Playing with a Piano Hinge for Mini Album Makers Challenge Blog . . .

It's the 1st of the month and that means new mini-books are up on the Mini Album Makers Challenge Blog.  I'm creating a piano hinge mini with help from this month's sponsor, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  You can make these books with any cardstock. Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts carries these in both black and kraft. I chose a mix of both for my book.

 

 

Here's how easy it is to create a piano hinge:

• 6 pre-cut, pre-scored piano hinge pages from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts
• 6 thin skewers (or similar)

Here's how the pages look from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. Of course you can cut and score these yourself, but it's so easy to build this with the help of GSL Cuts pre-prepped pages:

You can see that there is a score line on the left and on the right with one score line down the middle. The centers are pre-cut which makes it easy to thread skewers through to create the hinge.

Step 1:  Fold each page on the outside score lines (the far right and far left score lines).

Step 2:  

Above photo shows an actual piano hinge.  And here's our piano hinge page.  The idea is to marry one side of the hinge with the other.

To do that, I used a skewer and threaded every other hinge - first one on the kraft and then alternated with one on the black.

 

Continue that until every other hinge on each page is skewered.

You can see from the photo above that you are using every other hinge on the kraft cardstock and the opposite hinge on the black cardstock.

For the 3rd page, use the opposite hinges.  (see video above)

And the finished product with simple inside pages:

 

Now that you've seen how easy it is to put this book together,

please enter your own mini-book

(all styles highly encouraged)

on the

Mini Album Makers Challenge blog

for a chance to win a fabulous prize from this month's sponsor

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.

Comments

[Anne R]

Oh wow Nancy!! I have wanted to make one of these albums... forever. Your tutorial is excellent and how fantastic that Gypsy Soul do these ready made pieces. Your album is wonderful, decorated beautifully (as always) and I thoroughly enjoyed your walk through. Anne x

[Tracey]

What a genius design Nancy, I love that piano hinge making it effetless to open and see the wonders you have displayed inside. Thank you for sharing.
Creative Wishes Tracey x

[Autumn]

Oh it's been ages since I did a piano hinge and I don't even remember how I did it, but know that it was Asian. I love this Nancy and the camping theme is perfectly suited for this style of book. The GSLCs make it so easy, thanks for sharing. I would love to have some of these pages. Hugs, Autumn

[Sara Emily Barker]

Nancy, this is so creative; I've never seen a piano hinge album before. I'm so happy you provided the step out that makes this all perfectly clear. I am very inspired by your album, and I love y=how you've decorated it! Hugs!

[Gloria Stengel]

I thought I had tried every style of mini on earth...but have NEVER done this style! How fun! Love that binding. It would be super cute with pencils or twigs, or...oh, all manner of things. Thanks for the super tutorials!!!

[Inna]

Oh Wow, Nancy! Your album is very beautiful! Thanks for the idea and the tutorial!

[Maggie Harris]

I have not tried this style of mini but this kit makes it so easy thanks for sharing your lovely project.

MaggieH