Last month, I showed you how to make a corrugated clamshell. At that time, I mentioned some alternative strategies for special situations, such as considerations of working space, collection size, etc. Pre-made boxes may be the way to go here. They’re generally non-adhesive, and excellent if you have a large collection that needs help, but can’t be worked on right away, for pieces going to off-site storage, or if you’re in a situation where box building space is at a premium, such as many of our work from home setups (I’m currently working at my kitchen table, which is definitely a squeeze sometimes!) 

There are multiple ways to obtain pre-made enclosures: 

• Many commercial binderies offer custom economy boxing. Our Lab uses HF Group (http://www.hfgroup.com/) when needed. Their work is excellent, and their enclosures can be created from sent measurements. This is wonderful for housing items in our collection that require storage, but we feel are too fragile to be shipped.  
• Most major conservation suppliers, such as Talas (https://www.talasonline.com/) and Gaylord (https://www.gaylord.com/c/Conservation-Supplies) offer archival boxes in common sizes.  

A pre-made enclosure can also be a great option for very small items, to keep them from becoming lost on the shelf.  

Under normal circumstances, a box created in the Lab for a small piece would be lined with foam to keep it from moving around in the larger cavity, but when the pandemic hit, we thought it might be a good idea to find ways to do this that didn’t require foam, which might be expensive or difficult to source or store.  

Enter the Kyle Insert. Developed by Kyle Olmon, it is an answer to the ongoing question of new ways to store smaller items that will keep them safe and prevent them from getting lost. It works well for things like artist books, which are often incredibly small. It’s also a time saver in lieu of foams. I don’t know about you, but cutting foam is not my favorite thing. An alternative is always welcome when it is appropriate, and we (and the books!) can always benefit from having multiple ways to solve problems. 

Written instructions from Kyle Olmon are available on-line at https://kyleolmon.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/kyle_insert_v2_instructions.pdf . I found that the insert made more sense to me when I had a visual representation. It’s a surprisingly simple structure but may not seem that way on paper.  In light of that, I did something a little different and put together a video of my assembly efforts, interspersed with instructions and diagrams from Kyle Olmon throughout. Hopefully the video combined with Mr. Olmon’s excellent instructions will help you get started with this form! 

Hyacinth Tucker (UCL) — Bindery and Conservation Technician