Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is originally the art of creating albums with collages from clippings. The name of the technology comes from the English words ′scrap′ - a clipping and ′book′ - a book. With the help of scrapbooking, thematic albums are created, often dedicated to a specific event, holiday or date, and also family and personal chronicles.

However, in the handmade environment, the definition of ′scrapbooking′ also includes the creation of texture cards-collages, also called card making. In general, the reason for the fusion of technologies is clear: in both cases, they use similar technologies, materials and tools, the difference is only in the nature of the finished product.



Many different materials are used for scrapbooking: texture paper and cardboard, craft paper and calking paper, multi-colored foil, fabric, lace, ribbons and tape, photos, newspaper and magazine clippings, pictures, beads, sequins and beads, glitter and payettes, herbarium, various decorative trifles.

The special tools are also used in scrapbooking: shaped scissors and hole punches, stamps for creating pressing on paper or applying a pattern with ink. The page aging technologies are also used in scrapbooking - craquele coatings, paper toning, creating the effect of ragged edges.

Moreover, it is possible to create the composition with drawings and inscriptions by hand, and primitive pictures look great in this technology. There are templates for scrapbooking on sale - in the form of finished albums, cards, already cut out elements.

The digital analogs of technology became an imitation of handmade scrapbooking - in many programs it is possible to create collages based on ready templates, photos and pictures downloaded to your computer. Sometimes the handmade scrapbooking is combined with its digital version - the basis created on the computer is supplemented with ′real′ details that add texture to the composition.

In general, scrapbooking is a free and democratic technology that allows the author to express himself depending on his abilities. People who do not have special artistic skills will be able to master it – but scrapbooking will not constrain even experienced artists or designers.

Scrapbooking styles

Today there are several scrapbooking styles, each of them has its own distinctive features:

• Vintage. Nostalgic and noble style: hushed tones, rubbed pages, old photos and attributes (postcards, stamps, decorations for pages).



• Shabby-chick. Vintage with elements of chic, shiny details, atlas, rubbed gilding, floral decor (painted or dried) are used, tender pastel is preferred in colors.



• Legacy. The albums dedicated to the family history are created in this style. The design of each page corresponds to the time it tells about, the specific set of colors and attributes are used.

• Retro. The middle of the 20th century is a source of inspiration for retro style in scrapbooking. Its characteristic features are concise contrast patterns (square, strip, spots), printed ads, posters, clippings from magazines and newspapers, labels from goods of that time are used as materials.



• American style is a classic scrapbooking. It is typical to use a large number of different decorations that should not dominate over the main picture.



• European style. Restrained minimalism, the basic principle of creating the pages is the maximum photo with a minimum of decor. The shape of photos can be different - cutting circles, ovals, rectangles with rounded edges.



• Clean and simple - the design of pages uses a minimum of decorations, the preference is given to straight lines, usually one font is used (you can vary its size).

• Mix media - mixing styles and techniques.

• Freestyle is a free style characterized by an abundance of the details drawn by hand.

History

Scrapbooking developed from a fashion of designing albums for notes, clippings, memorable things that was popular in many European countries: England, Russia, Germany starting from the 18th century.

The art of making albums developed together with the development of the print industry. The printers published the circulation of books, at the end of which the reader could find several clean pages; a large assortment of notebooks and daily books went on sale. The creation and design of scrapbooking has become the favorite entertainment for women from noble families.

Later the appearance of photography facilitated the rise of scrapbooking - it was possible to keep an illustrated chronicle of your family.

By the way, one of the forerunners of scrapbooking was Mark Twain. In 1872 he received a patent for self-filling albums that were fitted with the strips of glue to fix a variety of small things. Later the writer invented 57 varieties of such albums.

The modern scrapbooking comes from the USA - there in the early 1980s, the first stores with the specialized materials appeared, books were written on technology and later the first sites appeared. Thanks to the Internet scrapbooking spread to the post-Soviet space, in particular to Ukraine and Russia.

Learning

In general it is not necessary to have the special training to create albums and cards in the scrapbooking technology. The principles of work are quite simple - cut, assemble, stick, design. In the case of scrapbooking, we are not talking about precisely following the instructions, but about the freedom of thought and expression.

But mastering the classes can be very useful, especially for the beginners in handmade. The scrapbooking beginners will be acquainted with an assortment of materials and tools at the master-classes; they will be taught the basics of creating correct and harmonious compositions; they will be helped to master the main techniques and tricks of technology.



Expenses and income

In general, the amount that people involved in scrapbooking spend on their hobby is very individual: it all depends on what materials the artisan works with, whether he uses special equipment or not. After all, you can limit yourself to anything comes to your hand or you can order expensive paper from the specialized stores, buy albums with ready templates, blanks for postcards...

Of course, those who are seriously interested in technology and especially who are going to make money on it, will need to buy the special materials. Their assortment is very wide and making an order, for example, in an online-shop each artisan will certainly face a common problem: I want everything at once. That is why it is worth making a list of necessary purchases in advance and determining the amount you are ready to spend. After ordering primary materials you can buy pleasant ′little things′: for example, shaped hole punches, scissors or stamps, textured powder or varnishes. So each craftsman will be able to make his own arsenal of tools gradually. By the way, before being scared of the cost of scrapbooking materials, you need to take into account: they are usually enough for a long time.

It is possible to earn money on scrapbooking by creating albums for memorable events: dedicated to the birth of a child, anniversary, wedding. Though in this case, it is better to cooperate with a photographer who has his own customer base or offer your services to the agencies organizing holiday photo session. One more option for selling the albums is to make the blanks with beautiful pictures, interesting decor and lyrical quotes where the client will be able to put photos on his own.

Also, many craftsmen who has experience in scrapbooking sell texture cards, it means that they are advanced in card making. The cost of handmade cards is about several tens of hryvnias; moreover, the invitations to the weddings are also in demand.