Small portfolio in Moleskine notebook

arigram · May 1, 2006

I was thinking of making a small portfolio in a Moleskine notebook. It wound't be a proper display one, but one to carry with to show the photos on a chance meeting. More for the others to get an idea.
I have this Moleskine notebook which I love and the size is just a bit larger than 120 6x6cm contact prints and 35mm printed at similar size.
There is also the slight larger one that could take 13x18cm (5x7") or 9x13cm (3.5x5") prints.
The small one is great for portabillity as it fits all jacket pockets but doing the contacts right could be a pain, considering I wouldn't be able to do some photos that need dodging and burning. Plus they are tiny. The larger one has a good size for small prints but it doesn't fit any pockets thus goes a bit against the idea of carrying it with me everwhere I go. I would have to think about and carry it on hand or elsewhere, especially since I don't carry a bag with me.

What do you think?

David A. Goldfarb · May 1, 2006

I've been thinking of doing just the same thing.

I have a small portfolio of my work on my iPod, and that is handier for things that are originally 5x7" or larger negs, but I suppose I could dupe them in a smaller format and reduce them for the "pocket portfolio."

One issue with a bound notebook is that if you mount prints in it, it expands and doesn't close flat, and the binding can stretch and become weak. I was thinking maybe of a postbound album with removable pages, like the Kolo albums, but these are usually too large. Another option may be to take the small Moleskine drawing book and remove every other page (leaving enough of the sheet so as not to damage the binding).

Another possibility might be to make a pocket sized box for small prints.

Jeremy · May 1, 2006

Maybe something like this would be easier as you could very exchange out prints and rotate your images at whim and need to worry about "securing" the prints. They come in 4"x6" and 5"x7" sizes which is in stride with the larger sizes you were discussing.

http://www.itoya.com/Catalogs/Profolio/Profolio_html/AP_Professional.htm

David A. Goldfarb · May 1, 2006

The attraction of the Moleskine notebooks is that they are themselves beautiful objects, and are very practical for keeping in a pocket.

Here's the smallest of the Kolo books--

Dead Link Removed

They look attractive, but the ribbon tie seems less practical than the Moleskine elastic band, and the Kolo is a little larger.

TheFlyingCamera · May 1, 2006

This is where something like LULU would really shine - put together a small book, say 6x6", to carry around, 20 pages tops. Then you have something that looks professionally printed, for no more than $50 or so, and you can easily replace it when it gets worn out.

arigram · May 1, 2006

Thank you guys but where the hell I am gonna find all that stuff? Moleskine I can buy from a local bookstore and it is the most elegant notebook I have found, that's why I thought of it.
What's LULU anyway?

Struan Gray · May 1, 2006

Moleskine make what they call a 'memo pocket', which is like a minature concertina file with the same black trim and elastic keeper as their other notebooks. 2.5" x 5.5" in external size, it's better for the more rectangular formats than squares, but it's a neat way to carry around a set of small prints.

TheFlyingCamera · May 1, 2006

www.lulu.com - they're a web business that lets you self-publish books in fixed sizes, completely customizable within those parameters, for very low cost, and no minimum quantity to print.

TheFlyingCamera · May 1, 2006

Another option for self-publishing - Dead Link Removed

Michel Hardy-Vallée · May 1, 2006

Last semester my MA cohort had a seminar session with the rare books dept. of the uni library, and one of the thing that caught my attention was a bound collection of manuscripts by Rudyard Kipling.

I don't know how it was made, but they essentially took the original manuscript page, and "framed" it into another sheet of paper. That way, the two sides of the manuscript were visible (flip the page), and the surrounding area of paper made it easy to bind without altering the original, without the problem of double paper size.

I have no clue as to who would do that, nor where you could find it, but it was very neat to say the least.

David A. Goldfarb · May 1, 2006

Struan Gray said:
Moleskine make what they call a 'memo pocket', which is like a minature concertina file with the same black trim and elastic keeper as their other notebooks. 2.5" x 5.5" in external size, it's better for the more rectangular formats than squares, but it's a neat way to carry around a set of small prints.

