I only do custom binding work for a handful of people. One client regularly has me make photo albums that incorporate a wedding invitation into the cover so they can give it as a gift to the newlyweds. I’m pretty sure everyone they know gets married. What’s extra nice is the client allows me to choose my own adventure, in determining cloth, colors and size, as long as the end result passes for a wedding gift.

The most recent invite they gave me to use was a hanky with the text ironed onto it.

I was concerned that the ironed-on text wouldn’t hold up over time, so I decided to incorporate a corner of the handkerchief into the cover design and make a new name plate using the same font.

I backed a corner of the hanky with kozo (thin, strong Japanese paper). Prepped the chipboard and glued on the cover cloth. Then I cut out the area on the cover where I was going to inlay the handkerchief.

Et voilà.

On the left is the invite that I cut up, and the final album keeping it classy.

I also made this below wedding album the same day. The gold thread was worth it to wax for matchy-matchiness with the embossed gold text on the invite (which appears through the cut out in the cover).

Buttonhole stitch binding.

• Soundtrack: Lonnie Holley – Just Before Music; Jorge Federico Osorio – Ponce: Mexican Piano Music; Latin Playboys (self-titled); X – Under The Big Black Sun.