How to download/print/arrange your own stamp album pages

tonyevans1 · Post by **tonyevans1** » 18 Sep 2008 13:17

In this day and age of computers, printers (even colour laser under $200) and scanners many stamp collectors have turned to making their own pages and there has been a lot of talk about this elsewhere on the board but I think it is time to show the world our efforts in this department so here is mine to get the ball rolling.

I have been collecting UPU for a while now and with the aid of the internet it has grown into a fairly substantial collection but my wife said " That's great but how about putting it in an album so I can look at it instead of in all those boxes" so I decided to 'get stuck into it'.

I use PhotoShop to scan in and tidy up the images because I have it but there are many freebies out there that will do the job and then use Page-maker to construct the pages - It is very easy to use for this and as it is not sold or supported by Adobe anymore can be got for a song.

This is a single page from my growing album.

Please put up some of yours with details on what you used.

Tony

mobbor · Post by **mobbor** » 18 Sep 2008 20:11

Hi tonyevans 1
Sorry I don't understand. Those are stamps arn't they? What
do you scan with PhotoShop?
What paper are you using?
Personally I could do wothout the UPU 'logo' in the background,
but overall I think it's much better than a stockbook.
I would really like to do the same thing.
Regards

StampStudy · Post by **StampStudy** » 18 Sep 2008 22:20

I currently use www.stampalbums.com for my general collection - theyre cheap and have pages for most countries.

Then I use MS Publisher to create any new pages --- I used standard card but all stamps are in hawid mounts.

CollectorColin · Post by **CollectorColin** » 18 Sep 2008 23:20

Tony

Your page looks good but personally I would lose the logo in the background. It's too distracting. Maybe there is somewhere else on the page it could go.

Colin

dwhopper · Post by **dwhopper** » 19 Sep 2008 01:58

That's why they are his album pages, not yours. He designs and uses them any way he wants.

Alastair · Post by **Alastair** » 19 Sep 2008 02:58

Tony,

Here's an example of the pages I made for my GB collection.

The use is, of course, completely different from yours. The idea here was to have correct size boxes for each stamp from each series. As you can see, images can be placed in the boxes which are a bit smaller than the actual stamp so when the real stamp is procured, it can be added without the image getting in the way. The page descriptions for this are all 7-bit ASCII and I used Wordpad to make them (because I don't have a proper editor on my PC).

The underlying layout is all done automatically via some Postscript functions. You just send the Postscript to you printer (which has to understand PS, of course). I used Ghostview on my PC to preview the pages.

Alastair

CollectorColin · Post by **CollectorColin** » 19 Sep 2008 03:21

dwhopper wrote:That's why they are his album pages, not yours. He designs and uses them any way he wants.

well dwhopper pardon me for giving an opinion. I though Tony had posted the pages for comment.

Tony... if my comments offend you I apologise and will request a moderator to remove them.

dwhopper · Post by **dwhopper** » 19 Sep 2008 04:41

Colin

No need to get all shouty. I was just pointing out that the great beauty in making your own pages is you can make them any way you want. Many of us will likely think that the logo is distracting, but the owner wants it there and likes it.

I don't remember seeing a counter example from your own album or from an album you admire. These are for his use, not for exhibiting I have presumed, so there really are no rules. Just taste and we all know how variable that can be.

CollectorColin · Post by **CollectorColin** » 19 Sep 2008 05:12

dwhopper wrote: No need to get all shouty.

sorry!

Most of the time I use pages downloaded from http://www.stampalbums.com if I want an album page.

I have created some of my own using 'Stamp Album Studio'. This can be downloaded from

http://www.stampalbumstudio.nl/en/index.asp

Colin

Androcles · Post by **Androcles** » 19 Sep 2008 05:29

I like the UPU logo in the background a lot.

dwhopper · Post by **dwhopper** » 19 Sep 2008 06:10

Colin

Very nice research page layout. All the details you ever need all in one place.

But having said that I am sure somebody's taste would exclude the border or something else.

tonyevans1 · Post by **tonyevans1** » 19 Sep 2008 09:12

Great to see some lively discussion here - The UPU logo background water mark is a drawing by my partner and resident artist Karola and we both think it makes the pages stand out from the ordinary.

Mobbor - I scan in all the stamps and place them on the page under the mounts. I make the images a little smaller than the real thing so there is no sign of them when the real stamp is inserted (Some of which I doubt I will ever own). The Paper is 250gsm off white archival art card which give a nice stiff page almost as stiff as a Hagar.

