Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I love all the discussions about everyone's various collecting methods - albums, stock books, Steiner pages, etc. I've spent days and days (and days, days and more days) comparing, contrasting and fretting over how to organize and display my collection.
Often when I get frustrated with how I'm organizing things, I "quit stamps" for a while. Sometimes a few weeks and sometimes for a few years!
I felt one of those moments coming on today, but rather than quit, I took a survey of all the ways I've done things over the past 20 years.
My hope is that by sharing all this, there will be some picture examples the next time someone asks about organizing on Vario pages, or using Steiner pages, etc. etc.
My secondary hope is that you'll all chime in with your system and post scans too. I think I have all the categories covered, but I'd love to see your Vario pages / hand drawn pages, etc. too!
One final note: I seem to have opened up all my books to the common 1950 - 1975 era. It'll help me stick to the topic as all the stamps are rather common! lol.
So here's an overview (the links are to hi-res pictures):
hi-resClockwise from top left: Steiner pages, stock book, pre-printed album, DIY page, Vario stock page
There it is in all it's glory.
Over the past 20 years, the part of my collection that is formally catalogued has been organized no fewer than 5 different ways. Like many of you, I also have boxes, binders and books of stamps still waiting to join my main collection. But that's another post. Let's tackle them in the order I pursued them.
Pre-Printed Commercial Album
hi-resCanada "Unity" album by Canadian Wholesale Supply, with pages through 1995.
When I got back into collecting as an adult in 1995, I bought an all different packet of Canadian stamps and a CWS Unity album. All colour pages, with space for stamps through 1995.
I liked sorting and hinging the stamps in the album, but there were a few problems:
- I didn't bother with buying supplements, so all my post: 1995 stamps are in a stock book
- Pairs, duplicates with cool cancels, etc. either end up in the margins or on blank pages interspersed throughout the album
- I thought the colour pages were the bees knees, but over time I don't like them as much. The stamps don't POP on the page. My VF used Bluenose doesn't stand out near as well as it should - it fights with the headers.
- Most pages don't have very many stamps on them. 8 - 10 per page is pretty much the average. So the album is thick. One country, from 1851 - 1995, take nearly 300 pages.
Besides, it's not like I was going to buy pre-printed pages for every country, so for everything else, I started making my own pages.
DIY Album Pages
hi-resHand made album page using CWS "Superb" pages, a Calligraphy marker and a shaky left hand
When I got interested in Scandinavian stamps, I started making my own pages. I started by hand lettering things, but once I got a copy of Microsoft Visio through work, I started using that program to lay out pages.
hi-resHand made page, using Microsoft Visio
The computer pages let me put more detail about each stamp issue. It was very labourious to hand letter legible details about each issue.
I didn't draw boxes for each stamp so I could "hide" incomplete sets. I tried to leave enough space for the complete set so I can just move the stamps about as I add them to my collection.
I liked this method and built pages for my entire Norway collection this way. But after that I stopped. I got hung up on a few things:
- I was spending more time at my computer than with my stamps. Even with my basic writeup, I was only creating one or two pages in a session.
- It also meant my stamp table needed to be beside my computer and printer, which didn't really work in our house.
- And there were too many diversions - fonts, borders or no borders, etc. etc. I could spend days just playing around with typefaces. So I did!
I wanted to maximize time with my stamps. So, like many of us, I took a trip over to see our friend Mr. Steiner.
Stamp Albums Web, aka Steiner Pages
hi-resA "Steiner page" from Germany, laser printed on cream coloured cover stock
I'd been a fan of Bill Steiner's pages from the beginning. I downloaded many of his pages way back when he offered them for free, and later bought an annual subscription. A Sunday afternoon spent at the office with a laser printer and a ream of cover stock and I had pages for Germany and Great Britain.
I like this method a lot. I spent many fun evenings hinging in my lovelies.
The method I used was to keep a file folder of empty pages and then only add them to my binder if I had a stamp for the page. So every album in my binder has at least one stamp.
If you don't mind the sparsely filled pages, this method works quite well. I stuck with this method for a few years, right up until I opened my bakery and work got in the way of any collecting.
There are a few things that bug me about Steiner pages though:
- I don't have very many full pages. Even though I have a lot of Great Britain, most pages were only 30% to 50% full, for example. I never felt like my collection was improving with all those spaces.
- Many modern booklet stamps, mini panes are displayed as a large rectangle. I collect used stamps, so often I'm trying to recreate the sheetlet one stamp at a time. That's pretty ugly, even when it's complete (compare to the Sweden booklet stamps above)
- I tend to like keeping definitive sets together. Even modern sets or super long sets like Norwegian Posthorns. The Steiner pages, like Scott or any other pre-printed album splits them by year, at least by 1960 to current or thereabout.
- those cool coil pairs, that splendid cancel, etc. end up in the margins or tucked away on a blank page.
Stock Books
When the bakery got so busy that I needed a distraction, I turned back to the internet, and my collection. Just like in '95. There was this cool Finn named Keijo who had a blog with a ton of info for the general worldwide collector. I was smitten with what he was doing and tried out his stock book method.
hi-resA stock book page using the SCB method. How do you scan a stockbook page? Yeesh!
The theory here is you put the stamps on every second row, leaving space for additions. Then when you fill the empty rows with additions, it's time to split the collection between two stockbooks.
I filled (or half filled!) five stock books with Australia, New Zealand, South America and various European countries from a box lot I purchased around that time. You can't blame me for giving it an honest try!
For me, I didn't like this method. I spent way more time than I wanted moving stamps from one page to the next, or one stock book to the next, as I needed to expand. And this sequential layout just doesn't feel like a 'collection' to me. The lack of any write up doesn't work for me either.
Keijo, "Blaamand" and Michael, among others, use this method and then make 'digital writeups' as PDF files. They look really nice, but I like to flip through my albums for fun, and this method felt like I was flipping through stamps that needed to be put into my collection, rather than looking at my collection.
Which brings me to my latest endeavour...
Stock Pages
hi-resSweden King Oscar issues on a Vario Page
I bought a bale of Vario Stock Pages and started moving my Scandinavia collection. I found that, so far, it works very well for me, especially for definitive stamps or anything where I want to keep multiples.
