Scott International Clear Interleaving

Now that my Big Blue Vol 1 is getting a few stamps in it (up to ~3400 thru Germany), it's getting to the point I need to expand to 2 binders. Seems like a good time to add interleaving.

Anyone have a source for the clear G&K pages? Seem to be sold out everywhere.

G & K is Subway's brand… Are they out?. I really like them compared to glassine interleaving

They are out, I sent them a message asking about more, haven't heard back.

I recommend the clear acetate interleaving over the unclear mylar interleaving more commonly used and more often sold. It's worlds better than glassine. You can actually view stamps through it because it's 100% as clear as a window. It also clings to the previous page very conveniently as you turn the pages (of course without obscuring your view of stamps on that page). I have a very large (38 volume) Scott International in which every page which faces another page that has stamps on it (or will have stamps on it) has acetate interleaving. Yes, it did take a while to insert all those pages but I'm very glad I did.

As to where to find it, after doing a lot of searching the only place I found that sold it was Subway Stamp Shop which you say is out of it. Hopefully that's temporary. I even use (a larger size of) clear interleaving in a few places in some of my Scott Specialty albums, though being one-sided, those pages don't really need it. That size interleaving was also hard to find! Not sure why it's not more widely available.

I suppose that, in extremis, you could cut from rolls of the type sold for book-covering, although it would be a lot of work.

DrewM, question for you. Do you put interleaving on pages where there is a blank page facing a page a page with stamps? I recently purchased a new Volume 2 page set and only put interleaving when two pages with spaces were facing each other. In Volume 2, somewhere around 50% of the pages have a blank side (always the back side, or the left hand side). Not sure how that compares to other volumes. On other volumes I put interleaving on every page even when there was blank. I can't really decide which I prefer. The advantage of interleaving on each page is it makes it a lot easier to flip through. You can flip to any page and locate the interleaving by touch and know it will be there. When interleaving is not on every page, it requires more thought. Have to remember you can touch (without looking) the back side of the page where there is no interleaving, but not the face side because there might be stamps.

tsmatx, If the facing page is not going to have stamps on it -- as in the Scott Specialty albums (and most high-end albums) where all pages are printed on one side -- there is no reason that I can see to add interleaving. But in Scott International and all other albums printed on both sides of the pages, interleaving goes pretty much after every page -- except when a stamp page faces a blank page. In that case, I leave out the interleaving. It would serve no purpose, as far as I'm concerned.

As for turning pages without touching the stamps, which is what I think you're asking about, the interleaving only adheres to one of the two facing pages. It can't stick to both of them. So if you feel for the interleaving but touch the other page with stamps on it that doesn't have the interleaving sticking to it, you may have a problem.

Since the acetate (clear) interleaving adheres by a static charge to only one of the two pages it's between -- the facing page has no protection. And if you slide your hand between the pages, sooner or later you're going to bump some stamps and knock them off the page or maybe damage them.

Turning album pages without touching the stamps just takes a certain amount of care and maybe skill. The interleaving shouldn't have anything to do with it. The basic approach is to never insert your fingers very far into the album. As you turn pages, just touch the outer inch, or even the outer half inch, of the page. That way, you aren't going to grab any stamps and have a "whoopsie!" moment that damages something. To find what I'm looking for, I also find that flipping through album pages like a deck of cards works a lot of the time That way my hand isn't near the stamps at all.

Have fun.

I am bouncing this topic to let folks know what I have come up with.

The G&K clear interleaving is out and doesn't seem to be coming back. I have found a replacement product that, while not quite right, is pretty close. The prodcuct is Grafix Dura-Lar. It is not acetate, but it's what we all call acetate (which is a wood product like celluloid or cellophane) - it is a polyester film. What I found is 8 1/2 x 11, which isn't quite the size of Scott International, but it's close, and so much better than glassine interleaving. I am using the Clear 3 mil (.003 inch). It feels a little thicker than the G&K.

Now, you will need to jump through some hoops to use it in a Scott International. I have a 2 hole punch spaced for Scott International (for my foam spacer strips I use to fill space at the spine), and I had to add about a quarter inch square foam spacer from my wife's scrapbooking supplies at the back of the hole punch to move the hole closer to the edge and let me maximize page coverage.

There are larger sizes that could be cut I suppose to give a complete page coverage but that's more than I feel like doing. Cost was about $25 for a hundred sheets.