Stamp Study - I have ALL the pages from www.stampalbums.com on my computer but wanted to make something a bit different for my UPU collection and any way I have not seen a recent album for UPU anywhere?

Colin & dwhopper - As dwhopper says they are personal pages for my collection and that's the way I want them. This thread was not started to cause controversy but to see what others are doing in this area. (BTW no offense taken). The Machin page is great but it is the kind of page I was trying to avoid as it was the stamps and the UPU story I am trying to show not the technicalities.

Alastair - Love it MUCH better and Cheaper than 'Proper brought pages' as some would say.

Androcles - Cheers

Lisamidge - Spectacular Lisa - I love the crest in the background and would love to see a populated page PLEASE.

Ormond · Post by **Ormond** » 19 Sep 2008 09:44

Colin

Thanks for sharing the http://www.stampalbumstudio.nl/en/index.asp link.

The software looks most useful.

Does anyone else have examples of pages made using this product?

Cheers

pembroke · Post by **pembroke** » 20 Sep 2008 11:07

I use AlbumEasy, when you understand how it work it is the simplest thing there is.

I made these pages in less than 60 mins.

you can find it here

http://www.thestampweb.com/documentation.html

crosscrescent · Post by **crosscrescent** » 20 Sep 2008 14:15

I like the idea of making your own album pages,
though I've not gone into this as most of
my stamps are not in any album
- mostly still in envelopes and plastic packets.

Am just thinking that if I were to let my love for colour get in the way,
the pages will be a riot of colour
and I may be more interested in the page than the stamps on them
- so better to resist the temptation......hehehe.

Cheers
Andrew 8)

tonyevans1 · Post by **tonyevans1** » 20 Sep 2008 15:52

crosscrescent wrote:I like the idea of making your own album pages,
though I've not gone into this as most of
my stamps are not in any album
- mostly still in envelopes and plastic packets.

Am just thinking that if I were to let my love for colour get in the way,
the pages will be a riot of colour
and I may be more interested in the page than the stamps on them
- so better to resist the temptation......hehehe.

Cheers
Andrew 8)

No Andrew, That's the whole idea

- Go for it and have your stamps displayed the way YOU want them

- Have a go and see how it turns out.

8) - Tony

StampStudy · Post by **StampStudy** » 20 Sep 2008 19:12

Here are a couple of my album pages -- nothing fancy but saves me from having to look for the items in a stock book. Ive tried to keep in the theme of stampalbums.com which i use for the rest of the pages.

StampStudy

vandemonia · Post by **vandemonia** » 20 Sep 2008 22:47

A simple page from my Red Cross collection. I use Microsoft Publisher, and Corel Photo-Paint X3 for the graphics:

John

DarrenK · Post by **DarrenK** » 21 Sep 2008 17:11

I use Page Maker & often use a CD I purchased (which I think is from stampalbums.com) as the basis for the pages. I found the borders were designed for clear mounts or hinges & I prefer to use black mounts. I increase the size of the borders & make them thicker. The borders are then larger than the mount so allow for some error when attaching them as you don't see the edge of the mount, just the printed black border. This gives the effect that all the mounts are square to the page. I find nothing worse than mounts at all different angles, it distracts from what you are trying to present.

crosscrescent · Post by **crosscrescent** » 21 Sep 2008 19:46

DarrenK,

I like the German one you made above. Kind of clever of you to have that overprint printed out separately.

Cheers
Andrew

Greg Ioannou · Post by **Greg Ioannou** » 22 Sep 2008 05:55

DarrenK wrote:I use Page Maker & often use a CD I purchased (which I think is from stampalbums.com) as the basis for the pages. I found the borders were designed for clear mounts or hinges & I prefer to use black mounts. I increase the size of the borders & make them thicker.

Interesting. I also used the stampalbums.com pages as a starting point and tinkered in pretty much the same way with the borders. I removed the country name from the top (in theory each page in an album is from the same country).

I then decided I wanted to show what I have, rather than featuring what I'm missing. So no blank spaces for the stuff I don't have.

So here's a page from my Samoa collection (I'd show the same era you did, but I don't have those ones done yet).

Greg

dwhopper · Post by **dwhopper** » 22 Sep 2008 11:35

Greg

Not familiar with the Gibvbons catalogue. Is it new?

