Square Wedding Albums

A Perfectly Sized Album in Many Colors

Lately our clients seem to be ordering the 10 x 10 album more than any of our other books. The size is great -- big enough to hold multiple 4x6's per page, yet small enough to fit comfortably on your lap. Below are some of the recent variations we've made:

Set of three albums, each in a different color: (rye, quinoa, birch)

Variation bound with ribbon:

 

Variation bound in black leather:

Other color variations:

 

Shop Photo Albums and Guest  • BooksWedding Album with Photos Inside • How to Care for you Photo Albums

Fine Art Wedding Album

Elegant, Archival Wedding Album

When an out-of-state client asked us to help her create an elegant, archival album with printed pages, we knew just who to send her to for page printing. Pushdot Studio right here in Portland does the most gorgeous fine-art page printing we've seen, and this book was no exception. The client provided the page layout to Pushdot, they did their printing magic, and we transformed the pages into a custom ribbon-bound album with a personalized letterpress plaque and slipcase. It's one of our favorite pieces we've made this year, thanks to a great client and great collaboration.

 

See also: A Wedding Album with Photo Prints • Our Most Popular Wedding Album •  A Variety of Other Albums and Boxes

Elegant Wedding Album

Wedding Album for Photo Prints

We sent this book off to A Girl in Love Photography yesterday. We love the classic look and feel of photo prints mounted onto crisp, clean pages. The soft ribbon binding coordinates wonderfully with the gorgeous photos inside. Thanks, Melissa and Kerri, we hope this happy couple loves their album.

Handmade Book Structures

Binding Styles for Handmade Books

When clients ask us to create a book or portfolio, their book's content usually dictates its binding style. Below are some of the binding styles that we build most often, along with a short explanation of how they function.

Western Case Binding

When you think of a traditional hardcover book, this is the style you're likely thinking of. The spine is encased, the book opens to lie virtually flat, the presentation is traditional. However, photos and ephemera cannot be added to the book, or else it will fan, or "yawn" open.

Long Stitch Binding

We choose to make our product line using this binding style because the books lie flat, but can accommodate added dimensional ephemera and photos. The exposed spine stitching adds a decorative element.

Stab Binding

A traditional Japanese binding style, Stab Binding is useful for binding flat (versus folded) pages into a book. Stab binding can accommodate photos, but only if spacers are added to the spine. This style of book doesn't lie flat when opened, but a longer horizontal dimension can minimize this issue.

Post Binding

Much like stab binding in structure, the difference with Post Binding is that posts can be removed so content can be added to the book. This style is great for portfolios with rotating content.

Accordion Binding

Just like it sounds, pages are folded into an accordion, a cover is added to both ends, and the book can be held closed with a ribbon. A fun binding style, accordions are great for guest books as they can be laid open across a table and multiple people can sign at once. Photos can be added to accordion books, as they have no spine.

Coptic Binding

One of the oldest binding styles, coptic is different in that the signatures (folded page groups) are exposed on the spine of the book. These books open flat, photos cannot be added (or they will yawn), but the knotted sewing threads have a wonderful look to them.

Whew! That's it for now. Coming soon, Handmade Box Structures! (For now, you can check out our post on Clamshell Boxes.)

Leather Album

Handmade Leather Photo Album

We often make things in bookcloth, but this week had an opportunity to work with lovely, lovely leather. This book for Rebekah Johnson Photography has the same structure as our cloth-covered ones, but there is something wonderfully sumptuous and rich about a leather-bound book. We wish you could feel it for yourself!

See the same size book in cloth here.