The smaller definitive stamps fit well in a 7 row sheet and most long commemorative stamps still fit in a 5 row sheet. Mini-panes and souvenir sheets fit well in a 2 row sheet. I tend to organize a country by definitives, commemoratives and then souvenir sheets due to the Vario sheet sizes.
I write up little descriptions on white paper and add them into the mix too.
Vario pages are pretty expensive though. Over $1 per page where I live, which makes it hard for me to spread out commems like a commercial or Steiner album page. The result is for commemorative sets, things don't look much different than stock books. I added year markers, but other than that I just stuff them in there.
hi-resVario Stock Page, with stamps from Denmark
With Varios, it's very easy to move stamps around. I never have to move them more than a page when I need to expand. And the stamps stay in place much better than in my stock books. And I love the black background - the stamps really look like they are on display.
Conclusion: No Best Solution
At the beginning of this tome, I said I was still frustrated. It's true, I'm not sure Varios are the ultimate for me, although they are the best thing I've done so far.
I think I may go with a combination. Definitives in front on Vario pages, followed by commemoratives on Steiner pages. Or I'll rearrange the Varios to lay out the commems more like Steiner and live with the cost of more Vario pages.
So what do you think? Any other versions out there? Any stock book users out there with a better system? Any Vario users with more detailed writeups? Show us how you do it!
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Well you sure have put "trial and error" to the test! I for one think there is a lot to be said for conformity of pages in a collection. At which point I would go with the Steiner.
On the other hand the varios will go into the same three ring binders as the Steiners so you could do that for the definitives as you seem to want to do. If you do not like it later on it will not be that much trouble to print the extra Steiner pages for the definitives. I usually just use varios for Revenues, Cinderellas and other oddball items I can't get printed pages for. You seem to not like blank spaces but that's what it's all about in filling them, if you can't see them or have a good needlist you will not know what you need. The main thing is making a choice so you can get on with collecting
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Hi Mark,
You definitely seem to have tried most of the ways that I have tried for presenting stamps. I have decided to use Bill Steiner's pages, augmenting with custom pages by using AlbumEasy for the things that Bill's pages don't have. The AlbumEasy pages give the same look and feel as Bill's pages.
Regards ... Tim.
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@Madbaker... Your favorite Finn here 
I agree with you there's no clear best solution here. Each solution does have it's ups and downs, and in the end it comes down to finding a working balance. Like written on my stamp blog, if I had did not have to worry about budget, then I'd definitely head towards stock pages or stock cards since they provide the flexibility of stockbooks but without the need to move stuff around.
But since the (lifetime) total cost between different methods can vary from 5,400€ (stock books) to 23,700€ (stock cards), there's not much to think about unless I win the jackpot in the lottery
In the end all of these methods are what you make them to be. They can be good, or they can be bad. But they all work for both storage and display.
Anyway, since you asked for 'show us', below are some images from my worldwide collection stored in 170+ stock books (sorry for low quality pics; I just snapped these up with my phone on very insufficient lighting).
First, here's what everything looks when things are in order. During the Christmas holidays I expanded my Australian collection to 3 volumes, and now everything is looking 'mighty fine' (with every other row blank for new stamps/additions):
Like you, I prefer to keep long definitive sets together (no matter what the catalogs say). Which is why I usually place them on separate pages (sometimes in middle of things, but lately I've been putting these on separate section behind the BOBs) and add my personal notes (labels and placeholders for stuff I'm still missing). Sometimes it looks pretty good:
But sometimes the pages/format puts serious limits to it, making the output appear messy:
I should have split the above into four pages instead of two, but just trying to save a few bucks here and there.
And yes, moving stuff from point A to point B is the downside of stockbooks. But it's not so overwhelming if you let things grow into 'full scale'. Yesterday I started adding new stuff to my PNG collection, and this is what the first page (and 2nd,3rd, 4th,...) looks like now:
Like with Australia, will likely need to split into a new stock book. However, if this was just the first page (and all the remaining pages had free space), then I'd simply let it be. The 'philoshophy' of every other row is that you can always expand by at least 50% without the need to move stamps around. And of course, if I was starting out (and expecting lots and lots of new additions), then I might consider even every third row.
(As and added bonus, when shifting stamps around, you will periodically check the stamps for their condition. So rust, foxing, mold etc. get kicked out on relatively early stages. )
So it comes down back to that each method is as good as you make it to be.
-k-
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@ Madbaker: Nice resume of the trade off's one has to make as a stamp collector.
I thought I'd just chime in. I collect worldwide. Now my goal is not to have as many stamps as possible but to have 'a number' of stamps from every stamp issuing entity within the scope of the world wide catalogs. Thus when I have a sufficient number of stamps to represent a country I move on to the next country.
This has led me to choose stock books as my preferred album. I prefer black to make the stamps stand out at their best and do write ups in black with white letters. I do not try to fit as many stamps on a page as possible, but try make make an attractive display of a page. Here's some examples - all somewhat China related:
From the French Indochina album:
From the Japan album:
From the China album:
Just another way of storing stamps.......... Has worked fine for me.
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I have also gone through a lot of the different methods you describe. There's no ideal method, you just have to decide what parts of what methods YOU feel are important to YOU. For example, I think stamps look nice in black stock books or Vario pages, but easily seeing what stamps of a set I have and what I need are important to me. Also, having some description of the stamp/set is important to me. So, I feel these methods are good for "storage" but not so much for "display" of my stamps.
I really liked Steiner pages, but like you, felt I had too many empty spaces. So, I started modifying them to remove the very high priced stamps and other things I didn't particularly care to collect (some overprints, some perf varieties, etc.) and making it a bit more compact, but also adding some historical info/photos sprinkled throughout. I have also started storing stamps of a particular country together on Vario pages until I have a "critical mass" of them enough to mount them on Steiner pages. I then put two pages back to back in a page protector like you have done.
This is my "current" method. It seems to work pretty well for me so far.
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I should probably take my Italy after 1969 and my Netherlands after 1998 and mount them on vario plastic stock sheets. I have to confess that i do not have the same "feeling" for the more modern stamps as i do for the older ! Oops ! no scans yet.
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I agree with AntiosRa on consistency. Also getting to a format so you cn get on with collecting. Still I have Scott Internationals with bunched pages. Until I get a critical mass of overlap. Then I take it all out and design my own pages on blanks and/or quadrille pages. That is how 6 standard Internationals to 1968 have expanded to 13 volumes.