Greg Ioannou · Post by **Greg Ioannou** » 22 Sep 2008 13:26

dwhopper wrote:Greg

Not familiar with the Gibvbons catalogue. Is it new?

Yeah yeah. I noticed that after I'd finished hinging the stamps to the page. Briefly considered redoing it then moved on. Life's too short. It's not like I'm ever going to exhibit Samoa!

Greg

Post by **admin** » 22 Sep 2008 14:03

Greg Ioannou wrote:

Yeah yeah. I noticed that after I'd finished hinging the stamps to the page. Briefly considered redoing it then moved on. Life's too short. It's not like I'm ever going to exhibit Samoa!

Greg

(Error of colour $A275)

Greg .. add a few pieces like this from my Rarity page, and you MIGHT want to exhibit your Samoa.

Re the pages above, the thing one learns as a dealer for decades, is that EVERYONE likes to display their stamps differently.

Which is good, and healthy.

Even down to very simple things as black mounts or clear mounts the collectors are split 50/50.

Glen

tonyevans1 · Post by **tonyevans1** » 22 Sep 2008 15:26

Gee Glen - I would have thought that the sensible people who like the clear mounts would have been at least 80%

Thanks for your input on this.

Tony

Greg Ioannou · Post by **Greg Ioannou** » 22 Sep 2008 15:31

admin wrote:

The problem with buying something like this is that you spend the rest of your life searching for the matching piece with all the blocks of shilling values (and then can't afford it when you finally find it).

Greg
.

Post by **admin** » 22 Sep 2008 15:39

tonyevans1 wrote:Gee Glen - I would have thought that the sensible people who like the clear mounts would have been at least 80%

Thanks for your input on this.

Tony

My guess is more than 50% buy BLACK. From me anyway. 8)

For some countries with bright colour stamps like PNG they look 100 times more attractive on black than clear is a comment I often hear.

Often folks buy 'standard" pre-printed albums and use the black mounts on them, as they dislike the clear ones the album companies use.

My only tip to give here .. whether using them for that, or as several members above have done for their home made pages is to use a stamp mount GUILLOTINE.

It is simply impossible to cut black mounts with scissors and get them square.

One client refused to pay me the $40 or whatever these cost, saying it was an extravagance he did not need to buy, telling me his steel ruler and Stanley box-cutter type knife were all he would ever need.

One day he bought the Guillotine.

I laughed and said "So, was the other way taking too long?" and he replied "No, I took the very top of my index finger right off, as the Stanley knife caught a small chink in the edge of the steel rule".

Remember you are cutting hard shiny slippery mylar - using much pressure - not paper, and the change of losing a tip of a finger, or getting a deep gash are VERY real, using a blade.

This page in clear mounts would look FAR less attractive - in my personal view: 8)

Glen

Post by **admin** » 22 Sep 2008 15:45

The problem with buying something like this is that you spend the rest of your life searching for the matching piece with all the blocks of shilling values (and then can't afford it when you finally find it).

Greg

Greg ... yes, as I say in my write-up if sender HAD used the high vals to pay this same parcel, I'd basically be adding a ZERO to the price!

Had the sender used for this 8/8d parcel franking, a 5/-, 2/-, 1/- and 2 x 4d, you could near add a zero to my price! These lower values are heavily under-rated and under-valued. For instance only 1,600 of the modest cat 4d were printed - versus say 535 of the 5/- which is Cat by SG in 4 figures mint or used.
.

Kloster · Post by **Kloster** » 22 Sep 2008 22:59

hmm, from the looks of it, this system may be easy to use and I love "easy to use" programs.

Esp when thinking that I'll be making my own pages for Post war Germany Specialised (all zones)

Thanks for the links.

Kloster .... 10 days untill a new internet connection is comming!

Greg Ioannou · Post by **Greg Ioannou** » 22 Sep 2008 23:36

Kloster, it isn't especially easy to use if you're making your own pages. If you want to print out the pages with no modifications, it is great. But if want to make your own, you need to buy some outdated software (Pagemaker 6.5), which isn't especially easy to use. I've stopped using it, and now make similar pages using Word (also not easy to do, because it is lousy at placing text within the page frame).

I've thought of tinkering with having the frame as a watermark so that the rest of the page would behave better, but haven't quite figured out how to do that yet.

Anyone have a Word document template for album pages that's easy to use?

Greg

CollectorColin · Post by **CollectorColin** » 22 Sep 2008 23:53

Greg Ioannou wrote:... I've stopped using it, and now make similar pages using Word (also not easy to do, because it is lousy at placing text within the page frame).

