Scrapbooking
Scrapbooking [ ˈskɹæpbʊkɪŋ ] is a craft hobby. Photos are glued into a so-called scrapbook and decorated with stickers and other things that go with the photos. In contrast to conventional photo albums, stories are told in scrapbooks and the photos are presented in a special way through texts and artistic design of the pages. Depending on the event, tickets and the like are also glued into the scrapbook.
etymology
The word scrapbooking comes from the English "scrap", which means snippet, piece. These snippets and pieces of paper are glued into scrapbooks as pieces of the life story and collected. The first prominent scrapbookers were Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Mark Twain. In the 19th century, for example, scrapbooks were illustrated with wood engravings , in the 20th century mainly with image and text excerpts from magazines and newspapers; At that time, scrapbooks were by no means just used to illustrate one's own life story, but above all to individually put together illustrated collections on prominent people or groups of people such as noble families, film and theater actors, athletes, but also specific topics such as humor, sport and gymnastics etc.
The point of scrapbooking is to reduce photo albums to the best pictures and to put them in scene with accessories. At the same time, the story of the pictures should be recorded using small texts and notes. The overall impression tries to convey the mood at the time of the recording and thus to preserve it beyond the pure photo. At the same time, scrapbooking offers the opportunity to incorporate many artistic techniques and styles into the albums.
materials
The main materials needed for scrapbooking are:
- Paper, plain or patterned, as a carrier for the photos (a common format is 30.5 × 30.5 cm or 12 × 12 inches)
- Glues, scissors and motif punches to give the motifs an individual shape.
- Stamps and stamp pads for themed ornaments and decorations on the carrier material.
- Embellishments - decorations and applications made of fabric or cardboard, which are glued to the carrier material in addition to the photo.
- Colors (as pencils or liquid for application with brushes)
- Materials for binding the scrapbook - these can be simple wire comb bindings or individual thread stitching .
- Eyelets (eyelets in different colors and shapes)
- Masking tapes (motif adhesive tape)
scene
One of the characteristics of the scrapbook movement is that hobbies are often shared together. Workshops, in which certain techniques and skills are taught, are just as much a part of scrapbooking as so-called crops . Crops are meetings of scrapbookers in which the participants create their own work, often with a given thematic focus. Events with prominent scrappers are particularly popular. Tim Holtz and Donna Downey are among the particularly renowned greats on the scene. Another form of exchange among scrappers are swaps , in which scrappers exchange elements from scrapbook pages on predetermined topics in order to gain new impulses for their own works.
Alternatives
From a photographic point of view, scrapbooking is a little more problematic, as decorations and adhesives can emit chemicals that could damage or destroy the pasted photos. Acid-free and lignin-free materials should therefore be used for scrapbooking .
There is now also digital scrapbooking. It has the advantage that a layout , an album page with photos and decorative elements, can be created with graphics programs and the photos can be edited. It can then be bound to books by photo services .
Digital scrapbooking saves storage space for work equipment and accessories.
literature
- Jessica Helfand: Scrapbooks: An American History . Yale University Press, New Haven 2008, ISBN 978-0-300-12635-8 .
- Ramona Brinkmann: Scrapbooking: The Basics . pro literatur Verlag, Mammendorf 2006, ISBN 3-86611-257-2 .
