stamjay
**Member** 
Inactive
Posts: 23
|
Post by stamjay on Jul 11, 2020 20:30:47 GMT
...the bounding box of each stamp... That reminds of another question I have. If a stamp measures, say, 40 x 30, do you make your boxes 40 x 30 or slightly smaller? |
|
brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110 
|
Post by brightonpete on Jul 11, 2020 20:41:40 GMT
I make them larger so there is a border outside of the stamp. My app has a definable grid pattern, so I print out a page with the grid to measure the stamp to ensure it fits. I down-sized a while back for a 27" iMac to a 21-½" iMac. The 27 was perfect - no need to print the grid page, just hold the stamp to screen to measure. I should have bought the 27 instead!
Just too bad the way my mind works - there seems to be 3 grid sizes, so what's good for Iceland isn't for the US! I am trying to adjust all to the same size. One day that may come to be!
|
|
|
|
Post by spain1850 on Jul 11, 2020 21:43:28 GMT
stamjay - Another opinion: Generally, I really like your pages. One thing I would alter a bit is the paragraph width. When the text reaches all the way to border, or really close to it, it tends to divide the page, at least to my eyes. As far as stamp box size, I generally leave 2mm spacing all around. I then cut my mounts the size of the box (or at least I try).
|
|
|
|
Post by spain1850 on Jul 12, 2020 0:54:03 GMT
While working on my Ceylon album I came across an example of the Steiner page system that I have never been fond of. I've noticed this in several of the British Colonies pages. The King George VI pictorial issues can be found in several perforation varieties. Scott lists them, as they do most such items, as sub types of the normal stamp. But the Steiner pages usually have them split up to where the basic set is on one page and all the perf varieties are on the next. Here are screen shots of what I am referring to. These are Steiners pages.   I kind of get it, but it's not how my mind works, so I needed to rearrange these 2 pages so that all the perf varieties are contained in the set with the common perf. stamps. Of course, there will be a bit of "fudging" needed to keep things centered left and right, so not everything is in order of face denomination. But I'm perfectly happy with it like this. Here are my versions of those 2 Steiner pages.   |
|
brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
|
Post by brightonpete on Jul 12, 2020 1:14:42 GMT
I dislike the formatting on the Steiner pages. I use them, mainly to create the bounding boxes on my pages. When I don't have the stamp, but want to print out the page, Steiner is pretty good. Although I have noticed the measurements are off on a number of stamps.
I like my stamps arranged somewhat chronologically, whereas he mixes them up far too much for my liking. His stamp info is far too sparse as well, as I like info on the page.
|
|
clivel
Member 
Posts: 382
What I collect: Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesias, South Africa, Swaziland, Israel to 1980, Ireland predecimal, Palestine Mandate
|
Post by clivel on Jul 12, 2020 3:45:57 GMT
...the bounding box of each stamp... That reminds of another question I have. If a stamp measures, say, 40 x 30, do you make your boxes 40 x 30 or slightly smaller? When using mounts, I prefer my boxes 4mm larger than the actual stamp i.e a 2mm border all round. However, some people prefer the box to be the same size or slightly larger than the stamp especially when using hinges. For maximum flexibility, when using AlbumEasy, I set the boxes to the actual size of the stamp, then at the begging of the file I will put:
STAMP_BOXES_SIZE_ADJUST(4.0) Which will increase all the boxes in the album by 4mm when the album is generated. That way, if I change my mind about the sizes, I only need to change one number to adjust the sizes of all boxes.
stamjay - Another opinion: Generally, I really like your pages. One thing I would alter a bit is the paragraph width. When the text reaches all the way to border, or really close to it, it tends to divide the page, at least to my eyes. As far as the stamp box size, I generally leave 2mm spacing all around. I then cut my mounts the size of the box (or at least I try). I agree, I think that it would look better if the text was spaced a little from the page borders.