I've thought of tinkering with having the frame as a watermark so that the rest of the page would behave better, but haven't quite figured out how to do that yet.

Anyone have a Word document template for album pages that's easy to use?

Greg

Word is not an easy program to use for album pages for the reasons you mention. Publisher is better as you can place items much more easily but I really do reccommend http://www.stampalbumstudio.nl/en/index.asp. It is easy to use and you can try it out for free.

Colin

CollectorColin · Post by **CollectorColin** » 22 Sep 2008 23:56

Greg

If you are set on using Word, this guy has an interesting looking template - http://www.geocities.com/stampword/index2.htm

Not tried it myself though.

Colin

Greg Ioannou · Post by **Greg Ioannou** » 23 Sep 2008 03:03

Stamp Album Studio sure looks like the easier to use of those two options!

Greg

The Pom · Post by **The Pom** » 23 Sep 2008 04:10

StampStudy wrote: I used standard card but all stamps are in hawid mounts.

How long have you had your stamps mounted like this?

I had some mounted similarly, and after a few years the mounts started going brittle. I'm guessing that something in the paper didn't get on with the plastic in the mount.

Didn't seem to harm the stamps, but the whole lot had to be remounted.
Cheers
Chris

DarrenK · Post by **DarrenK** » 23 Sep 2008 20:34

Hi Greg,
Not listing the country is probably a good idea. You don't generally have multiple countries together & its pretty obvious with most stamps as to their origin.

I thought long & hard over leaving gaps for rare/expensive items that I am unlikely to obtain. I have considered scanning images for these & printing them onto the page & not placing a mount on them until/if they came along. A friend cuts images from catalogues & puts these in the mounts.

One of the other things I have toyed with is actually obtaining photos of the building/people/topic & having these on an opposite page or maybe as a back drop. I have seen some displays with enlargements of faults & I think that is a great idea. Trying to explain something like a broken numeral or a missing line in words just doesn't say it as well as a big blow up of the error.

I will have a play with some photos as I have just found a box full of postcards from different areas around Germany from the 30s, 40s & 50s. It has lots of scenes that I could fit in with the stamps. Bank notes from the period is something else I will look at as I have some nice copies from the pre war period.

RolyRJ · Post by **RolyRJ** » 23 Sep 2008 22:20

As many of you know my passion is the New Zealand Penny Universal.

It is relatively easy to produce web pages to display many of the thousands of varieties as shown at

https://www.stampboards.com/images/stamps4u

The challenge came when I finished reconstucting my first sheet of 240 (10 rows x 24 columns) as shown at

https://www.stampboards.com/images/stamps4u/W2Rec.htm

(To see the detail up-close-and-personal click on any of the dark images. )

It is THESE pages that I have made into paper copies to make up a 240+ page album. !!!

I now have 5 such albums each of a different reconstucted Plate.

A sample is shown below with the block in the middle and microscope scans around the edges showing the intimate details.

Page produced using Publisher, Website produced using Notepad.

Cheers

Roly

Philatelius · Post by **Philatelius** » 29 Sep 2008 08:34

It's really interesting to see what everyone has done with their album pages.

I designed my custom USA pages so all stamps obviously from the same set are displayed together, regardless of how the catalogues number them. New additions to a series force me to redesign a couple of pages, but it's worth it to keep sets together.

My focus is primarily on used singles, so I had no need to include spaces for blocks. I simply create a new page for the odd used setenant block that comes my way.

I use OpenOffice.org's Writer program to design my pages. (If you're not familiar with it, OpenOffice.org is a free-to-use open-source alternative to Microsoft Office.)

Here's a sample of one of my pages with stamps mounted on it.

If you're interested, you can download my album pages for free.

gandly · Post by **gandly** » 07 Oct 2008 21:25

Folks,

Have been following this forum for a while now and have finally been able to produce some of my own sheets for Australian Antarctic Territory stamps.

I have used the free application from https://www.thestampweb.com that was recommended by "pembroke" on this post on September 20th. and amended it to suit my needs.

After a bit of trial and error and with help from my computer literate son I have now mastered the system and find it very user-friendly.

Worth having a look at.

