The Book Arts Forum

I'd like to do an album in which I can simply slip in the prints. Would probably be constructed with a matt. I have some idea about the construction, but I'm not sure. Has anyone done it? Actually the prints don't necessarily need to slip in... what I want to avoid is using any adhesive on the prints. In principle I like the idea of using simple 'photo corners' to hold the prints in place, but with large prints this doesn't work very well.

I worry about the permanence of the flush mounts. Who knows what the glue will be doing in 50 years? Or what if the album is significantly damaged, but some of the prints are ok?

Ok, here's what I've been thinking.... 1.5mm binders board (the real thing would get matt board), 150gram paper, 250 gram 10x10cm photo. The cutout in the white paper frame is just a bit larger than the print.

The white paper gets double sided adhesive everywhere on one side....

And on the 2nd side one edge does not get adhesive. I used backing paper from the adhesive itself to keep from sticking it here, I hope you know what I mean.

Now the two are stuck together. You can see on the top edge there is no adhesive. The print will slip in here. The lighter white is plain paper, the off-white is the backing from the adhesive which is still there.

Now the matt is attached to the spread, and the print is half way in. Originally I thought the prints should slip in from the top, but then I thought this might be better.

I think it's pretty good. I don't think there's any chance the prints will slip out, in fact it's pretty tough to get them out if you want them out. I would add a 0.5mm core between spreads, and I would make the block 5mm to big on three sides and trim it after it's assembled.

But I wonder if there might be something better? A different style of construction? The basic book block is the same as a flush mount, and I don't know if something else would be better.

For digital photography, flush mount albums make alot of sense but there is still nothing like looking at a well printed photograph by itself.

You could try a stiff leaf structure

With this type of album you make the core pages first then overlay the mats.

Jackie

I did an album where by the 'pages' could be pulled out and displayed like an actual picture frames based on the concertina. The prints were only held in place by the ribbons I placed in the corners, giving the client option to move the prints around or change them.

You can have a look at the album here to give you a better idea of what I did
http://roziyunos.multiply.com/photos/album/95/White_With_Red_Roses_Wedding_Albums

The only cavet was that it was heavy and thick as I used boards throughout as I wanted it to be sturdy enough to stand up on it's own, and the prints I was working with that time were an 8 by 10 inches and I added on a 2 inch border, I think, all around.

What I liked about this design is that it's pretty enough to be displayed out and still works like a book.

http://roziyunos.blogspot.com

ah, that's very nice. pretty close to what I'd like to do. are the pages bound with ribbon?