An interesting part of designing and developing a scrapbook is that of deciding
on the background for the pages. Not all have to be the same, of course, and with
different subjects covered in different pages they may all have a different feel.
While plain backgrounds are easy to use and define, the thought of using something
different in the background has become popular of late, and one of the most innovative
and interesting advances by scrapbookers is that of adding book jackets as background
to the project.
Why book jackets?
Book jackets can make interesting background subjects especially when the book is
very personal to the creator, or it fits with the subject of that page of the scrapbook.
Most books – hardback versions – come with detachable dust jackets, and these are
often faced with an image, the title, and on the back sometimes a picture and a
description of the author. Book jackets can be very interesting and graphically
appealing items in their own right, hence their popularity as adornment on scrapbook
pages.
Using an actual book jacket is a method preferred by many, as it gives the full
impact of the actual book, and reproduces the original shades and design.
Problems with using book jackets
There are problems with this technique, however: the first is that book jackets
tend to be finished with a gloss coating or varnish, and this can make it very difficult
to find a way of adding adornments to the jacket itself, and the second is that
the chemicals used in the printing process may transfer to the pages of the scrapbook,
and this creates added problems.
Book jackets may be printed using acidic inks, or on acidic paper, and these acids
can start to erode the pages of the scrapbook and age it sooner than it should.
The acids eat away at the fibres of the paper, dissolving some and detaching others,
and cause rapid disintegration of the paper itself.
Solutions to this problem are to laminate the book jacket before use – a method
that while effective, takes away from the impact of the book jacket in the design
– and to position it in a plastic sleeve – this method providing a rather unattractive
solution to the problem.
Making a copy of the book jacket
The better solution – one that leaves your book with a jacket intact, and you scrapbook
with a design of the book jacket on the page – is to copy the book jacket and use
the copied image as the background.
Using a home PC and scanner, a decent copy of the jacket illustration can be made,
on acid free paper like the rest of the scrapbook, and this used as the representation
of the jacket over the background.
Alternatively, if you can not get a decent or satisfactory reproduction at home,
visit one of the many copy centres on the high street, and for very little cost
they will provide you with a full colour reproduction of the chosen book jacket.
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