I use these to file 3x3" gel filters. They are perfect for this.

Struan Gray · May 2, 2006

David A. Goldfarb said:
I use these to file 3x3" gel filters. They are perfect for this.

Lest Moleskines be accused of having the Tardis-like property of being larger on the inside than on the outside, let me confess to having been off by an inch in my measurement. The memo pocket I have here is 3.5" by 5.5" in outside dimensions.

When sentencing I would like it to be taken into consideration that all rulers have been appropriated from our desk drawer for infant art projects, leaving for impromptu measurements only an analogue drafting scale, which starts its 1:1 inch numbering at minus one.

John Koehrer · May 2, 2006

Do you set the mole free once you've skinned it?

pelerin · May 3, 2006

David A. Goldfarb said:
<SNIP>.

One issue with a bound notebook is that if you mount prints in it, it expands and doesn't close flat, and the binding can stretch and become weak.
<SNIP>

Another possibility might be to make a pocket sized box for small prints.

Hi,
This may be one of those things that is easier to show than explain but here goes... David is quite right of course that if you mount the pictures to the pages of the book you will quickly end up with an overstuffed little book that won't close. This look may suit a mad english professor's briefcase but certainly not a photo portfolio. There is a simple solution. Fold open the moleskine (including the flyleafs) and use a robust guillotine to trim out the contents so you are left with perhaps 8-10mm of the original width of the page still bound into the book. carefully measure the stack the of paper. Measure how many sheets of the photo paper you like stacked back to back equal the thickness of the the sheaf of paper you removed. (allow for interleaving paper if you choose) You now have a set of contents that will not cause the book to bulge.

The idea is to mount them back to back and then attach them to the short spine left in then book. I have succesfully tried: gluing a short spine of thin rag paper between that prints which is then mounted to the books spine and, mounting the prints back to back with the with the books spine sandwiched between the two prints. teh first is more tedious but carries the advantage that one error (of measurement, placement slipping during glue-up etc.) doesn't sink the the whole process.

Since the number of prints that fill the book is quite a bit fewer than the the nominal page count I first had the idea of trimming out the excess page count (divided equally across the # of pages in the journal) and mounting the prints directly to the remaining pages. I found however that this incurred all the problems of method two above and added the problem of obtaining even trim (which the guillotine eliminates) YMMV.

Two things to remember are: allow for a gutter on the spine side and if you use the spine don't forget to include it in your measurement for the stack height.
best.
Celac.

David A. Goldfarb · May 3, 2006

That's a very neat solution. I like it.

David A. Goldfarb · May 9, 2006

So I'm on Jury Duty this week, and that means that on my lunch hour I can wander over to Pearl Paint on Canal St., just a few blocks from the Manhattan courts. I picked up some small Kolo albums--5x7" and 2-3/8" square, and I'm going to try them out. I figure I can either drymount or starch mount the prints. I picked up some archival wheat starch and a wide brush as well.

David A. Goldfarb · Jun 27, 2006

So I ended up making a 5x7" book of albumen prints with one of the Kolo albums, and I think it came out nicely. I drymounted one 6x6cm print on the cover and six 4x5" prints inside. I keep it in my camera bag in a 6x9" envelope.

I'd post a picture, but I don't have access to a digital camera or a scanner for the next couple of months.

foto-r3 · Jul 14, 2006

This is a neat idea. Please do upload some shots of yours, Dave, when you get the chance.

For anyone interested in the different models available:

http://www.moleskine.com/eng/default.htm

They have one model with detachable pages designed for drawing/painting but it may also have a place for photographs.

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 9, 2006

Back home, so here is the album, pages 1-5 of 8.

