How to care of cels?

Hi everyone,
After around 22 years of passive interest, around 4 months of active drooling and finally a few months of actually collecting I'm now holding my very first cels and dougas. Woohoo!! :D

So now I'm of course asking the classical question most beginners (probably) ask: how can I take best care of my new babies?

I have tried to research on the net, but with exceptions on tips on framing and warnings to keep them away from heat and humidity I haven't really found anything about how to store them, so I'd appreciate to hear some opinions from some real collectors. :)

Right now I have my cels and their dougas in little plastic bags that came with the cel in two plastic boxes that were used upon shipping.
But isn't there a risk that the douga will get stucked to the cels if they are stored this way? And if so, what should I do? Will removing the sketch make the cel stick to the bag instead?

I apologies for the highly newbie-ish question (gah, I feel so ignorant!), but if someone could please point me to the right direction or maybe even share some experiences about this matter I'd sincerely appreciate it.

Thanks and have a great day! ^^

Welcome to Rubberslug!
Congratulations on your entrance into what is sure to become an overly addictive hobby.

Keep the cels separate from their dougas. The paint is much more likely to adhere to the paper than it is the plastic bag, IMHO.
I personally frame all of my cels, but it has shown me something about cel storage in general... Always keep your cels straight up and down, whether framed or in storage.

I've had cels with multiple layers that were lightly stuck when I received them. After carefully separating the layers, I framed the cels. No more sticking now that the cels are vertical instead of horizontal :) Gravity plays a big part in making things stick.

Hi and welcome to this addictive hobby! You should be able to find the information you are looking for here: http://www.rubberslug.com/resource/links.aspx

Everything from care to even places that sell celbooks and bags.I hope this helps!

Hi Schwpz and welcome to the crazy world of Cel collecting ;)
As 4_degree and Amsterdam have said, keep the douga (accompanying pencil drawing) away from the cel or at least back it to the painted side of the cel.
When you amass more then a few cels, try to store them vertically, in an acid-free portfolio as the pressure of art piled on top of one another can make the paint stick to things and CAN flake the paint (but this is extreme).
As you pointed out already, keeping them out sunlight and humidity all helps maintain the trace line strength and intensity of the paint.

If your keeping your cels in 'cel bags' that's great, it may be a good idea to seal them so that dust doesn't get in- however I tend to snip a tiny hole in the corner of the bag to allow a little air flow otherwise the bag can stick to the cel over time.

Look out for Acid Free folders in a specialist Art/Photographic shop, or there are many online retailers to choose from (especially easy if you live in the US). As an example I use ITOYA brand folders as the 11" x 14" size is perfect for regular and theatrical sized cels, even regular cels with backgrounds. Such folders tend to have 24 sleeves so you can hold 48 pieces back to back with the acid-free paper (supplied in the folder sleeves) separating them.
For more info check out the link Amsterdam supplied and I'm sure it's been mentioned on this forum elsewhere.

Enjoy your collection!
Krafty