There is always something to tidy up. The redesigns can be as much fun as posting in new stamps.
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"This is my "current" method. It seems to work pretty well for me so far."
Those are very nice, Chris.
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"This is my "current" method. It seems to work pretty well for me so far."
Looking very good Chris. Nice stamps too!
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Thanks for all the scans and advice and the kick in the pants from AntoniusRa and rjan
I've got a plan and I'm going to stick to it!
Mark
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"I've got a plan and I'm going to stick to it!"
That's the spirit Mark!
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ChrisW
"
This is my "current" method. It seems to work pretty well for me so far."
How do you modify the Steiner Pages ???
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Interesting to see how others arrange their collections. Thanks to computer technology it has become possible to make my own pages, which, with a topical collection like mine, is the only option.
When I buy my stamps, they usually go onto Hagner pages, like this:
(That is the 'Albania' page of WW2-related stamps). There they stay, often for many years, until I get around to making pages for proper mounting and writing up. My completed albums (or work-in-progress) look like this:
Getting the optimum number and spacing of stamps on a page is a serious task, as is incorporating the text. On these pages ('Liberation and Victory') nearly all the stamps are self-explanatory, so there is little to add. The note below the German stamps, bottom right, explains that 'International Freedom Day' never really caught on, and that the accompanying miniature sheet can be found in another album.
This next page has a little more text:
There is a note on the decision in Parliament to have a special cancellation, rather than a stamp issue, to mark victory in WW2, followed by another on the 'Victory Parade' issue which manages to avoid any mention of victory or indeed anything else. The notes on the opposite page refer to the dates of issue - unexplained in the case of the USSR, and the standard 'May 9' of Eastern Europe, rather than May 8 of the West.
I hope this is of some interest to others - the issue of pre-printed pages, their adoption or adaptation, simply does not arise at this address!
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@Guthrum - those are some very well laid out, impressive pages. Thank you for posting them
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Curious too, as I often would like to modify the Steiner pages, adding some text, or moving stamps around (I also like the pages to be more compact, as I feel we just have too much paper, taking too much room on our shelves!). I also like adding a few more slots for "varieties", when needed. Plus, I like to add catalog numbers and color (or perf) descriptions in the boxes.
"How do you modify the Steiner Pages ???"
Right now I cut and paste, and then make an additional copy, but I would love to have a simple computer based method to modify the Steiner pages, or even to create my own, simply. If I was in business in Bill's shoes, I would offer this software option at a nominal annual fee.
rrr...
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"How do you modify the Steiner Pages ???"
Ok, you can edit PDF files using the program Adobe Professional (and I'm sure there are others) if you want to pay a lot of $$$. However, I use a free App to convert the Steiner PDF file into a PowerPoint file. The App is available in the App Store and PP is part of the common MS Office program suite. I then make any changes I want using PowerPoint. Then, I convert it back to PDF using the "Save As" command. PowerPoint is often thought of as only a presentation program, but it is actually a pretty good user-friendly graphic program.
Here are a couple more examples of Steiner pages that I modified (the 10sh stamp is on order
).
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I have recently started using LibreOffice to modify Steiner pages. You can download it for free. I have been adding text and pictures and trying to condense some of the pages. I am not talented enough or have the patience to make my own pages, so working with Steiner's pages is a good solution for me. I had abandoned Steiner's pages since 2012 and gone with only stockbooks. However, I am growing tired of having to move stamps around in stockbooks all the time and I miss having my stamps placed neatly on album pages. My plan (for now) is to move some of my larger collections to Steiner pages that I have altered in LibreOffice. All the rest will stay in stockbooks until I get at least 60% completion or have a desire to work on the country seriously. The challenges of a world wide collector!!
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" However, I am growing tired of having to move stamps around in stockbooks all the time and I miss having my stamps placed neatly on album pages....All the rest will stay in stockbooks until I get at least 60% completion"
When/if using stock books (or stock pages), and not leaving empty spaces for missing items from the start, you will always end up moving stuff (and things looking ugly/unfinished). That is a law of nature. If you want to avoid it, then all you can do is prepare for future expansion and leave lots of empty space.
That is what Steiner does with his pages. But as all know, the downside of this is that you'll end up with a lot of empty (or half-filled) pages for a long, long time if printing all in one go.
If you want the same with stock books, you've got to buy a ton of stock books to start with. For example a complete (but simplified) US collection would hog a tenpack of 32 page stockbooks. And if you plan to collect the world, then
700 stockbooks (of 32 pages) should guarantee you a pretty easy start.
So don't blame the medium. It's as good as you make it to be
-k-
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Like Keijo I am a world-wide postally used collector with possibly a tighter budget.
I have 3 seperate systems.My GB collection is in the good oldfashioned springback albums - 3 different sorts with the same size leaves. My decimal Machins are in four( more-or-less) matching SG Senator Medium albums with the others in the other 2 types. Having all the same size leaves means that expansion is easy without writing up. I collect all the varieties plus unlisted shades, of which there are numerous plus constant and non constant flaws ( of which there are even more !). I am on the look out for second-hand binders on e-bay ( at the right price !!) but it appears so is everyone else on the planet!
The rest of my all-world stamps are in 4-ring binders( similar to the US 3-ring in size - 4-ring is the standard in the UK ). However I use commercial binders from stationery suppliers rather than albums on cost grounds. As each country outgrows it's space it is split or reorganised within a geographical grouping. The binders are almost always full - it is easy to m ove around batches of pages to keep the number of the binders to a minimum.All my pages are handwritten and spaces are left for the stamps I am most likely to obtain - ones that are rare are ignored - if they do arrive they will be put on supplementary pages inserted in the appropriate place.
I also have a collection of postmarks - the UK one in boxfiles and the foreign in standard el-cheapo 2 ring A4 binders on plain el-cheapo paper in plastic multi ring plastic slieves. Charity shops are the source of the binders - and the backs of single-side printed junk mail for some of the leaves. Good presentation of postmarks on pieces of different shapes and sizes is impossible anyway so there is no attempt to make this part of the collection "look nice".
Whatever you decide to do time is precious, so it is wise to have at least half of one eye on future developments and additions and build in to your system a way of dealing with this from the very beginning. The other thing to note is that a "one size does NOT fit all" approach is necessary
Having said all that it took me 30 years to actually reach what I think is the optimum approach for me, so I am not really in a position to preach to anyone else.
