2 BIA Questions

[p7eggyc]

I hope some of you that have used a BIA can help me. I am planning to have a mini-album bound at my LSS where I bought the covers but have been unsuccessful determining two things:

1. The book has gotten pretty thick (nearly an inch I think when I'm done) and I'm fairly certain I'll need the biggest binding coil. How much margin do I need to leave on the inside edges of my pages to make sure they don't get cut when the holes get punched? The bulk of the pages have a very wide margin right now but I want to add some smaller journaling pieces and want to make sure I leave enough room.

2. My inside pages are quite a bit smaller than the covers. Everything I read indicates pages should be just a little bit smaller. Is that going to work ok?

I'm getting a little nervous about this plan. I haven't made the covers yet so I could go to some other sort of binding plan if this isn't going to work. I will be really sad if this gets messed up at the very last step. I've been reading some horror stories on the web about people struggling with it and now I'm worried my LSS staff might not be as skilled as I assumed.

Thanks!

Peggy

[beulahmom]

The holes punch in about 3/8" so if you place everything no closer than 1/2" to the edge to be bound you should be all right. The inside pages should be about 3/16" smaller than the covers. (Example: cover width 6" - inside page=5 13/16".

I think I've only screwed up binding once and that was when I first started using my BIA. The only thing you'd be out is the coil. You can't ruin your pages. You just have to bind it over again. If the directions for binding are followed correctly, you shouldn't have too much trouble. I love the books I have created.

Good luck!!