handmade

Since I first introduced my handcrafted scrapbooking albums a few months ago, it occurred to me that there may be a small market for bespoke handcrafted photographic albums. At the time, there was no way I was going to even attempt to design a framework or get my head around the process (and the maths!) required to craft something like this – after all, it had taken me weeks of trail and error (and a box of half finished albums) before I got the scrapbooks just right. No, I would shelve the idea and concentrate on new designs for my scrapbook albums, like this gorgeous ‘Weekend in Paris’ album.

Then a couple of weeks ago, the inevitable happened: an enquiry from a lovely lady wanting VERY large bespoke photographic albums to fill with memories of her Mum. How could I refuse?!

I sat down and worked on the dimensions and considered the materials I would need – a very heavy frame for a start as these were to house traditional black photographic leaves AND glassine sheets.  After a week or so, the design was done, the frame board acquired  and the handmade indian paper ordered that would be the cover…oh and some rather wide black grosgrain ribbon.

I started to craft the album…..

The front and back panels were similar to the scrapbook albums frames but that is where the similarity ends. An additional super-strong spine needed to be crafted to house and carry the weight of the heavy photo leaves and the glassine paper (this album housed 30 leaves and 30 glassine papers).

Securing it all would be tricky. I already had a supplier for my album posts but these simply weren’t large enough OR tough enough: new posts would need to be ordered and, it turned out, manufactured specially for the job.

My client was very specific about the cover – her Mum had been a huge Art Deco fan so the album had to reflect this. A gorgeous olive green paper with burgundy pattern and glittery green diamonds was selected. I had my reservations about the black ribbon but it all worked out so well, especially with it being lined with black paper.

Please with the album, I packed it off to my client and waited to hear what she thought. I was delighted when I received this …

 “Hello Andrea – just to let you know the album arrived
this morning and it is beautiful.
Thank you very much!”

On the back of this little success, I am now offering these lovely albums, with a choice of papers, in my shop. If you are looking for something special and unique, hop on over there and take a look around!