5<5o 



RECREATION 



out it is a crime to mount a dozen small 

 square prints in three rows of four each, 

 passe-partout them and hang them where their 

 suffering friends are obliged to look at them. 

 Later I may have something to say on this 

 subject of card-mounting and framing, but at 

 present will speak only of albums suitable for 

 storing prints from pocket cameras, and fancy 

 affairs for holding gifts. 



While original and beautiful albums can be 

 made by almost anyone at slight expense for 

 materials, there is no denying they do call for 

 the expenditure of considerable time and pa- 

 tience ; so if you haven't the one and are not 

 willing to give of the other, you had best buy 

 a kodak book "ready made" and chuck your 

 prints into it in apple-pie order, like a collec- 

 tion of postage stamps. While some are both 

 handsome and durable, there is a machine- 

 made uniformity about them that destroys all 

 possibility of individual expression, and this 

 very thing is the chief charm of all amateur 

 work. Your most cherished correspondent 

 may be a wretched penman, but who would 

 exchange the familiar and characteristic pot- 

 hooks for the most beautifully typewritten af- 

 fair? 



As the cover and its lettering is likely to 

 prove the hardest part of the work, we will 

 take that up first and get it off our minds. 

 If you haven't the skill with pen or brush or 

 needle to do the design in a satisfactory man- 

 ner, some of your friends will be willing and 

 able to help you out. There are so many 

 ways of doing it and so many materials to do 

 it on that I can mention but a few of them. 

 Fancy papers, in their endless tints and tex- 

 tures, are cheapest, easiest to manage, and 

 least serviceable. For lettering these any col- 

 ored ink, India ink, and the gold and silver, 

 inks, are suitable. After the fancy papers 

 come birch-bark, silk, burlap, wood and leath- 

 er in many weights and styles. This gives a 

 range that will surely cover all requirements. 

 Silk and burlap lend themselves especially to 

 embroidery effects, some silks take the gold 

 and silver inks well ; leather takes all inks, 

 but is, like wood, perhaps most effective when 

 the design is done by the pyrographic process. 

 Still, a cover of rich crimson leather with 

 bold lettering in India ink is "stunning," and 

 one of my handsomest albums is. covered with 

 dark green bookbinder's leather with the de- 

 sign in gold ink, 



For a booklet of unmounted prints on 

 double-weight velox there is nothing better 

 than limp leather, but for more ambitious 

 work I prefer it tightly stretched and glued 

 over heavy book boards, which makes a cover 

 that will stand any amount of hard usage. 



If you have the courage to try something 

 still more novel and difficult, select a leather 

 that you can match in transparent celluloid 

 (ruby red, for instance), and after mounting 

 one of your handsomest prints on the cover 

 cement the celluloid over it with gelatine. It 



is not an easy thing to accomplish, but the re- 

 sult, if well done, is worth an effort. Know- 

 ing that there are so many sorts of covers 

 to choose from, let us get at the "true inward- 

 ness" of our proposed album. 



One of my simplest booklets, and one of 

 the daintiest, is made from unmounted prints 

 on double-weight velox with a cover of What- 

 man's roughest drawing or water-color paper, 

 lettered in India ink and tied together with a 

 coarsely twisted white silk cord. For 3*4 x 

 4 T /4 inch negatives I prefer velox not smaller 

 than 4 z / 2 x 7 inches, printed under black pa- 

 per masks having opening of several shapes 

 and sizes. Also, if one can afford to use ve- 

 lox of a little larger size, thus allowing very 

 broad white margins, it pays to have the 

 masks so arranged that the pictures can be 

 printed on different parts of the page ; it adds 

 much to the effect. Then, too, if you will 

 take the needed pains in printing, beautiful 

 effects can be had by putting two views on 

 one page, as two tall, narrow panels or two 

 low horizon views. 



Allowance for binding should be made at 

 the left margin, and to fasten the prints into 

 the cover I punch three holes at this edge 

 through which the cord is passed, leaving it 

 somewhat slack in tying, to allow the leaves 

 of the book to turn with freedom. Nothing 

 but a steel punch will make the holes neatly 

 and as they are not costly it is best to invest 

 in one at the start. 



It will be necessary to trim all the prints 

 slightly in order to get a straight, sharp edge, 

 but the covers look much better when given 

 the "deckle edge." At the very edge of the 

 sight draw a fine black line on your velox 

 prints ; it does wonders in making the picture 

 stand out, especially if the negative is a bit 

 flat or under-printed. The deckle edge can 

 be closely imitated after a few trials by tear- 

 ing the paper upward from under a rough- 

 edged ruler firmly held to a hard surface. 



If the cost must be kept down, almost 

 equally good effects result from mounting or- 

 dinary prints on sheets of thin cardboard and 

 binding them in the same way. The prints 

 should have a narrow white margin, and the 

 cardboard comes in a variety of tints and 

 textures. This will be quite a saving over 

 the cost of the double-weight velox in large 

 sizes, and this sort of an album is so easily 

 made you can afford to use them freely for 

 holiday gifts. Few things will be more grate- 

 fully received than one of these little book- 

 lets filled with ten or a dozen pictures of fa- 

 miliar scenes and friendly faces, and the re- 

 cipient will not feel overburdened with obli- 

 gations, as in the case of an expensive gift. 



The quaintest of all my albums was made 

 entirely from blue-print paper, and is an "il- 

 lustrated edition" of the old song, "I Wan- 

 dered by the Brookside." It was made in 

 much the same manner as described for prints 

 on double-weight velox, with even broader 



