A Passion For Handmade Books: Scrapbooks

Scrapbooks

These Ain't Your Grandma's Photo Corners

To attach your documents and photos to the pages of a paper-page album or scrapbook, you'll need to select an appropriate adhesive. A double sided tape dispenser is a great choice, as are glue dots for memory books. Photo corners are the preferred method.

Old-fashioned photo corners had a water-activated adhesive, meaning you had to lick them to make them sticky. Besides being tedious (not to mention tasting icky!), this adhesive was prone to early deterioration which means they can fall off. You may have seen an old scrapbook with this kind of corners on the pages, and they are coming apart.

The reason photo corners are best is because the adhesive never touches the photo, it is stuck only to the page of your album. If you decide to remove or rearrange a photo later, there is no adhesive to remove, just pop it out of the corners.

You should avoid most household glue like white craft and school glues because the high water content will cause your pages to warp. You should also avoid using regular cellophane tape and rubber cement, because they are not pH balanced, and will deteriorate over time, losing their stick and leaving ugly brown marks on your pages and irreplaceable photos & documents.

If you choose to purchase an adhesive locally, look for the following markings on the package:

Acid-free
Photo-safe
Archival
Neutral pH
or similar indications that the adhesive has long-term archival properties

So, here's how to use our self-adhesive photo corners. They are pretty much self-explanatory, but just in case you need a little help, here's a step by step.

Self adhesive photo corners come on a peel-off sheet.

Just slip each corner of your photo into the triangular pocket

Pull the photo corner away from the sheet while it is attached to your photo

The back of the photo corner is coated with an archival "sticker" adhesive

Place one photo corner on each corner of your photo

Position your photo where you want it on the page

Gently press down on the photo corners to fix the photo in place

Clear Photo Corners work the same way, but they are dispensed on a roll instead of a sheet.

Clear photo corners are almost invisible, and give a more modern look.

Glue Dots for Memory Books are great for larger photos and documents.

They are little circles of double-sided adhesive, dispensed on a roll.

Press one dot of the BACK of each corner of the photo by pressing it against the dot on the roll.

Turn the photo over and position it on the page. Press the corners lightly to fix it in place

Glue dots adhesive is permanent and doesn't show on the face of your photo at all.

You can purchase self adhesive photo corners from Jenni Bick Bookbinding. Click here for ordering information.

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Adding Pages to Post-Bound Albums

Kolo Post Bound Albums offer the advantage of being refillable. The album comes with 10 sheets, held in place between the cover boards by two screwposts that can be opened and lengthened to expand the album up to 50 sheets (100 sides). In addition to being able to add pages, this gives you the creative advantage of being able to remove pages while you are working on the layout, so you can work unencumbered on a flat surface, and then assemble the pages all together once they are finished. You can also rearrange pages to suit your needs.

To remove pages, simply open the cover, and unscrew both posts. If the screw is very tight, there's a slot for a screwdriver, but usually, a finger twist is all that's needed.

Once the screws are undone, the covers will separate and the pages can be added or removed.

Simply thread the holes punched in the pages onto the two posts. Add extenders that come with every package of refills, if you need them to accomodate a larger stack of pages.

When everything is in order, put the cover back on and screw the tops back onto the posts. A flap folds back over the heads of the posts to conceal them and to protect the album from rubbing.

From this side view, you can see that the posts are invisible once you have put the pages and the cover back together.

via jennibick.com

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Mounting Photos in a Smaller Bound Album

If you dislike plastic, or if you are looking for a more traditional style album, you should consider a scrapbook-style album. Most of our bound albums have 30-50 sheets, and you can use both sides, which means you have room in them for 60-100 photos if you use both sides. If you have fewer photos than this, you can use just one side of each page and the album will still look very nice.

A bound album has the pages already stitched into the cover, and they are fixed position. This means you will want to plan ahead a bit more, as the pages cannot be rearranged or added to.

A 6x9 album size gives a nice way to display one photo per page, up to 5x7 horizontal. In the first photo above, there is one 5x7 photo held in place by photo corners. In the middle example, a single 4x6 photo is held in place with photo corners. Note that the margins arouind the photo are wider, giving room to write in or attach a caption if you wish. Almost all of our bound albums include thin translucent sheets of “glassine” tissue between the sheets. The glassine serves to protect your photos, and is a great feature if you do choose to use the front and back of each page—when the book is closed, your photos will not press against each other.

In this example, the photo corners have been put in place without the photos, as it was given as a gift to people who were going to put in their own photos. It illustrates how all of the images centered on the page will be lined up to each other, and the final assembled book will be very neat and professional.

You can add captions or titles to the pages if you like, either with handwriting or computer printouts. Because the paper page doesn't have any pre-set format, you can add creative artwork or titles and captions to the pages. The blank page approach allows you to be very flexible and creative.

An important feature of these albums is the spacers bound in between each page. The spacers create a small gap between each page, leaving room for the extra thickness of your photos and documents. When the book is filled, the covers will not bulge open.

Here are a few albums that come in the 6" x 9" size illustrated here:

via www.jennibick.com

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April showers bring May flowers

our journals and photo albums are in full bloom here on Martha's Vineyard!

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Storybook Albums » Melissa Perella Photography

Melissa Perella, a professional wedding photographer, has a really special approach to album design. Not only do her photos make every wedding look like a storybook, but her custom designed albums a masterpieces of storytelling and design. She doesn't take the common approach of ordering a standard, bland professional album, but instead chooses one of a kind handmade albums that take into account the personalities of every couple, their favorite colors, and their personal style. The resulting albums are simply breathtaking. We are always so excited to see what she will do with one of our albums.

“My love of photography is partnered by my enthusiasm for custom album design. I strive to create pieces which make clients rejoice in having a physical presentation piece, not just images tucked away on a disc! In the modern design world, I am a total renegade. I utilize no computer programs, templates, or typical technology in my design process. I am a purist and I consider my storybooks to be pieces of art, created by the technology of eyes, heart, and hands. I patronize only the best bookbinders and crafters: their work surpasses the highest standards and expectations of the industry. My books are not only visually appealing, but archival, functional, and of solid quality. Melissa Perella Storybooks contain real photographic prints, not images printed directly onto pages. Because of the nature of my books, I am able to include paper ephemera such as invitations, programs, printed poetry and quotations, to achieve the most unique heirloom pieces possible. Clients seeking a true conversation piece meant to be handed down to future generations need to look no further than my assortment of custom crafted books!”