Washi tape and sticker storage ideas, by supply
Rolls, samples, kiss-cut tape, sticker sheets and loose flakes each need a different home. Here's what journalers actually use for each one, and the downsides they ran into. Many of the sources are Korean and Japanese journaling blogs.
Storage by supply
| Supply | How to store it | Good to know | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
 Washi rolls | Keep whole rolls in divided storage boxes. One collector used several 12-compartment boxes, sorted by brand with a color label for each. | From the top, similar rolls look alike. One journaler kept rebuying colors they already owned because of store lighting and subtle shade differences. | leajiplay, helenabonbon (Korean), ASANEL (Japanese) |
 A photo log of your rolls | On the day you buy tape, photograph the labels on top of the rolls together so the date is recorded. Some also stick a QR label for the official product page inside the core. | In a shop, you can open the photos and check whether you already have that color. | ASANEL (Japanese) |
 Washi samples | Wind short lengths onto cards about the size of a playing card: roughly 4–5 strips of 15 mm tape or 3 of 20 mm per card. Ready-made plastic washi cards are about 5 × 15 cm. | Compact and easy to carry. On the other hand, the tape loses some stick, can keep fold marks, and glitter or intricate die-cut tape tears easily. | ddanggul95, susu_0v0, predorable_ (Korean), Lauren Phelps |
 Swatch book | Stick a strip of every tape into a notebook, or put a strip on the front of a card and the product label on the back, then file the cards. | You see every pattern at once, which helps you skip duplicates, mark what's used up and pick combinations. Many people write the maker and product name next to each strip. | Lumiyear, ろんろん, gokigen, 逸品の小部屋 (Japanese) |
| Kiss-cut tape — binder | Slide cut lengths into a binder with lots of small pockets, one length per pocket. | Pockets can be shorter than one pattern repeat, so you may end up cutting a repeat in half. Kiss-cut tape is usually 25–30 mm wide with a repeat of about 250 mm. | 88wjdwl, sakku_499 (Korean), Crafts Washi |
| Kiss-cut tape — sleeves | Lay each length flat in a clear OPP sleeve, clip the sleeves onto a binder ring, and label the back with the artist and tape name. | One journaler switched to this because rolled-up kiss-cut hid its pattern and never got used. Flipping through shows every design. | oooonnh (Korean) |
 Sticker sheets | File them in 6-ring binder refill pockets (2-pocket, portrait or landscape). Big sheets go in zip binders. | Slitting the side of each pocket a little makes sheets easier to slide out. Binders tend to multiply — one collector passed 40. | sakku_499, theqoo (Korean) |
 Peeled-off stickers | Move them onto the pages of a release-paper book. | One comparison found a thin-paper release book tore, while a loose-ring one held up. | keb1999, kljsyh (Korean) |
 Sticker flakes and freebies | Sort them by design into business-card binders, 3-ring albums or tins. | Small pieces stay together. Some keep a separate file for a favorite artist. | sakku_499, kljsyh (Korean) |
 Postcards and artist cards | Keep cards bought or picked up at stationery fairs in their own binder, apart from stickers. | 9acd32_ (Korean) |
Why storage still falls apart
These are the problems that come up again and again in journaling blogs and forums, and what people changed because of them.
- You can't find things. One journaler wrote that not knowing where anything was drove them up the wall (kljsyh). Another said nothing is more tiring than hunting for a sticker spread across several places (sakku_499).
- You don't know how much you have, so you keep buying. One collector kept a single sheet out and boxed the rest, lost track of how much there was, and kept buying more (theqoo). For washi, a swatch or a photo log helps you check before you buy (see the table).
- Out of sight, out of use. Rolled-up kiss-cut tape hides its pattern, so it doesn't get used — which is why one journaler moved it into flat sleeves (oooonnh).
- You leave the one you wanted at home. Bringing everything is heavy, but packing a little means the tape you really wanted stays behind (predorable_). That's why people carry samples on cards.
- Sorting is a job in itself. One fair-goer called the aftermath of every stationery fair "sorting hell" and spent a month putting things away (9acd32_).
In Dakku Drawer, every supply has a Stored in field, so you can note where it lives (like kiss-cut binder #2).
The table and list describe methods from the linked blog and forum posts. Products and pack sizes may change.