Again using AlbumEasy you could increase the border like so: PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_START(TN 10 JUSTIFIED 10.0) The story of the railroads ..... the first in the world to exceed 100mph. PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_END
The 10.0 will pad the text from the left and right borders. Clive |
|
stanley64
Member
Posts: 1,962
What I collect: Canada, USA, Netherlands, Portugal & Colonies, Antarctic Territories and anything that catches my eye...
|
Post by stanley64 on Jul 12, 2020 6:41:31 GMT
My latest revision is here, along with the other pages I'm working on. I took a peak stamjay, great stuff! Your pages are coming along, the layout, the spacing all looking good; you should be pleased with your efforts...
Happy collecting!
|
|
stamjay
**Member**
Inactive
Posts: 23
|
Post by stamjay on Jul 12, 2020 7:20:55 GMT
That reminds of another question I have. If a stamp measures, say, 40 x 30, do you make your boxes 40 x 30 or slightly smaller? ...STAMP_BOXES_SIZE_ADJUST(4.0)... I'm going to do some test prints but I think I only want the border to help with mounting and would rather it be covered by the stamp. If I use a negative number in STAMP_BOXES_SIZE_ADJUST, the centre text value will be slightly closer once the stamp is mount. Is there a command to adjust the padding of the STAMP_ADD text value?? ...Generally, I really like your pages. One thing I would alter a bit is the paragraph width. When the text reaches all the way to border, or really close to it, it tends to divide the page, at least to my eyes.... ...PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_START(TN 10 JUSTIFIED 10.0) The story of the railroads ..... PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_END... Thanks, I've added this and I agree, much better looking |
|
blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
|
Post by blaamand on Jul 12, 2020 8:31:06 GMT
That is interesting spain1850 - our minds are opposite at this point  I prefer to have the basic set 'un-interupted' by all the varieties, shades etc, keeping the basic set for face different only. Then followed by different sections for the varieties as required, preferably below on the same page if possible. I'm thinking that if including all the varieties with the basic numbers, a 'completed set' can look thin and not complete if there are lots of empty boxes for difficult to find varieties. I am also thinking that keeping the varieties separated as a more specialized section, it makes it easier to see which are actually varieties and whether a collection has any of these varieties or not. This example shows a bit what I am thinking  Here the first two sets appears as 'complete' - even if there are some varieties missing. And the varieties gets exposed as just that - varieties, so even if there are empty boxes for varieties it is more forgiving than having empty boxes among the main numbers. As always - we all have different preferences, always interesting to see how others are doing things  |
|
angore
Member
Posts: 5,664
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
|
Post by angore on Jul 12, 2020 10:24:19 GMT
The keeping in one set may have a lot to do with how catalog numbers are assigned. I was a big fan of this in my US albunm but when I started using Steiner I started to appreciate the practical sense. If you want the basics are you are done. If you want the varieties then you can add later without having to relayout pages. This situation comes up with British Commonwealth Die I and Die II varieties.
|
|
angore
Member
Posts: 5,664
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
|
Post by angore on Jul 12, 2020 12:48:55 GMT
As an example from my last posts, I ran across the situation discussion above. Steiner Page for Nyasaland QEII pictorials. In this set, there are 3 perforation varieties (some more common). I was identifying and mounting against Scott so checked perforations. I had one of the perforation varieties. In this case (not always), Steiner provided spaces for them on the next page. I was not going to redo the following page to move back to this page (tight fit) so this case worked out so no extra work but had spaces not been provided I would have created a page.  |
|
|
|
Post by spain1850 on Jul 12, 2020 15:49:29 GMT
blaamand - I appreciate your viewpoint, and yes everyone has different opinions on what works for them. In the end, the person who has to be happy with what you are creating is yourself, unless you are creating something for an exhibit. In that case you have to do what pleases an exhibit judge. I really like reading others viewpoints on DIY pages. Even if I don't prescribe to what someone else is doing, there is a good chance I can utilize a part of it to enhance what I am doing. angore - You make some valid points, and I can fully see the use in some cases. I believe I actually left Steiner pages intact, such as this, with the basic set on one page and the listed varieties on another. The problem I came across was that I found shade varieties, blocks or other items, within the perf varieties, that were not included. In that case I still required rearranging the variety page to include the new, unlisted variety. That's just the nature of how I am collecting. I am wanting to add anything I run across, and frequently need to redesign pages to accommodate them. Even if I kept the Steiner pages the way they are, I probably still would have redesigned the variety page by itself since the layout isn't as appealing to me as it stands.