Malcollm
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Just my opinion but I feel strongly that Steiner Album pages are going to be the Albums of the future. 
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I agree! Just the economics of the situation.
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Well i use all of the above methods ...it is easier when you have the printed page in front of you and you just plunk in the stamp..i labor on with the tweezers and the plastic stock page..the printed page would probably be more economical !
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Hi Malcolm, have you shared pictures of your hand written pages online before? I'd love to see a sample of your collection.
Mark
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"Just my opinion but I feel strongly that Steiner Album pages are going to be the Albums of the future. Thumbs Up"
I agree. We live in the age of digital delivery and everyone is fairly computer literate. I'd like to design my own pages, but don't want to start from scratch so I'd love to have editable Steiner pages that could be edited in a program like Microsoft Publisher or like program.
I'm building a USA collection from my hoard and I want to have every stamp represented but I'm not caring if I have a mint or used single, a block, a plate block, plate number single, fdc or cover with regular usage, as long as it's all interesting. So I'd like to start with a Steiner type page and modify and add pages as needed to house whatever I choose. I will have all the pages in three ring binders so I can add a page anytime and divide my stuff up into different binders at will.
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"... I ... do write ups in black with white letters ..."
SHW: So just how do you do write ups in black with white letters?
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Yes, this is how to do it. I have tried it based on SHW instructions. In PowerPoint, just make a black-filled box with white text. Problem is, it will use A LOT of black ink.
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"Problem is, it will use A LOT of black ink."
I want to make some of my own pages but still cringe about putting inkjet ink anywhere near stamps. The ink isn't waterproof and will run when it gets wet. I recently found a few papers in my yard that had escaped the recycling bucket, and the ink had run all over them.
Should your collection get wet, you will have more of a disaster. And I've remediated more than a few office floods, mainly from pipe breaks. All you need is a small leak or toilet running in your home when you aren't there. My neighbor had to replace all their downstairs ceilings, carpet and much of the furniture due to a pipe break when they were at work.
The last time I posted this concern, people replied that if your stamps got wet they were ruined anyway. I'd much rather have my classics without gum than stained with ink as well.
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10:58:36am
All used stamps in my collection with a value greater than $100 get their own protective mounts, as do all stamps with gum. So I do not worry about the ink on the album page as any adverse effect would result in minimal damage.
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"SHW: So just how do you do write ups in black with white letters?"
I guess Anglophile described the how to very adequately. I actually use a template with the different shapes for the different labels in black so all I need to do is change the text. I don't worry to much about the cost of ink, compared to the other costs of collecting - stock books/albums, catalogs, stamps
, the cost is negligible.Login to Like
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Another cheap (read free) way of modifying Steiner pages is to use Apache OpenOffice, which is very similar to LibreOffice. Once you load the PDF Import Extension, modifications are quite easy.
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In reading this thread again it occurred to me how fortunate we are to be able to change layouts, fonts, pitch and etc at will. If we make a mistake it takes little time make changes and reprint the page. How would we make out with ruler, ink pen, and typewriter like collectors did "back in the day".
When I was doing shows back in the 80's I would go around at the end of the show and pick through the remainders and make a pile of eclectic "stuff". The price was always right - around 25 to 30 per cent of marked value. The key was to toss in some large junk lots with the goodies.
Here are a few pages from a true treasure - think about how you would know exactly where to type everything and how you would go about doing it. A philatelist had to be somewhat of an artist back then. The paper is quite thick, almost like card stock.
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madbaker,
Did you ever come to any conclusions on your album system?
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Hi Chris,
Well as always with me, it's a work in progress. But here's what I'm doing:
1. General Worldwide Collection, 1840 - 1969
- Steiner Pages for countries with decent coverage
- Vario 7S pages as a holding area. When I fill a side with a country it's time for pages.
Pages and stock pages in a binder together, sorted alphabetically by country, with the exception of the areas below, which are in separate binders.
2. More detailed (I hesitate to call them specialized) collections of Scandinavian countries and Finland.
- Vario pages, with definitive series in the front followed by commems in the back.
I have way too many booklet pairs, straight edges, shades, postmarks etc. for the Steiner pages to work.
At some point I may convert all but Sweden to Steiners, but they are catalogued and sorted so I'm happy with where they are at now.
3. Canada, Great Britain and Australia
- These collections go beyond 1969. Great Britain stops with the Millenium series, Canada and Australia at 2005.
- Steiner Pages. Canada through 1995 in my Unity Album.
- Vario pages for souvenir sheets
4. "Out of Scope" stamps
- Basically, Worldwide stamps post 1970
- Roughly sorted by country and year on Vario pages until I get the nerve up to trade them away. It's so hard to declare a sound stamp, of which I only have one copy, "out of scope".
Now it's just a case of getting all my stamps organized to fit the scheme, cataloguing and inventorying as I go. I'm taking it one stockbook at a time.
Mark
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"How do you modify the Steiner Pages ???"
I use Photoshop to modify Steiner pages. However, opening a Steiner page in Photoshop will result in a checkerboard back round pattern which can be annoying. To get around that I'll print out the Steiner page on White paper then scan that and open it in Photoshop. Now you can cut and paste or delete stamp spaces to meet your needs. For adding text I print out what I want in Wordpad. Then scan that page, open it in Photoshop and cut and paste to the modified Steiner page. There are probably easier ways but it works fine for me. There is a free program named Polyview which will do the same things that Photoshop does if you don't happen to have Photoshop.
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"I use Photoshop to modify Steiner pages. However, opening a Steiner page in Photoshop will result in a checkerboard back round pattern which can be annoying. To get around that I'll print out the Steiner page on White paper then scan that and open it in Photoshop. Now you can cut and paste or delete stamp spaces to meet your needs. For adding text I print out what I want in Wordpad. Then scan that page, open it in Photoshop and cut and paste to the modified Steiner page."
Wow, that's complicated. I just convert them to Powerpoint and easily make any changes I want.
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In Photoshop, you can also also get rid of the checkerboard by simply going to layers, flatten image.
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Happy Saturday!
