Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Some photo albums

I got some gorgeous Japanese silk remnants from one of my favorite Etsy shops, FromJapanWithLove. I backed the silk with Japanese Mulberry paper so I could use it as book cloth and decided to make some photo albums. The remnants weren't very big so these albums aren't very big, one standard 3.5 x 5in photograph will fit on each page. The red one is my favorite, the red and cream silk is amazing.



The brown album is actually done with a Pashmina-Silk fabric that I got from an Etsy seller, SouthamptonCreations. (These two Etsy sellers are actully mother and daughter, which I only came to know afterwards; a fun coincidence.)

I haven't made a photo album for a long time; these small albums that I finished tonight are the first of this kind that I've made in, um...maybe 4 years. When I took my very first bookbinding course, we made a photo album and I was so struck by my ability to make something so widely practical, that I made many many many. I made several for myself (which I just gathered together for the photograph below), and I made several to give as gifts to everyone I knew, and I kept it going until people were tired of seeing them. And now that I've looked at all these albums that I made for myself...I want to make new ones for myself...I could do them so much better now! Great, another project on my "to do" list.

8 comments:

Carol said...

The albums are gorgeous. I've only backed onto archival tissue but mulberry paper would be excellent. Even your albums you made when you first started book binding are really nice.

Kiley said...

They are lovely, Japanese anything is pretty much my favorite to work with! I have several pieces of fabric that my in-laws who live in Japan sent to me once that I love to use. My favorite of all the fabrics is now gracing my banners and business cards.
I have to agree with you that I love the red and cream pattern!

Anonymous said...

I've been enjoying your blog, nice work! My obsession with paper has been lifelong, but have only started bookbinding over the past two years. I appreciate all the lovely pictures and tutorials, thank you!

TJBookarts said...

You've been busy too. You've got a very nice selection of albums. Very pretty.

Maiko said...

i stopped by the paper source store in kansas city when i was there yesterday, and i was hoping to get a photo album block to turn into a book, but i couldn't afford it hehe. guess i'll just have to figure out how to make one on my own ;)

Anonymous said...

These albums are so pretty. You made a wonderful collection of albums. Very creative. I wonder if we can use Japanese silk on greeting cards. Thanks for sharing the lovely images.

100percentjulie said...

you are such an avid bookbinder that it's inspiring. i'm a bookbinder myself but definitely don't know as much as you do... i check out your blog in order to learn, thank you for having one. maybe you can help me with one technical question? (if you wouldn't mind) i'm having trouble making holes when i do the japanese binding on the side. how do you make them? how do you pierce book board? is there a proper tool for this? i live in brasil and bookbinding is not all that common here, so no one here, so far, knows a straight answer... thank you in advance

MyHandboundBooks said...

hi julie. i often use a simple awl to pierce the holes in bookboard for a Japanese binding. I don't like the holes to be very big. But this creates a little bump on the back side of the board. The little bump can be sanded or trimmed if necessary. But to avoid that little bump completely, use a Japanese drill punch for making holes, it is very slick. This tool is available at Talas