's website, also stocks it, but this store is an inconvenient drive from our house.

So I went online and found a website called paperworks.com/.  They carry all kinds of specialty paper products including the paper I regularly use for printing pages.  What was even better is that at the store I was able to purchase paper in packages of 100 for around $23.00 per package including tax.  At paperworks.com I was able to buy the same paper in a package of 250 for almost the same price including tax and shipping.  I now have a new supplier!

I hope this might be a useful resource for some of you who print your own pages.

[Craig]

Good and useful info! Thanks.

[khj]

For additional reference...

I buy Stardust cover stock every few years for other purposes. I did buy some in the past year and it is still available at Office Depot. However, I don't how the merger with Staples will affect their future paper stock.

The paper has increased in price over the years, but I always buy paper using their coupons. If you buy 2 packs of 250 (500 total), you can use the coupon and get them for under $30 total, otherwise it will be about $16+tax per pack of 250. Wait for sale plus coupon, and you can get both packs for under $25.

And yes, over the past couple of years, they have sold the Stardust cover stock under the Neenah brand name.

[darkormex]

Our local Office Depot closed quite awhile back. The big-box store I was referring to is Office Max, which apparently has decided to discontinue selling Neenah paper products. The other store that continues to carry them is Staples which is just not convenient to drive to.

I also found a coupon online when I bought the paper. Just took a chance and searched for promo codes as I was going through the process of checking out. Like my boss says, "Never pay retail!"

[Perfs14]

In the old days when we used to use mostly hinges in albums paper quality was of prime importance, without a doubt. These days when we mostly use stamp mounts, the stamp does not actually come into contact with the paper, I wonder how significant, if at all, paper acidity/lignin etc. content really are.

Anyone know of an actual study done by someone somewhere/when?

[khj]

Sept 20, 2014 22:53:30 GMT -5 darkormex said:

The big-box store I was referring to is Office Max, which apparently has decided to discontinue selling Neenah paper products.

Yeah, our OMX had a clearance on their Neenah packs. I had a field day buying them for $2-$8 a pack, not to mention the coupons I had. My wife can never get enough cardstock.

I agree about avoiding paying retail. Whether it is stamps or just paper, I almost never pay anything close to retail. I often patiently wait for the clearance or close-out sales and stock up. And people wonder why I have so many stamps...

[khj]

Sept 20, 2014 23:40:40 GMT -5 Perfs14 said:

In the old days when we used to use mostly hinges in albums paper quality was of prime importance, without a doubt. These days when we mostly use stamp mounts, the stamp does not actually come into contact with the paper, I wonder how significant, if at all, paper acidity/lignin etc. content really are.

Anyone know of an actual study done by someone somewhere/when?

Agreed. People forget, the stamps are not printed on archival paper, and the adhesive on the stamps are not archival either. As long as the stamp and album page are isolated from each other, there is minimal risk under proper storage conditions.

To me, the real value of using archival paper for album pages is that they are less susceptible to deterioriation when stored in humid or hot environments. The effects of "browning" are much more pronounced on non-archival paper.

On the other hand, my non-statistical observation makes me wonder if mildew tends to grow more easily on non-acidic paper! This is based on UV lamp screening of collections that come my way. How valid is that observation? Don't know. Too limited of a sample size.

[Perfs14]

Very good points khj. If I were a betting man I would guess that there is a fungus that will grow on paper of any acidity - they are pretty insistent living organisms and there are zillions of different ones.

Another observation worth remembering is that some old covers are still in very good state and I am sure that the paper used for the old envelopes was probably not acid-free.

I think that the presence of acid helps with the oxidation of the cellulose, once oxidized it is more susceptible to fungal attack; so storage conditions are an important factor, maybe the most important.

[hof]

very good instructions, thanking you