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 9, 2006

...and here are pages 6-8. The back cover is blank.

removed account4 · Sep 9, 2006

hi david:

really nice book!
its really nice to see photographs presented in book form.
i love how you included an image on the front cover. i keep wanting to do an image "on cover" but at the last minute shy away from it.

hi celac:

your suggestions sound like they work very well.
one thing i would also suggest is to stack the photos up and measure how high the stack is (compressed) this is the amount the book will expand "extra". when i have made books ( by hand ) either a closed spine or stab/japanese binding, you have to take into account this "extra" . in the case of a closed spine ( like a hard cover book you might buy in a store) the inner edge of each page is folded. this extra thickness of each page is enough to make the room needed. the pages/signatures are stitched and the cover glued. when it is a open ended / stab binding you can just interleave extra edges ( not the whole page but just an edge that is cut off ) between each page to add extra thickness. i like the look of torn pages on the sewn edge when it sticks out ( deckled edge ? ) so i don't fold the edge over when the spine is "open".

john

pelerin said:
Hi,
This may be one of those things that is easier to show than explain but here goes... David is quite right of course that if you mount the pictures to the pages of the book you will quickly end up with an overstuffed little book that won't close. This look may suit a mad english professor's briefcase but certainly not a photo portfolio. There is a simple solution. Fold open the moleskine (including the flyleafs) and use a robust guillotine to trim out the contents so you are left with perhaps 8-10mm of the original width of the page still bound into the book. carefully measure the stack the of paper. Measure how many sheets of the photo paper you like stacked back to back equal the thickness of the the sheaf of paper you removed. (allow for interleaving paper if you choose) You now have a set of contents that will not cause the book to bulge.

The idea is to mount them back to back and then attach them to the short spine left in then book. I have succesfully tried: gluing a short spine of thin rag paper between that prints which is then mounted to the books spine and, mounting the prints back to back with the with the books spine sandwiched between the two prints. teh first is more tedious but carries the advantage that one error (of measurement, placement slipping during glue-up etc.) doesn't sink the the whole process.

Since the number of prints that fill the book is quite a bit fewer than the the nominal page count I first had the idea of trimming out the excess page count (divided equally across the # of pages in the journal) and mounting the prints directly to the remaining pages. I found however that this incurred all the problems of method two above and added the problem of obtaining even trim (which the guillotine eliminates) YMMV.

Two things to remember are: allow for a gutter on the spine side and if you use the spine don't forget to include it in your measurement for the stack height.
best.
Celac.

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 9, 2006

Thanks, John. The Kolo albums are set up for cover images. The cover sheet is actually twice as long as the other pages, so it folds in half, and there is a 6x6cm window, and you can mount a photograph on the inside of the fold so that it will show through the window. Then the closure ribbon goes through a hole near the fold on the right edge of the book to keep it all together.

How are you mounting your photographs in your books? These are drymounted, but I've been experimenting with starch mounting a bit.

removed account4 · Sep 9, 2006

hi david

the kolo bookcover looks nice ..
i'll have to look into that as a quick alternative to what i have been doing ..
if i had an image on a cover, i would have to glue it to the book board, cut a window out of book cloth ( or whatever ) and do it that way. i always get a little nervous pasting to a book cover, and i would have to figure out a way to make the edge of the book cloth ( around the image ) to have a little extra thickness ...

for internal "block" pages, i have done it a few diffent ways.

one of them needed the photographs
to be easily removed. i placed each image on a page and
made a mark where each corner was and cut a diagonal to
slip each corner into the page ( kind of like a scrapbook ) ..

i like to use a simple paste ( rice or wheat linco from an art supply store ). the (top-side?) edge of the photograph was pasted down. i use wax paper, smoothed the pasted edge with the edge of my hand, and put between each page and just a few heavy books on top to keep it flat. it takes a little time to dry out -- and it can be reversed buy soaking in water. early on i made a few books where i pasted the whole image onto the page ( like dry mounting ). another way to get images into a book is to print small on a page, fold the edge over a 1/4 - 1/2 nch and drill your stitching holes right into the photo paper. no pasting required, but you don't have a decorative edge ... it can be reversed just by trimming the drilled edge.

i like just pasting an edge it seems to work best for me, but you have to remember it is paste when you store it in your fridge. once i forgot what it was and ate it by mistake thinking " i don't remember making cream of wheat ... " it didn't taste too bad

have fun!
john

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 9, 2006

Thanks!

foto-r3 · Sep 12, 2006

I like it. I really like the handwritten page, too.

Small portfolio in Moleskine notebook

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