The C23 Drawer: Organising Vintage Hair Accessories in a Working Studio
Every studio has one: a drawer labelled C23, or something equally neutral, where vintage hair accessories go to disappear. You know the scene — a tangle of velvet ribbon, a tortoiseshell clip missing its pin, three silk bows that looked wonderful at a British vintage fair but now refuse to sit flat. For an artist who works with vintage pieces, that drawer is not a storage failure. It is an archive in waiting. The trick is to organise it so the archive actually works for you.
What C23 Means in a Working Studio
In museum collections, C23 would be the code for a specific cabinet and drawer. In a private studio, it is the label you give to the one place where “I will organise this later” goes to die. The problem is not the drawer itself; it is the lack of a system. A working archive for an artist does not need to look like a conservation lab. It needs to be visible, safe, and quick to search.
A working archive is not a museum vault. It is a set of decisions made in advance: which pieces are for daily use, which are for special projects, and which are simply waiting to be repaired. Once you make those decisions, the drawer becomes a tool rather than a black hole. The label itself matters less than the habit of returning pieces to the same place. If you work between home and a shared workshop, C23 should be the same drawer in both places — or at least the same mental category.
Sort by Material Before You Sort by Era
The most important rule is to separate materials before you separate decades. Celluloid can warp in warm drawers; bakelite wants to be kept away from metal; silk needs to breathe. This is not about being precious — it is about keeping the pieces usable. Before you put anything in a drawer, check for loose screws, bent pins, or crumbling elastic. A piece that is already damaged will damage its neighbours.
- Celluloid (1920s–1940s): store flat in a cool, dry drawer, away from radiators and direct sunlight. Use a piece of acid-free tissue between combs so they do not touch.
- Bakelite and early plastics (1930s–1950s): keep them away from metal clasps and other plastics. A soft cotton cloth in the compartment absorbs moisture and prevents scratches.
- Silk, velvet and satin bows: store flat or loosely rolled in muslin bags. Never leave them in plastic bags, and do not stack heavy clips on top.
- Metal and enamel clips: use anti-tarnish strips or a small silica gel packet placed nearby, not directly against the piece.
Once the materials are separated, you can sort by era or by function. Many artists find it more useful to sort by function: combs in one tray, barrettes in another, bows in a flat box. That way, a costume fitting does not turn into a treasure hunt. For silk and velvet pieces, a loose muslin bag is better than a plastic pouch; collectors who focus on 1990s scrunchies already know this from the Maison Archives Scrunchie 4 guide, which covers condition issues that appear when silk is stored too tightly.
If you buy a piece at a vintage fair, do not put it straight into the drawer. Let it air for a few hours on a clean cloth, check for tiny insects or loose dust, and only then introduce it to the collection. This small habit prevents a single find from becoming a problem for everything around it.
The C23 Method for Desperate Artists
The desperate artist is not careless; they are just working against time. The C23 method is a five-step routine that takes one afternoon and saves many mornings.
- Empty the drawer completely and lay everything on a clean, flat table.
- Sort into three piles: working pieces, display pieces, and pieces that need repair.
- Clean each piece gently according to its material — a soft brush for dust, a dry cloth for metal, no water on celluloid.
- Line the drawer with acid-free tissue or a natural cotton cloth.
- Return pieces in small compartment boxes or padded trays. Stand combs upright in a low cup so the teeth do not bend.
Use a pencil and paper label for each pile; it sounds obvious, but a pile of black combs all look the same after ten minutes. If a piece is too fragile to be handled, put it in a separate “display only” box and mark it clearly. Do not let a beautiful but brittle comb be used as a prop until it has been stabilised. This is not about locking things away; it is about knowing which pieces are safe to use.
Small Studio Storage That Respects the Pieces
If space is tight, think in layers rather than piles. A shallow wooden cutlery tray is ideal for clips and barrettes; the compartments keep metal pieces from rubbing and make the whole drawer easier to scan. A pegboard with padded hooks can hold combs and coronets, but only if the hooks are covered with soft fabric or rubber. For silk bows, a hanging fabric organiser with flat pockets is better than a drawer if you are short on shelves.
One thing to avoid is wrapping everything in a single layer of tissue and calling it done. Vintage hair accessories need to be separated, not just covered. A pile of metal clips will scratch a celluloid comb even inside a drawer. For long combs and hair forks, a ceramic or glass vase is a surprisingly good holder, as long as it is heavy enough not to tip. Wrap the teeth in acid-free tissue if the vase is glazed and slippery.
If you use a vintage suitcase as storage, line it with acid-free paper and put heavy items at the bottom. Suitcases are charming but not always stable; do not stack them under a pile of fabric. A wobbly stack is the fastest way to turn a carefully sorted collection back into a jumble.
Why an HTML Inventory Saves Your Sanity
Once the drawer is organised, write down what you have. A simple HTML file on your computer is the most underrated tool in a vintage collection. It does not require an app, a cloud account, or a printer. Open a text editor, create a table with columns for piece, era, material, condition, location and notes, and save the file as c23-inventory.html. Open it in any browser and you have a searchable catalogue.
<table> <tr><th>Piece</th><th>Era</th><th>Material</th><th>Location</th></tr> <tr><td>Celluloid comb</td><td>1930s</td><td>Celluloid</td><td>C23, left tray</td></tr> <tr><td>Velvet bow</td><td>1950s</td><td>Silk velvet</td><td>C23, flat box</td></tr> </table>
The file can be as simple as you like. You do not need CSS or JavaScript. A plain table with a few rows is enough, and it is easier to update than a notebook because you can search for a word like “tortoiseshell” in seconds. Update the file every time you move a piece or add a new find. You do not need to photograph everything at once; a note like “IMG_2041.jpg” in the notes column is enough to find the image later. This is not a public webpage — it is a private archive file, and it will work long after the shiny inventory apps have changed their subscription plans.
Working Kits for Shoots and Commissions
Artists often need to grab a selection for a photoshoot, a theatre fitting, or a styling commission. Prepare small working kits in padded envelopes or acid-free paper bags, labelled with the project name and date. Keep them on a separate shelf so you do not disturb the main archive. When the project is over, check every piece for bent pins, loose stones, or broken teeth before returning it to C23.
A small cardboard box with a lid, lined with tissue, is enough for a shoot kit. Write the date on the lid with a pencil so you know when it was last checked. If you use a piece from the main archive, leave a note in your HTML inventory — a simple “out for styling” in the location column prevents panic the next morning. If a project is cancelled, unpack the kit and return each piece to the main archive. A kit that stays packed for months can develop creases in silk and rust on metal.
Next time you open that C23 drawer, you should be able to find a 1930s comb, a velvet bow, and a metal barrette without turning the whole studio upside down. Label the drawer with the date of the last sort, and give each piece a name in your HTML inventory. That is the small, concrete step that turns a desperate artist into a calm one.