This project is a first in a series with details on how we produce your projects, from start to finish.

I was given the opportunity to design & print the 2010 calendar for The Oak Run History Group.  I love doing stuff with old photos… though I’ve never been much of a “scrap booker”, I felt like these photos deserved something with a little whimsical feel, but with the old fashioned detail old photos look best on (know what i mean?)  We originally had the design with an old fashioned candle burning in the corner with a quill at the bottom, all done in 3d style with gradient meshes, but the need to squeeze more photos warranted it’s removal.   The basic idea, have a notepad of 12 calendar pages mounted to a nice poster that will become a frame-able poster after the calendar is gone.  You’ll follow some of the challenges I faced with this project below…

After about 3 hours in graphics, we have an approved proof the client has approved to print.  The finish size of the poster is 11×17, but notice how the ink “bleeds” off the edge.  You have to include a little extra artwork to be trimmed off to get this finished look.  So we digitally print it on 12 x 18 cardstock, and cut it down to the bleeds at 11 x 17.

Over the bottom portion of the poster for the year will sit the actual calendar itself… So the bottom photos are kind of a surprise at the end of the year.  For the calendar pages we’ll use 12 sheets of 20# white bond paper and we “pad” them with chipboard (recycled cardboard) at the top edge, just like a regular notepad.

The challenges in production:

The regular calendars I have made in the past just get stapled to the poster part, but since this poster was going to remain a keepsake, I didn’t want to damage it with staple holes or any glue.  So, I thought and thought… I need something to attach the chipboard backer to the poster, without causing damage to the front of the poster.  I decided to try my regular label stock, 60# mac-tac (permanent adhesive)… then I perforated a 7 x 2 inch strip vertically so the perforation will fold the strip to 7 x 1 inches.  I attached half of it to the chipboard under the calendar pages, folded it at the perforation, then attached the other half to the back of the poster.  This way, the calendar pad is attached at both sides to the back of the poster, and when the year is gone, the user can break the perforation to remove the chipboard from the poster without any damage to the front of the poster.  See below for more…

Oak Run History's 2010 Calendar with Poster

So I see 3 downsides to this form of bindery:

1. Label stock is not as cheap as staples
2. A portion of the label will remain on the backside of the poster after the calendar is removed
3. There is no attachment to the poster along the 11 inch edge at the top of the calendar pad.

I can’t help but realize that this may not the best way to attach the pad to the poster (darn!)  As of 11/11/09, I will be working on this project… I hope to post it’s progression as it goes!

11/24/09 Update:  So I printed 10 extra calendars for this project and totally wasted only 2 completed calendars to test the sticker bindery method.  I really wanted to test how rough I could be at tearing off the calendar pages one by one while it was hung on the wall, the test was to see if those perforated stickers would hold the pages to the poster thru the entire year.  To my surprise, they really held up well.    I was worried that the perforated sticker would come apart because I folded the sticker on the perforated line and put that fold right on the edge of the poster & chip board backer of the calendar pad.  The first one I tested ripped after the first 4 months were torn off… Then Mom had the idea to just put the perforation about 1/32 of an inch more toward the back of the poster.  It worked better!  Mom’s always right!  When I had the perf right on the edge of the poster, there was a little sticker showing after the pad was removed, and it just looked sloppy.  By putting the perf slightly more toward the back of the poster, it left a clean edge on the face of the poster, and no perforated sticker showed from the front.  (Thanks Mom!)