Category: Personalizing Your Portfolio

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Printing on Bookcloth

 

photo album with printed cover

Many years back I did a personal photo book project in which I printed onto a grey bookcloth and really liked the results.  The process and it’s possibilities have been in the back of my head ever since.

Another, more recent, personal project allowed me to do some further testing.  I designed a CD cover for a friend who really liked the look of the foil stamping that I do onto bookcovers and so requested that I somehow incorporate that look into the design.  Again I loved the printing, particularly how the softness, created as the fabric absorbs the ink, contrasts with the sharp saturated marks of the foil stamping.

photo book with printed cover

The past couple of weeks have been particularly busy here at the studio but I was determined to find time to create a donation for my niece’s school auction.  I’d been wanting to experiment more with inkjet printing onto bookcloth and this was the perfect opportunity so I made a scrapbook style photo album with a tree design printed on the cover.  It is a fairly low contrast design, with a dark brownish grey printed onto a light brown cloth.  To me it feels very atmospheric, like I’m standing on a mountain looking down into a misty forest. I also made a clamshell box to hold this album.  The box is covered in the same light brown fabric but it’s brightened up a bit with burnt orange accents. In the bottom of the box I created a well that can hold a 1″ stack of the photos that don’t make it into the album.

CD artwork printed on bookcloth with yellow foil stamping

In each of these cases I printed onto Iris bookcloth which is a linen style cloth with very little texture so I’d like to move on to some other textures and incorporate some color.  I also addressed the issue of the ink running if it gets wet by coating the fabric with a spray varnish.  It didn’t affect the color, texture or gloss but did prevent the water from reaching the ink.  As soon as I find some time, I will move forward with some experimenting. I’ll report back, hopefully soon, with the result and if all goes well I hope to add this option for portfolios and boxes in the online store and for custom projects as well.

the printed cloth
album block and album case
uncovered clamshell box tray
finished clamshell box with album
finished clamshell box with well and ribbon lift
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That extra punch with 2 Color Foil Stamping

To add a bit of extra pizzazz to your portfolio consider a 2 color foil stamping of your logo.

This is a portrait format 11 x 8 1/2 hidden screw post portfolio with a spine cover.  This portfolio is a great example of a very simple design that delivers a big punch.

The logo really makes a statement on the red fabric cover because of the splash of light blue next to the white.

In order to do a 2 color foil stamping using just 1 logo die, the blocks of color need to have at least 1/16th of an inch between them.

This option will be available in the new online store soon.

 

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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.

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Spine Covers now available in the online store

If you’re looking for the look of a hard bound coffee table style book but still need the flexibility to add and subtract pages from your portfolio, then this spine cover is a perfect solution. The spine cover is a “U” shaped channel that hides the spine edge of your portfolio pages and is sandwiched between the front and back covers. It can be built to accommodate any thickness of pages. You should consider the maximum thickness of pages that you will be putting into your portfolio when determining the width of the spine cover. You will still be able to use this spine cover if you decrease the thickness of pages by up to 1/8″ without noticing a big difference. However if you increase the thickness of your pages, you will need to order a larger width.To determine which size spine cover is appropriate for your portfolio, stack your prepared pages, including any spine spacers and measure the thickness on the left hand side where they will be bound. Please call or email if you are unsure which size to order. Visit the website at www.kdbooks.com or go straight to the listing to find out more about spine covers.

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New Round Portfolio Pockets

Just added to the site! A new way to express yourself through your portfolio. Now you can choose from horizontal, vertical, diagonal and round pockets. The small pockets are perfect for storing your business cards and the larger ones for unbound materials such as resumes and other leave behind literature. These pockets can be added to the inner liners of portfolios and clamshell boxes and can be covered in any of 27 color options.

Visit www.kdbooks.com to see all of the options.