Which Way Would You Mount Stamps To Create An Album?

Hi, I have only been collecting for a few months, and my stamps are mostly on stock pages at the moment. I would be interested to know the different ways of mounting stamps, as eventually it would be nice to have some in an album.
I have used stock pages up until now as I have very few sets so do not want to mount them yet. Any suggestions or personal preferences would be a great help. Thanks for reading.
I am also reticent to hinge mnh stamps.
I apologise for the quality of the photo as I don't have a scanner and I also committed the heinous crime of taking a photo under indoor lighting....

black mount closed, hawid or open top mount,and of course hinge
Then there is black mounts vs colorless mounts

That's good, since there'd be no point to collecting MNH stamps otherwise.
Like already mentioned: the first big choice is whether you want mounts with black background, or clear. Then, either mounts that load from the top (only the bottom is sealed, or split-back mounts that are sealed at the top and bottom.
It's worth buying a few of each to figure out what you like, it's almost entirely a personal choice. Goes without saying, your pages will look terrible if you mix them all on a page or album.

I am partial to clear hawid mounts (sealed only at bottom). The downside is that you have to be careful to avoid too much jostling of your albums, but for routine use they are secure enough.

I prefer black background Scott/Prinz split mounts for all my albums.

@Ruthy,

You stated you collect small islands.

Some have, comparatively, conservative issuing policies. Others are printing lots of different stamps. All are focused on the philatelic market. As such, they also issue many miniature sheets.

The cost of creating album pages if you also collect modern issues may explode for such a field of interest. You might want to keep to stock pages. You can print inserts with information and include those.

Stock pages allow you a lot of flexibility. As your collection grows, you might like to change you presentation. That becomes a very expensive hobby if you have to keep replacing pages.

Thankyou all so much for your advice, it's difficult to decide but I might stick to stock pages at the moment due to cost and just mount mint sets as I get them. I am more interested in old stamps, so modern ones will probably always be on stock pages I think.
Thankyou all so much.

forgot there is also precut vs you have to cut mounts as well.

putting stamps in albums is fun. try downloading a free set of empty pages for a topical collection that is small and needs cheap stamps. Hinge them. What you will find is that it is exciting to mount the stamps.

Forget the albums and keep using stock sheets. Much more flexible for display, and the cost of stock pages vs mounts on a per stamp basis is lower for stock pages when it comes to small and medium sized stamps

I agree with DJC. I have only used Vario pages for permanent mounting of my stamps for the same reasons he mentioned. The only downside to Vario pages I've ever found is that the surfaces are soft so over time the pockets can become scratched or develop a somewhat cloudy patina.

Now if I could only do more about getting my collections into Vario pages. I currently have 13 full redboxes plus 5 tubs filled with stock cards that have to be sorted and mounted in Varios. Will keep me very busy well into retirement.

I have had issues with Hagners with the plastic strips coming off over time. Not sure if I had a bad batch or not, I did not store them improperly but that can be a risk for paper based storage solutions nor handled them excessively,

Angore, I guess that also means the Hagner stock sheets allowed stamps to come into contact with exposed adhesive.

shermae

The typical failure occurs when I would lift the flap to add a stamp and in the process it separates from the backing paper. The adhesive strip is dry (not migrating) so do not consider that much of a risk. I know others say they have never experienced any issues so it could be there was a bad production run, improperly stored by seller, etc

I store mostly minimum value stamps in them so no real risk and likely less damage than hinging them,

I'd sayit's a pretty common with Hagners unless you're extremely careful. I suppose it's the price we pay for having stock-cards that are easier to manipulate than Lighthouse's.