Category: How To

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Hinge Strips How To Video

A while ago, we posted a blog tutorial on how to apply our Lay-Flat Hinge strips. You can find that post here. We decided to begin experimenting with short videos, and made a little video to complement our Hinge Strip 101 blog to demonstrate  in (mostly) real time (and sometimes time-lapse) how photos and pages are applied to our hinge strips. Enjoy!

 

 

If you have any questions or comments on our hinge strips and related portfolio assembly, you may leave a comment below. For more time sensitive inquiries, you may email Kristin directly at kristin@kdbooks.com.

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Wedding Albums


If you’re like me, chances are you’ve been married for years but you still haven’t found a wedding album or printed the photos to preserve that special day.  I’m a bookbinder and it took me 4 years to finally tackle this project that everyone assumed I’d be so on top of, but alas, here it is.


Not surprisingly I chose to make my own book. The Coffee Table Style Portfolio makes a perfect wedding album.  From the outside it looks, as it’s name suggests, like a hardcover book that you’d have set out on your coffee table at home.  The book can be made to fit any number of pages. When used with the Hinged White Pages, as you can see in the photos, the pages lie completely flat.  This 110lb cover weight paper is sturdy enough for mounting photographs without leaving the book feeling cumbersome.  Photos can me mounted on one or both sides of the pages but you may want to ask your printer if it’s safe for the photos to be touching since when the book is closed they will be.  Also if you do decide to mount photos on both sides you will want to order spine spacers along with the pages.  These will help keep an even thickness to your book.

While we don’t mount photos here at the studio you can certainly do this yourself. The easiest method would be to apply double sided tape around the perimeter of each photo, however I recommend using an adhesive roll such as Gudy 870.  With this material you can cover the entire back side of the photo which will ensure that it has full contact with the page and won’t pop off

Here are the specs of my book in case you’re looking to order something similar.  It is an 11 x 14 Landscape Format Coffee Table Style Portfolio that is covered in “Flax Linen” and lined in “Tan”.  These are both standard stock colors so this book can be ordered online directly through the website.  I placed an inset on the cover into which I adhered a printed label with our names on it.  The book holds 20 Hinged White Pages and the photos are mounted onto the pages with the Goudy 870 which we do not sell but can be purchased at other online retailers.

As always swatches are free so if you’d like to start the process of creating your own wedding album please feel free to contact us and request some samples of the covering materials, just send an email  with the list of colors and your mailing address and we’ll send them right out.

 
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DIY Personalized Portfolios

Don’t have time to wait for a personalized portfolio, or just have the DIY spirit? We’ve put together a few ideas for adding your own personal style to our ready to ship RTG and custom portfolios

Tips:

1. Use a medium you are very familiar or comfortable with.

2. Remember that the fonts and designs you choose should reflect your style or appeal to your particular clientele.

3. Always, always do a test on a scrap piece of paper and then on a sample of the material that your portfolio is covered in.  We recommend ordering a test board in the same color and fabric as your portfolio, as we do not offer refunds on altered portfolios. You can purchase test panels here, they are available in all covering materials.

4. Below are just a few ideas. The possibilities are only limited to your imagination.

-Iron on Decals: Use design software to create a logo (we used Illustrator) then create a mirror image of your design and print it out on printable iron on transfer paper. Cut out your design as close to the edges as possible and align it where you want it placed on your portfolio. Following the instructions for the transfer paper, carefully iron it onto your portfolio cover.

-Stenciling: We spray painted through an abstract dot stencil to create a balanced asymmetrical pattern on our sample. Make sure to paint in a well-ventilated area.

-Paper Plaque: Card Stock Printout with a Color Coordinated Mat.  This is probably the simplest option we have here.  Just print out your logo onto a nice heavy stock paper, trim evenly around it and mount it onto a complimentary color card stock and trim to make even borders.  This can then be adhered to the portfolio with glue or a double sided adhesive.

-Canvas Patch: We used acrylic on canvas with raw edges for our patch. We created a paint splatter pattern to liven up our portfolio with a pop of color, but if you are good at rubber stamping or hand lettering, go for it! The beauty of the fabric plate is that you can customize your pattern or logo before gluing it on!

-Wooden Letters: For our book, we masked off a section of the foredge to roll on a lime green acrylic paint stripe before gluing on the letters, to create a bright, complimentary color scheme.

-Vinyl Lettering/Sticker Letters: Vinyl letters and sticker letters are good in a pinch, if you are wanting to personalize your RTG portfolio with your name, company name or project. The stickers and vinyl letters do tend to peel up after a bit, and while they don’t offer a permanent solution, are wonderful in that they can be repositioned, and you can change it as you wish. (We still recommend testing, as different brands may use different adhesives).

 

As a reminder we do not offer refunds on altered portfolios so please take extra care when personalizing your own portfolio.  


Have Fun!  and as always feel free to contact us if you have any questions

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Hinge Strips 101

Hinge strips are the perfect tool to add flexibility to the pages of your portfolio. Photo paper and other heavier pages do not bend or turn easily and have a tendency to flip back.  These hinges are made with a very thin, flexible fabric that allows the page to turn easily and lie flat.  On the left of each hinge is a strip of 100 lb paper, which adds stability and strength to the fabric where the holes are punched.  The following photographs provide step by step assistance to show you how to apply these custom made hinge strips.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo 2:  Peel the 1/4″ backing paper to expose the adhesive strip.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo 3:  Carefully place the photograph on top of the adhesive strip and align it with the edge of the adhesive.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo 4:  Apply pressure along strip to ensure full contact.
 