I love all the discussions about everyone's various collecting methods - albums, stock books, Steiner pages, etc. I've spent days and days (and days, days and more days) comparing, contrasting and fretting over how to organize and display my collection.
Often when I get frustrated with how I'm organizing things, I "quit stamps" for a while. Sometimes a few weeks and sometimes for a few years!
I felt one of those moments coming on today, but rather than quit, I took a survey of all the ways I've done things over the past 20 years.
My hope is that by sharing all this, there will be some picture examples the next time someone asks about organizing on Vario pages, or using Steiner pages, etc. etc.
My secondary hope is that you'll all chime in with your system and post scans too. I think I have all the categories covered, but I'd love to see your Vario pages / hand drawn pages, etc. too!
One final note: I seem to have opened up all my books to the common 1950 - 1975 era. It'll help me stick to the topic as all the stamps are rather common! lol.
So here's an overview (the links are to hi-res pictures):
hi-res
Clockwise from top left: Steiner pages, stock book, pre-printed album, DIY page, Vario stock page
There it is in all it's glory. Over the past 20 years, the part of my collection that is formally catalogued has been organized no fewer than 5 different ways. Like many of you, I also have boxes, binders and books of stamps still waiting to join my main collection. But that's another post.
Let's tackle them in the order I pursued them.
Pre-Printed Commercial Album
hi-resCanada "Unity" album by Canadian Wholesale Supply, with pages through 1995.
When I got back into collecting as an adult in 1995, I bought an all different packet of Canadian stamps and a CWS Unity album. All colour pages, with space for stamps through 1995.
I liked sorting and hinging the stamps in the album, but there were a few problems:
- I didn't bother with buying supplements, so all my post: 1995 stamps are in a stock book
- Pairs, duplicates with cool cancels, etc. either end up in the margins or on blank pages interspersed throughout the album
- I thought the colour pages were the bees knees, but over time I don't like them as much. The stamps don't POP on the page. My VF used Bluenose doesn't stand out near as well as it should - it fights with the headers.
- Most pages don't have very many stamps on them. 8 - 10 per page is pretty much the average. So the album is thick. One country, from 1851 - 1995, take nearly 300 pages.
Besides, it's not like I was going to buy pre-printed pages for every country, so for everything else, I started making my own pages.
DIY Album Pages
hi-resHand made album page using CWS "Superb" pages, a Calligraphy marker and a shaky left hand
When I got interested in Scandinavian stamps, I started making my own pages. I started by hand lettering things, but once I got a copy of Microsoft Visio through work, I started using that program to lay out pages.
hi-resHand made page, using Microsoft Visio
The computer pages let me put more detail about each stamp issue. It was very labourious to hand letter legible details about each issue.
I didn't draw boxes for each stamp so I could "hide" incomplete sets. I tried to leave enough space for the complete set so I can just move the stamps about as I add them to my collection.
I liked this method and built pages for my entire Norway collection this way. But after that I stopped. I got hung up on a few things:
- I was spending more time at my computer than with my stamps. Even with my basic writeup, I was only creating one or two pages in a session.
- It also meant my stamp table needed to be beside my computer and printer, which didn't really work in our house.
- And there were too many diversions - fonts, borders or no borders, etc. etc. I could spend days just playing around with typefaces. So I did!
I wanted to maximize time with my stamps. So, like many of us, I took a trip over to see our friend Mr. Steiner.
Stamp Albums Web, aka Steiner Pages
hi-resA "Steiner page" from Germany, laser printed on cream coloured cover stock
I'd been a fan of Bill Steiner's pages from the beginning. I downloaded many of his pages way back when he offered them for free, and later bought an annual subscription. A Sunday afternoon spent at the office with a laser printer and a ream of cover stock and I had pages for Germany and Great Britain.
I like this method a lot. I spent many fun evenings hinging in my lovelies.
The method I used was to keep a file folder of empty pages and then only add them to my binder if I had a stamp for the page. So every album in my binder has at least one stamp.
If you don't mind the sparsely filled pages, this method works quite well. I stuck with this method for a few years, right up until I opened my bakery and work got in the way of any collecting.
There are a few things that bug me about Steiner pages though:
- I don't have very many full pages. Even though I have a lot of Great Britain, most pages were only 30% to 50% full, for example. I never felt like my collection was improving with all those spaces.
- Many modern booklet stamps, mini panes are displayed as a large rectangle. I collect used stamps, so often I'm trying to recreate the sheetlet one stamp at a time. That's pretty ugly, even when it's complete (compare to the Sweden booklet stamps above)
- I tend to like keeping definitive sets together. Even modern sets or super long sets like Norwegian Posthorns. The Steiner pages, like Scott or any other pre-printed album splits them by year, at least by 1960 to current or thereabout.
- those cool coil pairs, that splendid cancel, etc. end up in the margins or tucked away on a blank page.
Stock Books
When the bakery got so busy that I needed a distraction, I turned back to the internet, and my collection. Just like in '95. There was this cool Finn named Keijo who had a blog with a ton of info for the general worldwide collector. I was smitten with what he was doing and tried out his stock book method.
hi-resA stock book page using the SCB method. How do you scan a stockbook page? Yeesh!
The theory here is you put the stamps on every second row, leaving space for additions. Then when you fill the empty rows with additions, it's time to split the collection between two stockbooks.
I filled (or half filled!) five stock books with Australia, New Zealand, South America and various European countries from a box lot I purchased around that time. You can't blame me for giving it an honest try!
For me, I didn't like this method. I spent way more time than I wanted moving stamps from one page to the next, or one stock book to the next, as I needed to expand. And this sequential layout just doesn't feel like a 'collection' to me. The lack of any write up doesn't work for me either.
Keijo, "Blaamand" and Michael, among others, use this method and then make 'digital writeups' as PDF files. They look really nice, but I like to flip through my albums for fun, and this method felt like I was flipping through stamps that needed to be put into my collection, rather than looking at my collection.
Which brings me to my latest endeavour...
Stock Pages
hi-resSweden King Oscar issues on a Vario Page
I bought a bale of Vario Stock Pages and started moving my Scandinavia collection. I found that, so far, it works very well for me, especially for definitive stamps or anything where I want to keep multiples.
The smaller definitive stamps fit well in a 7 row sheet and most long commemorative stamps still fit in a 5 row sheet. Mini-panes and souvenir sheets fit well in a 2 row sheet. I tend to organize a country by definitives, commemoratives and then souvenir sheets due to the Vario sheet sizes.