|
|
|
|
Post by spain1850 on Jul 13, 2020 0:39:09 GMT
OK, since I am in an experimental mood, I thought I'd try something new for me. angore mentioned that he prefers moving additional varieties to another page, rather than incorporate them into the basic set. Here is sort of that situation I just ran into. While mounting Basutoland stamps, I noticed Steiner was good enough include the South African stamps with "Basutoland" overprints as horizontal pair only. No spaces for single stamp. This has been one of my pet peeves with just about every printed album page I've ever seen. What if all I have are single stamps? Well, then the alternative has always been to place the singles within the box for the joined pair. Never liked that way, even way back as a collecting newbie. In this case, I had singles for all the pairs, but I also had vertical pairs for 2 out of the 3 denominations. Why not utilize them all? So, the horizontal pair I had went into the space for horizontal pairs, for which Steiner provided and I created a new page for the vertical pairs as well as single stamps. Of course that means I still have to find matching vertical and horizontal pairs, but they are inexpensive. Who say's you can't have it all??   |
|
clivel
Member
Posts: 382
What I collect: Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesias, South Africa, Swaziland, Israel to 1980, Ireland predecimal, Palestine Mandate
|
Post by clivel on Jul 13, 2020 4:42:48 GMT
I'm going to do some test prints but I think I only want the border to help with mounting and would rather it be covered by the stamp. If I use a negative number in STAMP_BOXES_SIZE_ADJUST, the centre text value will be slightly closer once the stamp is mount. Is there a command to adjust the padding of the STAMP_ADD text value?? Unfortunately not, the spacing between the box and text underneath it is fixed. Probably another option to add to my ever growing list of future enhancements. Clive
|
|
angore
Member
Posts: 5,664
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
|
Post by angore on Jul 13, 2020 11:45:36 GMT
I had posted this previously in another thread but will repost here for Steiner page creators.
I imported a PDF into LibreOffice Draw and then used the object properties to get details.
Margins to outside border
Left 23mm
Right 10mm
Top - 10mm
Bottom 12mm
Outer border line thickness - 0.67mm
Inside border line thickness - 0.12mm
Outside border - 183.3 x 257mm
Inside border - 181.3 x 255.4mm
Outside border to country baseline - 11mm
Country heading Helvetica - 12pt
Description line distance from country heading - 7.5mm
Description, year font - Helvetica 9 pt
Description baseline to year base line - 5mm
Note: Inter-character spacing is padded by about 0.4 pt
Distance from year baseline to top of closest vertically stamp box - 5mm
Horizontal Distance between stamp boxes - 4.25 mm
Vertical Distance between stamp boxes - 5mm
Stamp box line thickness: 0.16mm
Stamp box text: Helvetica 6pt
Spacing - stamp boxes usually allow ~2.5mm spacing on sides
|
|
|
|
Post by classicalstamps on Aug 13, 2020 9:25:24 GMT
Here are a few pages from my Word War 2 collection. They depicts the last two stamps from the German 3rd Reich.   I want every stamp to tell their philatelic story combined with historical events. Software used: Apple Pages Paper size: A4
Mounting: Clear mounts
Binders: Lighthouse Grande Albums with slipcases.
