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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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Jan 24, 2013 - 12:11pm PT
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have you asked Tony?
before you do, calculate the actual cubic feet of space this material occupies
re-arrange it so that it occupies less
then post the number here
don't ask locker
once the number is determined, then the solution will appear
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John M
climber
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Jan 24, 2013 - 12:16pm PT
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My 10 box theory.
Goal.. reduce to 4 boxes.
Take one box a week and go through it. Keep examples, but throw out the Majority with the goal of reducing to 4 boxes. Whatever the local museums want, give them.
Once you are down to 4 boxes, you start keeping again. When you get back to 10 boxes. you start the process again.
Or.. do like my uncle and keep everything. aaaack.. some cool stuff, but do I really need to see all 400 pieces of kindergarten art? Keep one or two and toss the rest. If some day they are worth money, well, thats the way it goes. It means you became famous and are probably dead so you wont benefit from it anyway. Are you really keeping stuff so that if you become famous someone else will have some piece of you? come on. Dump it.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
SLO, Ca
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Jan 24, 2013 - 12:18pm PT
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I'm the opposite-- I have almost nothing from when I was a kid and our kids' stuff generally goes right in the trash once they move on to the next project. I hate boxes of stuff I don't use.
But anyway, there are companies that will scan stuff. You might try a legal documents service- they are used to dealing with large quantities (as opposed to something like kinkos) and may give you a deal if you tell them there is no rush.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jan 24, 2013 - 12:32pm PT
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Keep it. Honestly. Photos of pieces of art are kinda lame when you look through em later, especially on a screen/monitor. Being able to hold something in your hand, years later, can be a true treasue. And think of the generations who will follow.
But it's good to have a record of what there is before you store it all in a box and (inevitably) forget.
A flatbed scanner and some time can help (Vuescan is good, basic scanning software with many options on size/quality of image etc, works with almost any scanner you can lay hands on etc).
For bulk scanning, scancafe is about the cheapest. They send originals to India, so it's slow (3 months or so) but they seem to do a good job of keeping track, not losing anything (My wife's scanned many hundreds of images, maybe ten separate batches, mostly sides, many old prints, too, not one image lost). I've started sending slides to them, too (I'm picky and don't always care for their color correction on old, faded, climbing slides, so go for their premium service, costs a bit more. Old family pics you should get fine results with the basic service.
Scancafe specializes in slides but also scan photos and negatives.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Jan 24, 2013 - 12:51pm PT
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lose the clothes
strike the match
dance
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matisse
climber
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Jan 24, 2013 - 12:59pm PT
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scan cafe will scan photos for you:
http://www.scancafe.com/
I'd keep the art or try to sell it. I have a big flat file that I bought off of craigs list that holds current projects, the art archives, and my watercolor paper.
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rectorsquid
climber
Lake Tahoe
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Jan 24, 2013 - 01:36pm PT
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Have you every looked at any of it in the last year or two? If yes then keep it. If no then do you plan on giving it to someone who will look at it once or twice? If yes then keep it. If no then will throwing it out give you more guilt than ignoring it? Because you ignore it as if it's not there and you should feel bad about that. It's important.
Really, it's just stuff. A lot of unused stuff makes you a hoarder. Use it or get rid of it.
Dave
P.S. I have no idea what they call someone with an excessive amount of stuff that all gets used. Maybe a workaholic or something worse.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Jan 24, 2013 - 03:36pm PT
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And think of the generations who will follow.
Micronut - there are none of these. We are both only children without children.
I'm in Rectorsquid's camp on this one for the most part; if you don't use it or look at it occasionally, then is is emotional baggage.
I did a purge a few years back, and my only regret was not scanning the pictures, YMMV.
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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Jan 24, 2013 - 03:41pm PT
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EB #1: Photographs (the easier problem): Dear 'ol Grandma passed a couple years ago leaving me with like 10 boxes of family photos dating back to the 1800's. There's only so much you can put in albums and space is limited.
EB #2: The bigger problem. Artwork.. lots of it. Kindergarten through college. Scanning larger stuff seems like a pain. I started just photographing it, but it's time-consuming and a PIA. Throwing away originals afterwards seems kinda dirty and wrong but who really wants my kid-art? Now that I'm a world renown stained glass artist this crap could be worth bucks when I croak BTW ;)
If you have attic, basement or garage space that you don't need for anything else, just keep it.
Whatever you throw out, photograph it first. Digital photos don't take any room to store.
Stuff that doesn't have any meaning to you know, might mean more to you some years from now.
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kev
climber
A pile of dirt.
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Jan 24, 2013 - 04:18pm PT
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JTM,
Not sure on the art, but for photos, if you don't mind throwing $ at the problem, you can get slides, negs, and prints scanned. Try scancafe.com
I'd still keep a few beat up old photos though...They've got more character.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jan 24, 2013 - 04:48pm PT
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Scan the photos, including the backs with notes on who is who.
If they are like the ones at my mom's house, many are in frames and it will take some time to get them out, scan and back in.
Send copies to grandma's descendants on USB flash drives.
Keep a few, offer the rest to descendants, toss the remainder.
Your old artwork - photograph the highlights and hopefully you will get into a mood to toss most of it afterwards.
