Good morning, everyone! It seems that many of you enjoyed the first tutorial on mini album bindings that I published 2 weeks ago. Well, get ready…cuz if you liked my last tutorial, I think you’re going to LOVE this one 😉 I have a whopping 5 more binding methods to share with you 🙂 …let’s get to it!
Elastic Hair Ties
This binding method is very similar to the 3 ring binding system By Laura Denison (Follow the Paper Trail on YouTube) that I shared with you in my last tutorial. The only difference is that you use elastic hair ties rather than binder rings 🙂
First, you’ll want to prepare the covers for your mini album…complete with chipboard spine. You’ll then want to punch holes through the chipboard spine to accommodate the hair elastics. I typically like to reinforce the holes using 3/16″ eyelets:
Attach a jump ring to the elastic, and thread the elastic through one of the holes. Ensure that the jump ring is on the outside of the spine:
Now, add all of the pages onto the elastic, and thread the elastic through the second hole in your binding. To hold the elastic in place, add a second jump ring to the second end of the elastic on the outside of the spine:
The elastic should be slightly stretched and taught. Otherwise, your pages will become easily misaligned and “flop” around. If the elastic is too long to be taught using jump rings, that’s okay…you can always tie the two ends of your elastic together instead. You can even be creative and create a corseted look on the spine by weaving a ribbon through the elastic ends in a zigzag pattern:
Duct Tape
This next binding method uses duct tape to bind your pages together. I’m sure you’ve probably seen some people use duct tape to cover the spine of their mini albums…this is different. The binding itself is created solely from duct tape 🙂 I found this wonderful YouTube tutorial by Linda Kaiser (The Paper Boutique) showing you exactly how to create this binding for your albums:
Hidden Hinge by Kathy King
This binding method has got to be one of the most popular binding methods I’ve seen used. It was created by Kathy King (The Paper Phenomenon) Here’s her video of this fabulous binding method:
This is probably my favorite binding method; however, I do add my own spin to it. Typically, this binding is attached to a solid chipboard spine. The disadvantage of doing this is that your mini album pages may not lay flat when your album is open.
My solution is to start by gluing a piece of muslin (or other thin fabric) to the back of the hinged binding. Then, attach your chipboard covers to the two end flaps of the binding. Finally, I finish the binding using a flexible material, such as Grungepaper or Kraft-Tex. I wrap the Kraft-Tex onto each of the front and back covers. This covers the paper hinge binding, while allowing the spine to remain flexible and your pages to lay flat when the album is open.
You can see how I finish the binding in the following video:
Hidden Hinge Plus™ by Kathy King
This binding method was also developed by Kathy King, and is patent pending. (Don’t worry…she gave me permission to share her binding system here and embed her YouTube video 😉 ) This binding is a variation on her hidden hinge binding, but with modifications to help solve the problem mentioned above…allowing your pages to lay flat when your album is open. I, personally, haven’t tried this binding method; however, have no doubt that it is another great method. It is definitely on my “to do” list 🙂 Here’s the YouTube video that Kathy created showing how to construct this binding:
Pencil Binding
This is the last binding method that I will be sharing with you, and is definitely very cool and worth a try 🙂 Denise Hahn from “In My Blue Room Designs” created a tutorial on her blog on how to create this type of binding. I did create a little test album using this system, and quite like how it turned out:
The pages turn quite easily, and the spine remains flexible, allowing your pages to lay flat when your mini album is open 🙂 The diameter of the pencils does determine the spacing between your pages, but you can always use larger wooden dowels to gain a bit of space between your pages.
If you learn better by “seeing” rather than “reading”, you are in luck! I found the following YouTube video by Jenny W. Chan, which is quite similar to Denise’s method of creating this binding:
Well, that concludes my mini album binding tutorials. It definitely is not a comprehensive list of the ways in which you can bind the pages of your mini albums, but I really do think it is a good list of the best of the best 😉 I hope you find a method that you enjoy using, and perhaps even find a new favorite method of binding your minis 🙂 Thanks for popping by! Cheers!