 
 
 
Photo 5:  With cover removed, place the hinged page over the screw posts.
 
 
Photo 6:  Place the cover on top of the stack of hinged pages and reinsert the screws.
 
The hinge strips can be purchased at kdbooks.com.  They are sized and hole punched to fit Kristin Dunn bookbinding & design portfolios.  They will not necessarily fit any other brand of portfolio. Hinge strips are available in black and white.  You can purchase hinge strips here on the website.
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Tips for Transporting and Shipping your Portfolio

You’ve spent countless hours and a nice chunk of change putting together the perfect portfolio presentation and now it’s time to show the world what you have to offer.  At this point the last thing you want is to have your portfolio mishandled and damaged in it’s travels.

Fortunately this has only happened to one of my clients (that I know of) but it was devastating enough that I felt it was important to share some tips to ensure the safe delivery and return of your portfolio.  While this post focuses on the shipping of portfolios, it also applies to transporting your portfolio to face to face meetings.  Accidents happen and while you probably feel confident hand carrying your portfolio to visit potential clients, you can’t always prevent unexpected events. It could be bumped around in the car on the way to the meeting or someone could brush your arm the wrong way and cause you to drop it.  For this reason it’s always best to overprotect your portfolio.

damaged box

Treat your portfolio as you would the art that it holds.  Our portfolios are extremely sturdy and well built but they are presentation pieces that need to be protected.  For this reason I recommend that your portfolio is packed with extra care and more padding than you think it needs.  UPS and FEDEX do a great job but they don’t know or care what’s inside the boxes they are delivering and Handle with Care tags do little to change the way that packages are treated.

perforated foam

One of the simplest and least costly ways to create an appropriate shipping container is to start with a basic cardboard box that is at least 4″ larger than your portfolio in all directions.  Since you are trying to make a good first impression be sure to use a clean, new, unmarked box.  Purchase some heavy duty foam from a shipping supply company or a foam company.  The Foam Factory sells perforated foam sheets, called Pick and Pluck.  The perforation allows you to create any sized cutout in the foam. Use this in combination with solid foam pieces to create a form fitting nest  around your portfolio.  Choosing foam over paper or bubblewrap is preferable for a few reasons; it makes it easier for your potential client to re-pack the box for return shipping, it looks much cleaner than bunched up pieces of paper and it prevents the portfolio from shifting during shipping.

If you have a bit more to invest, there are many companies that offer standard and custom made hard shipping cases.  Many of these are marketed as computer or instrument cases but can be used for just about anything.  Take a look at Janal Cases, Quick Cases and Pelican Cases for some possibilities.  Many of these are crush and waterproof and come with a lifetime guarantee.  You’ve invested a lot in creating your portfolio so it’s a good idea to invest just a little more to protect it.  If you have any questions or would like further recommendations please don’t hesitate to call.

Quickcases
Janal Cases

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Introducing Hinge Strips

Another item that I’ve been getting a lot of requests for is hinge strips.  Many of my clients print their own portfolio pages and use the templates that I include with all portfolio orders to punch the holes for the screw posts.  This works out great but in the case where a client wants to use a heavier weight paper the issue of page turning always comes up.  Lighter weight papers turn just fine on their own when put into screwpost books but when you get past about an 80lb paper the page will want to spring back which makes the portfolio viewing less than a perfect experience.  Scoring the page where it will fold is a good solution to this but it isn’t ideal.

The hinge strips that are now available in the online store are essentially like my hinged pages only without the page attached.  I start with a strip of 100lb paper and adhere a 1″ strip of thin starched fabric to that.  Then, leaving a 1/4″ gap or gutter,  a 1/4″ wide layer of adhesive is laid down along the outer edge of the fabric.  The paper strip gets hole punched and bound by the screw posts.

There is a release paper on top of the adhesive strip that gets peeled off so that the printed page or photograph can be securely attached.  When the page is turned, only 1/4″ of the back of the page is covered by the fabric hinge and the pages turn with ease and lay completely flat.

Hinge strips are available in both black and white and in 8 1/2″, 11″, 12″, 14″ and 17″ lengths.

See hinge strips on the kdbooks website.

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Making it your own

 
 

This green exposed screw post portfolio is one that I recently shipped out and is one that I am particularly fond of.  It is a terrific example of how the online store can be used to create a truly one of a kind portfolio.

This is a landscape format 11 x 14 exposed screw post portfolio covered in “bright green” fabric.  Dante sent me the printed paper that she wanted to use for the endsheets and a pdf of how she wanted everything laid out including the position of her name.  The foil stamping was done along the foredge in matte silver using Font #9. Both, the round business card pocket and the vertical pocket, are standard sized pockets that can be ordered online.  She chose to cover them in “confederate” fabric to match the scales on the endsheets.

Quite often portfolios tend toward the subtle and conservative, and for good reason, but when the situation permits, make yours stand out from the crowd by being creative with the color and embellishment options.  You can always call or email to see if your ideas are possible before you place your order, more than likely they are.  You can start building your portfolio online now.