Custom Album To Glue Things Inside

[GatzBcn]

Hello everyone!

 

I wanted to show you a journal I made for a friend. My friend Inma contacted me because she wanted a custom album. Her idea was an album she would fill up with memories, like the one that appears in the film Up. She wanted to give it to her boyfriend for their 6-month anniversary. Since I know many of you are keen to glue things in your journal, and that sometimes can be a problem, I decided to share my experience with you.

 

With that idea in mind, she came to my workshop one afternoon. She chose a type of binding which I called Ethiopian (even thought, I modified the style, it's not genuine, in order to achieve some results I like better) and a combination of brown and blue leather. For the inside of the cover, she wanted a Bomoart paper which features some vintage maps.

 

So, I put my hands to work. I sew the signatures with cord. Every other signature, I put a cardboard folded in order to compensate the thickness of the stuff she would put in the journal.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B4fTNR6TBVQ/VPRKnzSe64I/AAAAAAAACFI/IHrS6HkIxsE/s1600/CAM01926.jpg

 

Once the signatures were sewn, I trimmed the pages and glued the cardboard on the cords. Then, I glued the brown leather and made sure the cords were marked, moistening the leather and using my folders.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jjJp2eXgH3s/VPRKzZQuiII/AAAAAAAACFQ/oN9UFrTu_z4/s1600/CAM01962.jpg

I prepared the letters and tested them on some scrap of leather, so that I could make sure everything was ok and Inma could see the letters before they were on the album.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T3MMh6R0C_0/VPRK1OnseYI/AAAAAAAACFY/P7BERmGv-OY/s1600/CAM01964.jpg

 

I also put brown leather on the corners of the album, and then, after pairing the blue leather on the corners and the joint, I glued it into the covers.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R7fSHTd7S7Y/VPRK2mdgumI/AAAAAAAACFg/OLZAc6OOHOQ/s1600/CAM01966.jpg

Then, I proceeded to make the clamshell box. I used a beige cloth for the box part, a lighter cloth for the covers.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lQMu6OHO1KA/VPRK7uYsOHI/AAAAAAAACFo/FJLjR7p6DPU/s1600/CAM01978.jpg

I put white velvet inside of the box.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r1kNRXSQ0ao/VPRLBG3OdzI/AAAAAAAACFw/xFTwBR6NAgo/s1600/CAM01980.jpg

This is the outcome:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gkfT6R6RP-k/VPRNgrYdQFI/AAAAAAAACGM/wGPqDcV_lTM/s1600/IMG_8801_R.jpg

I gilded the album with silver foil, as she wanted. The words "Nuestro libro de aventuras" mean "Our Adventure Book", like in the movie.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wUT17sKiZCg/VPRNigKXr3I/AAAAAAAACGU/Q37uXQHdhgM/s1600/IMG_8805_R.jpg

You can see how well the nerves are marked.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pUCvtOdPc6s/VPRNslQn-JI/AAAAAAAACG0/Eo_arantEfg/s1600/IMG_8811_R.jpg

Here you can have a good look of how the card works, compensating the thickness of the things she will glue on the pages.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hiJMEs4_rRE/VPRNuSnxJ1I/AAAAAAAACG8/tRKjR4hobKU/s1600/IMG_8813_R.jpg

The inside of the covers, with the Bomoart map paper.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a52CLtiXbjU/VPRNkxNSMzI/AAAAAAAACGc/BktxfrU1IS4/s1600/IMG_8806_R.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MIz-xYEbfN4/VPRNr7M86II/AAAAAAAACGs/FsOzZDNTU-A/s1600/IMG_8808_R.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L-RNZuvrQ_E/VPRNn_xeRbI/AAAAAAAACGk/ZWQvduXYBTU/s1600/IMG_8807_R.jpg

The album on its box.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ovEP6Ujj2iw/VPRNcez4FhI/AAAAAAAACF8/t3-Bs0y0N58/s1600/IMG_8798_R.jpg

She decided to add a tree on the cover of the box, without the gilding.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRiMmWhPm84/VPRNezWFKNI/AAAAAAAACGE/NIIs17c0kcQ/s1600/IMG_8796_R.jpg

We were both quite happy with the outcome of the project. I am sure they will treasure this album for all of their lives together, and I am happy thinking this is something they might show to their kids.

 

I hope you enjoyed this post.

 

Regards,

 

Anna J. Bach

Edited March 2, 2015 by GatzBcn

[GatzBcn]

No love for me?

[inkstainedruth]

Sorry, just seeing this thread now.

I took a bookbinding workshop years ago, so I understand what all is involved. I really liked your solution to having room for making it a scrapbook.

I'm assuming that the leather on the cover is vegetable tanned because of the stamping.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[sombrueil]

I admire your journals immensely.

[GatzBcn]

Sorry, just seeing this thread now.

I took a bookbinding workshop years ago, so I understand what all is involved. I really liked your solution to having room for making it a scrapbook.

I'm assuming that the leather on the cover is vegetable tanned because of the stamping.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Thanks for your comments. Actually, this leather is vegetable tanned, but it could have not been. If you wanted a blind stamp like the one on the test (the purple leather), you would have to use vegetable tanned. However, since what you want is the golden part it is not that necessary the low relief of the image. I have gilded on many different leathers, vegetable and non-vegetable, and the results are the same. But, again, it would totally matter if you wanted to do blind tooling.

Great observation!

[GatzBcn]

I admire your journals immensely.

 

Oh, wow, thank you very much for this nice words ^_^.