this is our year

Jessica and I got together and made these photo albums as new year's gifts. We even had a little plate made and stamped them on the kensol. The paper has an awesome reflective quality so it's gold in one light and blue in another. We used a blue marbled paper as endsheets.Albums are actually very easy to make. Basically the idea is to leave a cushion or padded area between pages so that the album will lay flat even after photos are added. If you don't do this, and add photos to a book, the foredge (side opposite the spine, or the side you thumb through) will become wider than the spine and create what some people call a "hungry book." Not a good look. 

To prevent that, measure out a small margin on the spine side of the book, about 3/4 an inch depending on the size of the pages. Score it with a ruler and sharp edged  bonefolder and then fold the tab in. When you sew the signatures (folded pages) together face all of the tabs in the same direction. It helps to press the signatures overnight under weights or in a nip press if possible, so they lay flat together. When you case in the book to its cover interleave (insert) pieces of the same weight of paper into the spaces left by the tabs before putting it under weight or in a press. This will prevent dimpling or creasing from the pressure on the tabbed areas. Another easy way to do this if you can spare the paper is to simply measure the tab on a full folded signature and then cut it, leaving you with a folded signature that has a 3/4 inch tab as well as a piece of paper to interleave that fits exactly. If you're feeling extremely bold you can even make the textblock (pages or signatures of the book sewn together) and score/cut off the area to the right of the spine. This scares me though so I'd rather do it the way I mentioned, and leave my mistakes to the side before binding.