Lord of the Rings Themed Album with Chainmail Front Closure
This album was created as a wedding gift for a couple who really like the Lord of the Rings books. It is a 10"x10" album with about 50 pages where photos can be mounted on BOTH sides of the page. The cover has a metal ring that I forged and soldered from brass. The ring is half-embedded in the cover. Under the ring, there is a line of Elvish script stamped in gold. A custom die was made in order to stamp this lettering on the cover. On the back, there is a translation of the Elvish script (see detail photo below). The front edge of the album features a sheet of stainless steel chainmail. It is permanently attached to the lower cover of the album with U-shaped staples over a stainless steel rod (the ends of the rods are capped so that the chainmail cannot slide off). The chainmail then drapes up and over four sterling silver pegs sticking up from the front edge of the front cover. This allows for adjusting the chainmail closure (when the album is empty, the front edge of the book is much narrower and it widens as it is filled with photos; looking as it does above when it is completely full).
A book like this would cost around $500.