Comments welcome    |
|
blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
|
Post by blaamand on Aug 13, 2020 20:10:46 GMT
classicalstamps - Those are absolutely adorable pages Morten! As a WW collector I could never allow myself to use so much space for a single issue. That said I really appreciate seeing that more specialized collectors are creating such comprehensive pages like yours. It elevates stamp collecting from collecting pieces of paper into a much more meaningful context. Well done
|
|
stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,884
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
|
Post by stainlessb on Aug 16, 2020 0:07:40 GMT
It's been one of those days- I made progress, but made committed the cardinal sin of checking to see that the stamp fits into the mount...... close but no cigar. and, of course I do not have the correct size mounts (already ordered) I seem to have everything but so here is the page with no stamps inserted.... <sigh> If you see a glaring error PLEASE bring it to my attention. I will wait for the new mounts to arrive before I re-format. This would be the opening page of my Yugoslav Government in Exile stamps, almost complete with the exception of a postally used cover (to an accounting firm in London) and a decision on whether to display the blocks I have ... or not I should know better (insert head slap emogee (sp??) here....) and no reason to shpw th eother completed pages just yet.... anti-climatic 
and so it goes |
|
brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
|
Post by brightonpete on Aug 16, 2020 0:44:32 GMT
I saw two spelling error. I know nothing of the history, so that looks good.
Last paragraph, last line: weith... with
Stamps description at the bottom "Second Anniversay" should be "Second anniversary" & "King Pete?" not King Peter?
And if you are a stickler for spelling, "grey" is the British (& Canadian) way of the American spelling of "gray."
Oh and "emoji" is the spelling of those things.
|
|
stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,884
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
|
Post by stainlessb on Aug 16, 2020 2:31:14 GMT
Thanks Pete!~ I willl correct (as soon as I get the correct mounts)
and I took "grey" from SG
|
|
stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,884
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
|
Post by stainlessb on Aug 21, 2020 22:08:06 GMT
and now with typos corrected, the correct size mount , and stamps! I am waiting on a postally used cover which will complete this study, unless i happen across other covers... or decide to mount the blocks. There is an unaddressed cover on e-Bay... but I am suspicious of authenticity as the date stamp looks like those commonly used in the not too distant past that were quite plentiful  |
|
stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,884
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
|
Post by stainlessb on Aug 29, 2020 16:58:32 GMT
1st page with a half-sheet Württenberg 1921 Michel # 153 Official Stamp 40 Pf . I discovered while setting this up that not only is the half sheet cut square, it's a different size from the other and I 'm assuming they will all vary (I have 4 more on their way). I also had to omit the borders try as I might, I could not get it to print correctly with the oversized mount, anyway, for now, this will work  |
|
mikeclevenger
Member
Inactive
Posts: 887
What I collect: Ohio Tax Stamps, Ohio & Georgia Revenues, US Revenues, US FDC's, & Germany Classics
|
Post by mikeclevenger on Aug 30, 2020 11:51:13 GMT
1st page with a half-sheet Württemberg 1921 Michel # 153 Official Stamp 40 Pf . I discovered while setting this up that not only is the half sheet cut square, it's a different size from the other and I 'm assuming they will all vary (I have 4 more on their way). I also had to omit the norderas try as I might, I could not get it to print correctly with the oversized mount, anyway, for now, this will work (See previous post for image.) It does look good and barely fits. I will try doing this when I get time.
Have a great day.