I write up little descriptions on white paper and add them into the mix too.
Vario pages are pretty expensive though. Over $1 per page where I live, which makes it hard for me to spread out commems like a commercial or Steiner album page. The result is for commemorative sets, things don't look much different than stock books. I added year markers, but other than that I just stuff them in there.
hi-resVario Stock Page, with stamps from Denmark
With Varios, it's very easy to move stamps around. I never have to move them more than a page when I need to expand. And the stamps stay in place much better than in my stock books. And I love the black background - the stamps really look like they are on display.
Conclusion: No Best Solution
At the beginning of this tome, I said I was still frustrated. It's true, I'm not sure Varios are the ultimate for me, although they are the best thing I've done so far.
I think I may go with a combination. Definitives in front on Vario pages, followed by commemoratives on Steiner pages. Or I'll rearrange the Varios to lay out the commems more like Steiner and live with the cost of more Vario pages.
So what do you think? Any other versions out there? Any stock book users out there with a better system? Any Vario users with more detailed writeups? Show us how you do it!
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Well you sure have put "trial and error" to the test! I for one think there is a lot to be said for conformity of pages in a collection. At which point I would go with the Steiner.
On the other hand the varios will go into the same three ring binders as the Steiners so you could do that for the definitives as you seem to want to do. If you do not like it later on it will not be that much trouble to print the extra Steiner pages for the definitives. I usually just use varios for Revenues, Cinderellas and other oddball items I can't get printed pages for. You seem to not like blank spaces but that's what it's all about in filling them, if you can't see them or have a good needlist you will not know what you need. The main thing is making a choice so you can get on with collecting
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Hi Mark,
You definitely seem to have tried most of the ways that I have tried for presenting stamps. I have decided to use Bill Steiner's pages, augmenting with custom pages by using AlbumEasy for the things that Bill's pages don't have. The AlbumEasy pages give the same look and feel as Bill's pages.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
@Madbaker... Your favorite Finn here
I agree with you there's no clear best solution here. Each solution does have it's ups and downs, and in the end it comes down to finding a working balance. Like written on my stamp blog, if I had did not have to worry about budget, then I'd definitely head towards stock pages or stock cards since they provide the flexibility of stockbooks but without the need to move stuff around.
But since the (lifetime) total cost between different methods can vary from 5,400€ (stock books) to 23,700€ (stock cards), there's not much to think about unless I win the jackpot in the lottery
In the end all of these methods are what you make them to be. They can be good, or they can be bad. But they all work for both storage and display.
Anyway, since you asked for 'show us', below are some images from my worldwide collection stored in 170+ stock books (sorry for low quality pics; I just snapped these up with my phone on very insufficient lighting).
First, here's what everything looks when things are in order. During the Christmas holidays I expanded my Australian collection to 3 volumes, and now everything is looking 'mighty fine' (with every other row blank for new stamps/additions):
Like you, I prefer to keep long definitive sets together (no matter what the catalogs say). Which is why I usually place them on separate pages (sometimes in middle of things, but lately I've been putting these on separate section behind the BOBs) and add my personal notes (labels and placeholders for stuff I'm still missing). Sometimes it looks pretty good:
But sometimes the pages/format puts serious limits to it, making the output appear messy:
I should have split the above into four pages instead of two, but just trying to save a few bucks here and there.
And yes, moving stuff from point A to point B is the downside of stockbooks. But it's not so overwhelming if you let things grow into 'full scale'. Yesterday I started adding new stuff to my PNG collection, and this is what the first page (and 2nd,3rd, 4th,...) looks like now:
Like with Australia, will likely need to split into a new stock book. However, if this was just the first page (and all the remaining pages had free space), then I'd simply let it be. The 'philoshophy' of every other row is that you can always expand by at least 50% without the need to move stamps around. And of course, if I was starting out (and expecting lots and lots of new additions), then I might consider even every third row.
(As and added bonus, when shifting stamps around, you will periodically check the stamps for their condition. So rust, foxing, mold etc. get kicked out on relatively early stages. )
So it comes down back to that each method is as good as you make it to be.
-k-
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
@ Madbaker: Nice resume of the trade off's one has to make as a stamp collector.
I thought I'd just chime in. I collect worldwide. Now my goal is not to have as many stamps as possible but to have 'a number' of stamps from every stamp issuing entity within the scope of the world wide catalogs. Thus when I have a sufficient number of stamps to represent a country I move on to the next country.
This has led me to choose stock books as my preferred album. I prefer black to make the stamps stand out at their best and do write ups in black with white letters. I do not try to fit as many stamps on a page as possible, but try make make an attractive display of a page. Here's some examples - all somewhat China related:
From the French Indochina album:
From the Japan album:
From the China album:
Just another way of storing stamps.......... Has worked fine for me.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
I have also gone through a lot of the different methods you describe. There's no ideal method, you just have to decide what parts of what methods YOU feel are important to YOU. For example, I think stamps look nice in black stock books or Vario pages, but easily seeing what stamps of a set I have and what I need are important to me. Also, having some description of the stamp/set is important to me. So, I feel these methods are good for "storage" but not so much for "display" of my stamps.
I really liked Steiner pages, but like you, felt I had too many empty spaces. So, I started modifying them to remove the very high priced stamps and other things I didn't particularly care to collect (some overprints, some perf varieties, etc.) and making it a bit more compact, but also adding some historical info/photos sprinkled throughout. I have also started storing stamps of a particular country together on Vario pages until I have a "critical mass" of them enough to mount them on Steiner pages. I then put two pages back to back in a page protector like you have done.
This is my "current" method. It seems to work pretty well for me so far.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
I should probably take my Italy after 1969 and my Netherlands after 1998 and mount them on vario plastic stock sheets. I have to confess that i do not have the same "feeling" for the more modern stamps as i do for the older ! Oops ! no scans yet.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
I agree with AntiosRa on consistency. Also getting to a format so you cn get on with collecting. Still I have Scott Internationals with bunched pages. Until I get a critical mass of overlap. Then I take it all out and design my own pages on blanks and/or quadrille pages. That is how 6 standard Internationals to 1968 have expanded to 13 volumes.
