Wedding Guest Book, Album, and Clamshell Box with Sliding Drawer Compartment: Bear, Dog, and Maple Leaf Theme
This complete wedding set (album-style guest book, wedding album, and clamshell box with sliding drawer compartment) was created for a couple who wanted a slightly rustic look to their books. They wanted to incorporate the image of bear paw print, a dog paw print, and, in a nod to the wedding location in Canada, they wanted to incorporate a maple leaf in some way. Custom dies were required for each of these designs. The guest book would have both notes from the guests and photographs mounted on the pages so it was constructed like a photo album with room in the spine for the thickness of the photos, etc. that would be mounted on the pages later. The guest book and album are the same size: each has 40 pages with room to mount photos on one side of every page only. The pages are 7" tall by 11" wide. The natural deckled edge of the paper has been left on the outside edge of every page to add to the handmade look. The guest book and album both have dark brown goatskin leather covers. Images of the a bear print and a dog print have been blind stamped on the front covers. The guest book also has a photo of the couple in a slightly recessed rectangle. The album has tan lettering with the location of the wedding. Both books have a small maple leaf blind embossed on the back cover and the couple's names and wedding date on the spine in tan lettering. Both books also have a lovely Spanish marbled paper for endpapers. There is a tan linen ribbon page marker in the guest book.
The box was a large undertaking. One clamshell box holds both books and also has a sliding-lid compartment in the bottom to hold cards and mementos from the wedding. This box is covered in dark brown linen book cloth. The cover is stamped with a "falling leaves" design using the maple leaf stamped in tan. The bear print and dog print are stamped on the spine in dark brown stamping pigment. The lid of the sliding compartment has a title stamped in tan along with "walking" paw prints stamped in dark brown. The lid slides open by pulling on the tan linen loop at the front edge revealing a compartment below lined with more Spanish marbled paper.
A project with this many parts can take a few months to complete. Many thanks to my customer for contacting me well ahead of time! They contacted me in January for a wedding in August.
A set like this would cost something like:
Guest Book: $250
Album: $320
Clamshell Box: $360
3 custom dies for stamping the bear print, dog print, and maple leaf: $180 (approximately)
Total project cost: $1,110
