I agree about the flat, white surface for cleaning / sorting.
They are also good for the first stage of drying, where you need air circulation and don't want to pile damp green plant parts too deep. If I wait until fall to collect seed heads, they are always rained-on-wet.
Once I get the pods or seed heads almost air-dry and/or have separated most of the seeds from most of the green plant parts, I also use paper envelopes to finish air-drying seeds and to hold different batches separate.
Paper envelopes take up much less space than paper plates once you fold the top over and paper-clip them closed. You can stand them on end and pack many envelopes into a small space.
(I need to take a photo of the cardboard "trays" or "dividers" I made by cutting Ritz Cracker boxes in half. You can stand up 3-4 envelopes in each tray with some air circulation, or 6-8 envelopes with very little air circulation.)
http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...
http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...