There is always something to tidy up. The redesigns can be as much fun as posting in new stamps.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"This is my "current" method. It seems to work pretty well for me so far."
Those are very nice, Chris.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"This is my "current" method. It seems to work pretty well for me so far."
Looking very good Chris. Nice stamps too!
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Thanks for all the scans and advice and the kick in the pants from AntoniusRa and rjan
I've got a plan and I'm going to stick to it!
Mark
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"I've got a plan and I'm going to stick to it!"
That's the spirit Mark!
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11:04:21am
re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
ChrisW
"
This is my "current" method. It seems to work pretty well for me so far."
How do you modify the Steiner Pages ???
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Interesting to see how others arrange their collections. Thanks to computer technology it has become possible to make my own pages, which, with a topical collection like mine, is the only option.
When I buy my stamps, they usually go onto Hagner pages, like this:
(That is the 'Albania' page of WW2-related stamps). There they stay, often for many years, until I get around to making pages for proper mounting and writing up. My completed albums (or work-in-progress) look like this:
Getting the optimum number and spacing of stamps on a page is a serious task, as is incorporating the text. On these pages ('Liberation and Victory') nearly all the stamps are self-explanatory, so there is little to add. The note below the German stamps, bottom right, explains that 'International Freedom Day' never really caught on, and that the accompanying miniature sheet can be found in another album.
This next page has a little more text:
There is a note on the decision in Parliament to have a special cancellation, rather than a stamp issue, to mark victory in WW2, followed by another on the 'Victory Parade' issue which manages to avoid any mention of victory or indeed anything else. The notes on the opposite page refer to the dates of issue - unexplained in the case of the USSR, and the standard 'May 9' of Eastern Europe, rather than May 8 of the West.
I hope this is of some interest to others - the issue of pre-printed pages, their adoption or adaptation, simply does not arise at this address!
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@Guthrum - those are some very well laid out, impressive pages. Thank you for posting them
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Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant
13 Jan 2016
06:07:22pm
re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Curious too, as I often would like to modify the Steiner pages, adding some text, or moving stamps around (I also like the pages to be more compact, as I feel we just have too much paper, taking too much room on our shelves!). I also like adding a few more slots for "varieties", when needed. Plus, I like to add catalog numbers and color (or perf) descriptions in the boxes.
"How do you modify the Steiner Pages ???"
Right now I cut and paste, and then make an additional copy, but I would love to have a simple computer based method to modify the Steiner pages, or even to create my own, simply. If I was in business in Bill's shoes, I would offer this software option at a nominal annual fee.
rrr...
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"How do you modify the Steiner Pages ???"
Ok, you can edit PDF files using the program Adobe Professional (and I'm sure there are others) if you want to pay a lot of $$$. However, I use a free App to convert the Steiner PDF file into a PowerPoint file. The App is available in the App Store and PP is part of the common MS Office program suite. I then make any changes I want using PowerPoint. Then, I convert it back to PDF using the "Save As" command. PowerPoint is often thought of as only a presentation program, but it is actually a pretty good user-friendly graphic program.
Here are a couple more examples of Steiner pages that I modified (the 10sh stamp is on order
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11:24:39pm
re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
I have recently started using LibreOffice to modify Steiner pages. You can download it for free. I have been adding text and pictures and trying to condense some of the pages. I am not talented enough or have the patience to make my own pages, so working with Steiner's pages is a good solution for me. I had abandoned Steiner's pages since 2012 and gone with only stockbooks. However, I am growing tired of having to move stamps around in stockbooks all the time and I miss having my stamps placed neatly on album pages. My plan (for now) is to move some of my larger collections to Steiner pages that I have altered in LibreOffice. All the rest will stay in stockbooks until I get at least 60% completion or have a desire to work on the country seriously. The challenges of a world wide collector!!
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
" However, I am growing tired of having to move stamps around in stockbooks all the time and I miss having my stamps placed neatly on album pages....All the rest will stay in stockbooks until I get at least 60% completion"
When/if using stock books (or stock pages), and not leaving empty spaces for missing items from the start, you will always end up moving stuff (and things looking ugly/unfinished). That is a law of nature. If you want to avoid it, then all you can do is prepare for future expansion and leave lots of empty space.
That is what Steiner does with his pages. But as all know, the downside of this is that you'll end up with a lot of empty (or half-filled) pages for a long, long time if printing all in one go.
If you want the same with stock books, you've got to buy a ton of stock books to start with. For example a complete (but simplified) US collection would hog a tenpack of 32 page stockbooks. And if you plan to collect the world, then
700 stockbooks (of 32 pages) should guarantee you a pretty easy start.
So don't blame the medium. It's as good as you make it to be
-k-
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06:13:13am
re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Like Keijo I am a world-wide postally used collector with possibly a tighter budget.
I have 3 seperate systems.My GB collection is in the good oldfashioned springback albums - 3 different sorts with the same size leaves. My decimal Machins are in four( more-or-less) matching SG Senator Medium albums with the others in the other 2 types. Having all the same size leaves means that expansion is easy without writing up. I collect all the varieties plus unlisted shades, of which there are numerous plus constant and non constant flaws ( of which there are even more !). I am on the look out for second-hand binders on e-bay ( at the right price !!) but it appears so is everyone else on the planet!
The rest of my all-world stamps are in 4-ring binders( similar to the US 3-ring in size - 4-ring is the standard in the UK ). However I use commercial binders from stationery suppliers rather than albums on cost grounds. As each country outgrows it's space it is split or reorganised within a geographical grouping. The binders are almost always full - it is easy to m ove around batches of pages to keep the number of the binders to a minimum.All my pages are handwritten and spaces are left for the stamps I am most likely to obtain - ones that are rare are ignored - if they do arrive they will be put on supplementary pages inserted in the appropriate place.
I also have a collection of postmarks - the UK one in boxfiles and the foreign in standard el-cheapo 2 ring A4 binders on plain el-cheapo paper in plastic multi ring plastic slieves. Charity shops are the source of the binders - and the backs of single-side printed junk mail for some of the leaves. Good presentation of postmarks on pieces of different shapes and sizes is impossible anyway so there is no attempt to make this part of the collection "look nice".
