Album Questions

I am starting on my albums. I want a world wide one with at least one of every country, and more than one if I can. I have a nice D-ring binder, and plan on using a cream card stock, 80lb weight. I have a basic design on my computer that I can tweak for each country.

Ok, my problem is I am going to be doing this by countries in order of Scott's numbers. How do I add my stamps I get later to this without having to reprint a new page every time? I have a little frame around each stamp, and I would like that for all my future ones too. Do I go ahead and make spaces for stamps? And on each countries first page, I like to put a little info about that countries postal system.

Here is something I am working on. Its very rough, but something like I want. I am also going to add some scrolls in the corners.

Heres a page I am working on:





I am also using different fonts for each country, something that "fits" the country, such as old english for England.

I just came across something on the net. I think I will use an introduction page for each country, then go ahead and design pages for the numbers and only print the pages that I have a stamp for. How would that work?

Your title page looks great. I love the font. It may be easier to just place a blank square or rectangle for each stamp in the geometric design that appeals to your eye. That way you can place your stamps however you please with disregard to year of issue and tweak it as you go on. I have not made my own album pages before but I have flipped through plenty of albums. I like to change fonts on my cachet covers frequently.

I like your second idea. I would organize my acquistitions in a stockbook until I had what I wanted for a display page and then mount them. That assures you of a nice presentation of material without having to 'worry' about blank spaces in your album.

Second opinion is likely the best. Used what you need only!
Your design looks great! The brief history is also something I'm working on!

Good Job, Good Luck!
Mike

There is nothing that says you have to list/display the material for each country by Scott number. You could do it by topic: people, history, animals, etc.

You have the option of thinking way outside the box. Good Luck!

I agree with Laswabbie, I'd certainly record the SN under the stamp, but you don't need to organize by them. Lots of people collect topicals without any regard to numbers!

That's one of the beauties and joys of stamp collecting and especially of creating your own albums, the only approval you need is your own!

I like your idea of adjusting fonts to catch the flavor of a country. It will be fun to see what you come up with as your collection grows.

wow..great pages

You certainly have a big task ahead of you. It might be a lot easier just to buy a big album but this way you will have a unique album that you can be proud of.

You can also design your own pages. The software I use I bought from here... http://www.ezstamp.com/ called Albumgen and I love the program. I also bought their Ezimage software for the photos.

I've been keeping my stamps in glassine envelopes because I can't decide which album pages are best. I collect USA, Switzerland, Ireland, & the Netherlands. (My genealogy roots)

And I've just started a new collection that's limited in scope - WWII combatant nations from Roosevelt's election in '32 to Stalin's death in '53. I figure I would need to make my own pages for this collection, but I don't really know were to begin.

So I got four questions. One - which is best albums for the first four countries. Two - what the easiest way to find out which stamps were produced during my limited era. Three - what software generate album pages. And last - besides acid free, what the heaviest paper can I use in a home printer. And is there anything else I should look for in selecting the paper?