Mike.
|
|
|
|
Post by classicalstamps on Sept 21, 2020 12:35:23 GMT
Going backwards from 1945, I'm now in 1942 for my German 3rd Reich pages. Wanted to share this page, which nicely illustrates one of the unexpected joys of creating custom pages. Case in point: A somewhat boring stamp from a WW2 point of view: 400th year anniversary of a clock makers death:  As I want every page to tell a story, I found this fascinating "flea market story" when researching Peter Henlein:  You learn something new every day. |
|
angore
Member
Posts: 5,664
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
|
Post by angore on Sept 21, 2020 15:57:55 GMT
|
|
stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,884
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
|
Post by stainlessb on Sept 21, 2020 22:12:38 GMT
My latest effort France Marianne DuLac 1944 -1946 Y&T 682 - 701, (although only the 1 Franc 50 was issued in 1944) I thought about placing on two pages but I have used this same layout with my GB QV Penny red plates and I think it shows well... and if two pages i would want them to open so both would be viewable. This is on 20# white copier paper.... I have learned to let it sit for a bit before adding mounts. My two "ponderance's" is whether all two word colors should be hyphenated or not is the sentence Printed by printer Thomas de la Rue redundant? maybe I should add a "French" printer as this was originally awarded to Harrison & Sons, an English printer, but DeGaulle rejected the first design and after finally accepting one it was awarded to the French printer (that was too much text to try and fit in...) If anyone sees an error PLEASE point it out Thanks  |
|
clivel
Member
Posts: 382
What I collect: Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesias, South Africa, Swaziland, Israel to 1980, Ireland predecimal, Palestine Mandate
|
Post by clivel on Sept 22, 2020 0:31:22 GMT
My two "ponderance's" is whether all two word colors should be hyphenated or not is the sentence Printed by printer Thomas de la Rue redundant? maybe I should add a "French" printer as this was originally awarded to Harrison & Sons, an English printer, but DeGaulle rejected the first design and after finally accepting one it was awarded to the French printer (that was too much text to try and fit in...) Really nice looking pages stainlessb
I have often wondered why some catalogues hyphenate some two word colours but not others - even within the same set of stamps. For instance, picking a page at random, the 1922 Irish definitives are listed in SG with a 4d slate-blue and a 5d deep violet.
I thought that perhaps this apparent arbitrary use of hyphenated colour names is peculiar to Gibbons, but looking up the same set in the Hibernian catalogue, one finds the 4d slate-blue and a 10d Rembrandt brown.
I do think that Printed by printer is a bit redundant, I would rather use either "Printer Thomas de la Rue" or "Printed by Thomas de la Rue", also, I may be wrong, but I think that they were a British, not French company. Clive
|
|
stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,884
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
|
Post by stainlessb on Sept 22, 2020 0:43:16 GMT
clivel Thank you! and you are correct he was on Guernsy in the Channel Islands! and is now one of the largest world security printer (who knew?!?clearly not I!) as to the two word color, i may just hyphenate all for uniformity. I have seen in some descriptions a "/" red/brown which I suppose is no more subjectibe than red-brown..... or does brown-red make in more brown than red.... i did go through and align everything (to four decimal places)
|
|
brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
|
Post by brightonpete on Sept 22, 2020 1:46:20 GMT
You could add extra bits at the top if you shifted the stamps down a bit and edit the text like what clivel mentioned. Looks good though! |
|
vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,527
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
|
Post by vikingeck on Sept 26, 2020 12:08:17 GMT
Nothing fancy or elaborate for my specialised Samoa collection, quite minimalist ! I have to have more than a single example of all of my stamps due to identifiable varieties eg, mint and used,small printing differences, perforations, watermarks and of course postmarks. Pre printed pages simply do not exist !I have made my own for many years. Here is page 12 from my 1877-1882 SAMOA EXPRESS . It is work in progress as can be seen from the gaps and many of the earlier pages have even fewer stamps!  |
|
I prefer to have the basic set 'un-interupted' by all the varieties, shades etc, keeping the basic set for face different only. Then followed by different sections for the varieties as required, preferably below on the same page if possible. I'm thinking that if including all the varieties with the basic numbers, a 'completed set' can look thin and not complete if there are lots of empty boxes for difficult to find varieties. I am also thinking that keeping the varieties separated as a more specialized section, it makes it easier to see which are actually varieties and whether a collection has any of these varieties or not.