Whatever you decide to do time is precious, so it is wise to have at least half of one eye on future developments and additions and build in to your system a way of dealing with this from the very beginning. The other thing to note is that a "one size does NOT fit all" approach is necessary
Having said all that it took me 30 years to actually reach what I think is the optimum approach for me, so I am not really in a position to preach to anyone else.
Malcollm
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01:35:53pm
re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Just my opinion but I feel strongly that Steiner Album pages are going to be the Albums of the future.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
I agree! Just the economics of the situation.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Well i use all of the above methods ...it is easier when you have the printed page in front of you and you just plunk in the stamp..i labor on with the tweezers and the plastic stock page..the printed page would probably be more economical !
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Hi Malcolm, have you shared pictures of your hand written pages online before? I'd love to see a sample of your collection.
Mark
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"Just my opinion but I feel strongly that Steiner Album pages are going to be the Albums of the future. Thumbs Up"
I agree. We live in the age of digital delivery and everyone is fairly computer literate. I'd like to design my own pages, but don't want to start from scratch so I'd love to have editable Steiner pages that could be edited in a program like Microsoft Publisher or like program.
I'm building a USA collection from my hoard and I want to have every stamp represented but I'm not caring if I have a mint or used single, a block, a plate block, plate number single, fdc or cover with regular usage, as long as it's all interesting. So I'd like to start with a Steiner type page and modify and add pages as needed to house whatever I choose. I will have all the pages in three ring binders so I can add a page anytime and divide my stuff up into different binders at will.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"... I ... do write ups in black with white letters ..."
SHW: So just how do you do write ups in black with white letters?
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Yes, this is how to do it. I have tried it based on SHW instructions. In PowerPoint, just make a black-filled box with white text. Problem is, it will use A LOT of black ink.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"Problem is, it will use A LOT of black ink."
I want to make some of my own pages but still cringe about putting inkjet ink anywhere near stamps. The ink isn't waterproof and will run when it gets wet. I recently found a few papers in my yard that had escaped the recycling bucket, and the ink had run all over them.
Should your collection get wet, you will have more of a disaster. And I've remediated more than a few office floods, mainly from pipe breaks. All you need is a small leak or toilet running in your home when you aren't there. My neighbor had to replace all their downstairs ceilings, carpet and much of the furniture due to a pipe break when they were at work.
The last time I posted this concern, people replied that if your stamps got wet they were ruined anyway. I'd much rather have my classics without gum than stained with ink as well.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
16 Jan 2016
10:58:36am
re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
All used stamps in my collection with a value greater than $100 get their own protective mounts, as do all stamps with gum. So I do not worry about the ink on the album page as any adverse effect would result in minimal damage.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"SHW: So just how do you do write ups in black with white letters?"
I guess Anglophile described the how to very adequately. I actually use a template with the different shapes for the different labels in black so all I need to do is change the text. I don't worry to much about the cost of ink, compared to the other costs of collecting - stock books/albums, catalogs, stamps
, the cost is negligible.Login to Like
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Another cheap (read free) way of modifying Steiner pages is to use Apache OpenOffice, which is very similar to LibreOffice. Once you load the PDF Import Extension, modifications are quite easy.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
In reading this thread again it occurred to me how fortunate we are to be able to change layouts, fonts, pitch and etc at will. If we make a mistake it takes little time make changes and reprint the page. How would we make out with ruler, ink pen, and typewriter like collectors did "back in the day".
When I was doing shows back in the 80's I would go around at the end of the show and pick through the remainders and make a pile of eclectic "stuff". The price was always right - around 25 to 30 per cent of marked value. The key was to toss in some large junk lots with the goodies.
Here are a few pages from a true treasure - think about how you would know exactly where to type everything and how you would go about doing it. A philatelist had to be somewhat of an artist back then. The paper is quite thick, almost like card stock.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
madbaker,
Did you ever come to any conclusions on your album system?
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
Hi Chris,
Well as always with me, it's a work in progress. But here's what I'm doing:
1. General Worldwide Collection, 1840 - 1969
- Steiner Pages for countries with decent coverage
- Vario 7S pages as a holding area. When I fill a side with a country it's time for pages.
Pages and stock pages in a binder together, sorted alphabetically by country, with the exception of the areas below, which are in separate binders.
2. More detailed (I hesitate to call them specialized) collections of Scandinavian countries and Finland.
- Vario pages, with definitive series in the front followed by commems in the back.
I have way too many booklet pairs, straight edges, shades, postmarks etc. for the Steiner pages to work.
At some point I may convert all but Sweden to Steiners, but they are catalogued and sorted so I'm happy with where they are at now.
3. Canada, Great Britain and Australia
- These collections go beyond 1969. Great Britain stops with the Millenium series, Canada and Australia at 2005.
- Steiner Pages. Canada through 1995 in my Unity Album.
- Vario pages for souvenir sheets
4. "Out of Scope" stamps
- Basically, Worldwide stamps post 1970
- Roughly sorted by country and year on Vario pages until I get the nerve up to trade them away. It's so hard to declare a sound stamp, of which I only have one copy, "out of scope".
Now it's just a case of getting all my stamps organized to fit the scheme, cataloguing and inventorying as I go. I'm taking it one stockbook at a time.
Mark
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"How do you modify the Steiner Pages ???"
I use Photoshop to modify Steiner pages. However, opening a Steiner page in Photoshop will result in a checkerboard back round pattern which can be annoying. To get around that I'll print out the Steiner page on White paper then scan that and open it in Photoshop. Now you can cut and paste or delete stamp spaces to meet your needs. For adding text I print out what I want in Wordpad. Then scan that page, open it in Photoshop and cut and paste to the modified Steiner page. There are probably easier ways but it works fine for me. There is a free program named Polyview which will do the same things that Photoshop does if you don't happen to have Photoshop.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
"I use Photoshop to modify Steiner pages. However, opening a Steiner page in Photoshop will result in a checkerboard back round pattern which can be annoying. To get around that I'll print out the Steiner page on White paper then scan that and open it in Photoshop. Now you can cut and paste or delete stamp spaces to meet your needs. For adding text I print out what I want in Wordpad. Then scan that page, open it in Photoshop and cut and paste to the modified Steiner page."
Wow, that's complicated. I just convert them to Powerpoint and easily make any changes I want.
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re: My Album Alternatives (with Scans)
In Photoshop, you can also also get rid of the checkerboard by simply going to layers, flatten image.
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