Custom Album for Inma

Hello everyone!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I put white velvet inside of the box.

This is the outcome:

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

You can see how well the nerves are marked.

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

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

The album on its box.

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

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 and, as usual, questions and comments are welcome.