Thanks pembroke for the heads-up!

gandly

Ricolo · Post by **Ricolo** » 07 Oct 2008 22:27

I love it with a little more color. The stamps are here only smaller placeholderpics.
(Made with Microsoft Publisher)

gandly · Post by **gandly** » 07 Oct 2008 23:10

ricolo,

I agree - the colour works very well as you have shown.
Will need to investigate ways and means of adding some to my page(s).
Is there a particular section within Microsoft Publisher that produces pages like that or did you have to add borders, banners etc. yourself?

gandly

P.S. I'm afraid I'm pretty computer illiterate so can only work with fairly simple programs.

Ricolo · Post by **Ricolo** » 08 Oct 2008 00:14

I add the banners etc. self, but its easy. If you like, I can send you the publisher file.

Cheers Rico

gandly · Post by **gandly** » 08 Oct 2008 10:52

Rico,

Thanks for the offer of the publisher file.

I have Microsoft Publisher as part of the Microsoft Office 2000 package so I will have a play with that first. If I don't have any success I will get back to you regarding sending of the file.

Thanks again for your input.

Regards

Geoff
gandly

Eric Casagrande · Post by **Eric Casagrande** » 08 Oct 2008 11:16

Wow ... neat layouts on some of these pages.

pembroke · Post by **pembroke** » 12 Oct 2008 23:24

gandly wrote:Folks,

Have been following this forum for a while now and have finally been able to produce some of my own sheets for Australian Antarctic Territory stamps.

I have used the free application from https://www.thestampweb.com that was recommended by "pembroke" on this post on September 20th. and amended it to suit my needs.

After a bit of trial and error and with help from my computer literate son I have now mastered the system and find it very user-friendly.

Worth having a look at.

Thanks pembroke for the heads-up!

gandly

No prob's gandly, it's a great little program

Krone und Adler · Post by **Krone und Adler** » 26 Jun 2010 11:03

Hi Stampboard members,

I am interested in hearing your responses to the following as I need to buy some software for album page design and not sure what to get:

- what stamp album page design software do you use?
- what is it that makes this software easy to use?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Regards

Tim

Krone und Adler · Post by **Krone und Adler** » 26 Jun 2010 11:12

Hello Stampboard members,

As an aside to my earlier thread regarding album page design software, I am interested in seeing an example of one of your own created album pages. I would be most appreciative of any designs that you share, and any tips that you may have.

Best regards

Tim

GUTTERS · Post by **GUTTERS** » 26 Jun 2010 11:45

type
stamp album page design software
into the google search section at the top of the page and it will bring up 8 pages on the subject
hope you can find what you want there

Lakatoi 4 · Post by **Lakatoi 4** » 26 Jun 2010 12:08

Jay,

Only problem with your idea is the stamp info. is lost when you put the holding sleeve with the stamp onto the page

Would it be an idea to have the info. under each stamp square (I know this will require more pages)

muruk · Post by **muruk** » 26 Jun 2010 13:03

Hi, I'm in the process of deciding how to assemble an album as well. I'm going to produce my own because I want to display other items than just stamps. Pieces, covers, postmarks, postcards, postal stationery and such.

I will most likely be using Microsoft Word because it is a program I am familiar with, having used it since verion 2 was released decades ago. I will, however, have a look at Microsoft Publisher and see if that has any more useful features.

I don't have a sample yet, but intend to present less stamps and more information on the pages ... probably as described for an exhibition in another thread on here. I like flying tiger's idea of notes on the facing page ... but might also put technical data in a footnote strip at the bottom of each page.

My immediate problem is to source the necessary materials. I intend using A4 format to facilitate the printing process but this does not seem a popular size among stamp supply dealers. I know it exists in scrapbooking lines as well, but none of the suppliers around here stock other than 12" x 12". If anyone knows a good brand/supplier for A4 albums, slipcovers and plain pages you might mention them here also. I live in country Victoria where eBay is the best place to shop (or other mail order internet providers).

tazzles · Post by **tazzles** » 26 Jun 2010 13:15

muruk wrote: My immediate problem is to source the necessary materials. I intend using A4 format to facilitate the printing process but this does not seem a popular size among stamp supply dealers. I know it exists in scrapbooking lines as well, but none of the suppliers around here stock other than 12" x 12". If anyone knows a good brand/supplier for A4 albums, slipcovers and plain pages you might mention them here also. I live in country Victoria where eBay is the best place to shop (or other mail order internet providers).

If you intend to ever exhibit what you write up, then better consult the APF website and check the page sizes of the exhibition quality pages and protectors they sell. You cannot currently exhibit on A4 pages in Australia due to outdated exhibition frames.

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