I've enjoyed reading this topic.. some nice pages and good info here for creating custom pages.
Since the mid-90's, I have been making my own pages out of frustration with the commercial pages, or more correctly my collecting habits didn't fit well on them.
I've tried several software's over the years: SmartDraw, Visio before it was a Microsoft product, Album Pro, Albumgen and a few others. Although it got a lot of bad reviews I settled on MS Publisher. I have Adobe Illustrator CS and InDesign CS, but find them frustrating to do the simplest of tasks. Adobe seems determined to not follow any usability methods that others use and the result is not user intuitive.
Most of the complaints about MS Publisher have been addressed by MS but you still need to "fine tune" it a bit. It can bog down more as the file size grows. I try to limit a single file to about 150-180 pages at the most.
I like to collect stamps and include additional formats on a second page. Most albums won't accommodate that neatly. Over many years I have created a series of pages which enable me to collect MNH but add pages all the Precancels for an issue, plate # singles, blocks, covers, etc. I also have page inserts for additional items such as what was going on during that period of time, costs of common goods, election/inaugurations, etc. All with uniform looks in chronological order. Since I use a ringed binder it's easy to expand and add pages.
So in an album... I'll have a series MNH on a page followed by pages for each individual issue in that series for the other formats and additional information. Those will/may have a used example, a plate number single, plate block, FDC. When applicable, I may also have another page for the precancels for that issue and in some cases a full pane. Although I've started to put them in a separate set of binders as they stick out due to their larger size and makes paging through the albums awkward.
It took a while and many tries before I managed to create a border design that I really liked. All of the border components are from a royalty free collection of graphics that I bought many moons ago. Each component was "fitted" together and in some cases had to be customized. I then created sets of standard boxes for the items to be added on the pages with fill in the blank spaces for the particulars of each.
The info presented on each page varies a bit depending on the issue(s).
I use 2-1/2" leather 3-ring binders with metal piano hinges. I managed to get 60 of them in great condition from work when they digitized records and were throwing them out.
Previously I used Mystic's Heirloom pages and binders and kept precancels and other items on manila and Vario stock pages.
For album pages, I print them one-sided on ivory archival card stock. For consistency I bought 6 cases at the same time. Just the Bureau precancel pages number 374 pages. I'm still working on pages for stamps, decade at a time and I'm up to the 1970's now.
I print them on an HP4700DTN which I bought locally through
ebay for $120. Added 3 trays to it for another $60 on
ebay and bought new HP Toner via Craigs List for $80. But this it not the only thing I print with it... It gets a lot of other use.
One of the attached is a screen shot of a precancel page the other just a random page.
Wow, I just previewed this... sorry for droning on and on guys...
Jeff
Posted 07/27/2015 09:42 am
. It must be a true pleasure to look in your albums. If you have 60 of them I suspect they will not all be for US - what other areas will get the same deal ?
