Bookmaking

Your first attempt will be messy, sticky and probably a bit of a disappointment - like everyones' first time - except this won't be over as quickly. So have a practice. Make a small book to familiarise yourself with the cutting, scoring, folding and glueing issues that you'll encounter.

Cut your paper to size, and factor-in an extra centimeter to score and fold over (we'll call this bit the 'tang')

Japanese folding book:

The idea is that the tangs allow the pages to be joined, and provide a 'spacer' to help the book sit flat when the photographs are added. The book can be anchored together at one side with ribbon or tape to form a spine, allowing the book to open conventionally. The tapes or ribbons can be released to allow the book to extend as a long 'concertina', showing all the images at once.

PVA 'School' glue is ideal for sticking the book together, but use sparingly.


Conventional book:

This method fixes the spine of the book on one side, but (again) the 'tangs' provide spacers to let the book lie flat when the photographs are added.

For those who didn't grow up with Blue Peter or don't have an adult to help you, Photobox.co.uk will make a book for you from your uploaded images - similar to how flickr works


As with anything cheap, easy and quick, everyone and his dog is likely to start doing it, so remember that hand-made means unique.

Silverprint portfolio boxes and actetate sleeves are easily found through the link on the right.