Show your DIY album pages

Yes thanks it does help, you have a good eye for balance.

I have taken a fairly similar approach in my project creating 1855-1952 content for the Seven Seas Stamps Hinge-less New Zealand album.  Page formatting is being done in Stamp Album Studio 4.22 which also has a useful stamp catalogue with stamp images that can be saved as PNG files that automatically size to stamp boxes. Several images are of heavily postmarked stamps so I would be interested in any stamp images for the First Side Faces in particular.



Photos are just of mock up of each page using cut outs as my printer can't print directly on the odd paper size Seven Seas Stamps pages (these being "blank" with faint grid lines that the publisher sells in packs of 50 for additional content.)


I've opted to include most varieties that the Davo album has for the QV Chalon Heads/ FFQ issues. After 1901 it will be probably a fairly simplified approach. A simplified version of the first few pages with better spacing is an option.



I would appreciate comments about content as it's not so easy knowing where to draw lines on varieties. The layout became tricky for Second Side Faces which were issued in many tranches with varieties over so many years.



Basically, stamp numbers are from the NZ & Pacific Islands Stamp Catalogue (Stamp Publications Pty Ltd,1979.) That was used for numbering in the Seven Seas QEII edition produced from 1987 (only ever for stamps issued after 1952.)

Thanks Pete, what an excellent idea, the white area is actually only about 7"x9" so it would be easy to adjust the page size and margins to print on standard US Letter or A4 sized paper.

after spending much of yesterday adjusting borders and getting registration the same for two sided printed.... it suddenly dawned on me that I could have done the same thing for a single 8.5" x 11" page , rather than the 2 pocket clear pages  (which are narrower) and I would have more room for descriptions, history, etc....  I wish I would have thought of this before buying 25 2 pocket pages (they must be useful for something!)

Here a basic layout image - I htink this will be a better approach




the two 'boxes" inside the black frame is where I cut-out the center

Thanks Clive for you outstanding work on this and I'm sending you the stamp images to add to the project.  I should then be able to add a mock up page photo with stamp images for each type (only 8 in total.)  Regards, John Russell.

You are right on that as there can be so many shades and varieties of the oldest issues.  I've a fairly simplified collection.  I'm not really into watermark and perf varieties but more enthusiastic when it comes to die, paper and colour varieties often quite different at a glance.  There are some pricey stamps included but some in the Davo album were omitted due to scarcity and CV!  I think there's only one or two stamps included with CV more than some of the watermark varieties in Seven Seas Stamps Australia album content for higher values in the Kangaroo series.  The original Seven Seas Stamps New Zealand album included the OPSO (On Public Service Only) stamps which are all far rarer and higher in CV than most the Chalons/ Kangaroos.  They were hand overprinted previously issued stamps that are not in the catalogue the QEII edition album uses so excluding them was really the only sensible decision. 

My approach for New Zealand pages also should consider the approach the album publisher would have taken (which would probably have been more like their Australia Colonies album which is probably too simplified.)  I have followed the practice of alpha suffices to the original stamp numbers in the Colonies album so that the ACS stamp numbering only reaches where it starts in the QEII edition starting in 1953. 

The ultimate outcome is for the pages to be commercially produced and there is authorization from the publisher for that.  So I'm trying to make the content sufficient for most collectors.  Having done all the hard work by the time I'm finished, the publisher might even run with it, avoiding the hassles of trying to get the production of the pages commercialized.  It may be decided to omit some of content of these pages based on commercial reasons or have a simplified set as standard option.

Hello Chris,
What a beautiful set of cancelled Gabon pairs. I like the look of your page. The format should produce a lovely album in the end.

I can appreciate text centering being a challenge. I used to be a Publications Editor for Volkswagen Repair Manuals and shuffling text to the exact right place in an image was an artform. It's never been easy.

Rob

more revising- I think this design will stick, so here after, all future pages for the red cross booklets of France will be over in  France!

As mentioned before the covers and the stamp panels are not necessarily square with each other so, just something to learn to live with
  1954, 90'th anniversary France Yvert# 1006 & 1007
Front

Back

renden French wine and cheese is also quite nice!

Here is now what I consider to be my most beautiful pages because so much work but it was worth it to highlight, on twelve pages, this very beautiful French colonial series.