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jbaker
Trad climber
Redwood City, CA
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Jan 24, 2013 - 04:58pm PT
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Scancafe does a good job. You can probably also find local services. An inexpensive scanner does a good job on black and white prints.
To photograph the artwork, you'd want to mount the camera above a flat table, make sure the lens is really flat, and set up very even lighting. You'll probably be too close to get good results with on-camera lighting. With a little care, I've gotten good results photographing my sister's paintings for her (she wanted to make full-size prints). You could rent a good camera and lens from BorrowLenses.com, or someone similar, for a few days, plus some lights, and crank through it.
My house burned down last month, and we thought we'd lost all pre-digital photos. I was feeling very happy that I'd scanned a bunch of photos from my father's childhood and years in WWII and the Korean War, to share with family. We just discovered that my wife's photos of her ancestors hadn't been with the rest of the photos, and they survived. She'd been pretty upset about it. She hadn't looked at them in years, but she felt she'd lost one of her remaining ties with the past. I'd strongly urge you to scan any photos that mean a lot to you.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2013 - 08:29pm PT
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Well, food for thought. It's true.. once you toss it.. you can never get it back. I just don't need to keep every frikin' scrap of paper.
With the photos... A company like Scancafe sounds like the ticket. Thanks for the suggestion. I was sure there were probably companies out there that did that.
Like I said.. I had intended to keep some of the b&w and a few good pics of immediate relatives and probably pawn the rest off on the cousins. My mother informs me there are MORE pictures in albums at her house that will invariably end up at my house at some point BTW. Meh...
The artwork is harder. Whittle it down. Dedicate a weekend to photographing everything. (sounds excruciating). Keep some.
Maybe start mailing the really bad art to Super Topo members who misbehave as punishment or give it to Neebee to decoupage her new shed with.
PS I actually created a joke Etsy shop called "BuyMyEmotionalBagage" to sell off the antiques and vintage clothing. The shop got more hits and sales than my real shop LOL.
A la Tony... Everything but the artwork sold.
@John.. I'm being totally facetious about any value my crappy kid art might hold BTW.
@Frank pg 1.. the Kansas relatives.. German. Last name Fikan
@Dingus.. yup.. I've got a couple highway signs sitting in my garage as we speak. Want one? We can just spray paint "A1A" on it and you can pretend.
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froodish
Social climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jan 24, 2013 - 08:42pm PT
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For the photo scans you really care about, create an Amazon Web Services account and throw them in an S3 bucket (first year up to 5GB is free, stupid cheap after that) so that when the optical media the scan company sends back eventually goes bad you won't loose them.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2013 - 08:52pm PT
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I'll check that out Frood. This is all new to me so I'm compiling ideas to work with.
Just had to share the only two Grandma paintings I kept. These were the only ones that seemed totally unique.. a break from the bowls of fruit and bad landscape paintings ...sorry Gramma.. they were really bad :(
With this one she won a contest to get your artwork on a greeting card:
and this one.. her only figural and piece de resistance...
wait for it.....
Victorian boudoir-Barbie on a chamber pot LOL
when I was a little kid I couldn't for the life of me figure out why that girl was sitting on giant eggs LOL.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Jan 25, 2013 - 12:06am PT
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You are really lucky to have photos with notes on them. A distant cousin and I once spent one whole summer scanning, emailing, and trying to identify various old photographs that his grandmother had put in a box unlabeled. If you get them scanned now, you can always work on the scrapbooks (digital preferably) sometime in the future. You can also take some of the best ones and share them with the world on Find a Grave or Ancestry.com sites.
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Anastasia
climber
InLOVEwithAris.
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Jan 25, 2013 - 12:11am PT
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Scan whatever you throw away so there is always something left and yet way more portable and packable. You can even take pictures of your art, etc.
Hugs!
Oh and yes... I have my parents stuff and facing a similar fight. Sadly it's not just a closet full...
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Captain...or Skully
climber
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Jan 25, 2013 - 12:15am PT
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In the end, it's just stuff. The World is full of stuff.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Jan 25, 2013 - 12:25am PT
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The last two posts are very true.
The crux lies in the balance of preservation and sharing .vs letting go of the past.
Difficult boundaries, especially when personal and family issues come into play.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jan 25, 2013 - 12:48am PT
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hey there say, justthemaid...
i love the kid story, and the giant eggs, :)
childhood is sweet...
say, how about doing an art show,as a fundraiser somewhere,
though NOT a 'real artshow' but you know what i mean...
like at some local festivals, etc, and keep the prices, either low,
hidden, for whatever some will pay, for a good cause...
that way, the art just might sell.. an at least to folks that will like it...
*also,certain thrift stores, SAD TO SAY, not all:
will take the art and keep it on the shelves NO MATTER howlong, til it sells... THIS has to be the kinds that then do 'half off sales' to clear
thing out, without trashing it.. but--you are assured that no one will buy it unless they really DO love it...
but a smalll local art thing, sounds like fun...
also,instead of taking pics of everything...
could you not just make a film? a famiy movie, or something, showing all the art work, etc.. you could sit down quite often and never tire of reseeing it... a family ambience type thing, etc...
ps:
lasty, hate to see you do something and then wish you
had kept it, so as you are doing--proceed with care...
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