BENGALURU: Scrapbooks are where people keep memories, crammed with stickers, paper pockets, tags, multifold pages and purple prose written in glitter ink. But these deeply personal memoirs aren’t DIY anymore. Scrapbooking has turned into a part-time or full-time profession.
Shubhra Jain is one such professional. Each order (book) earns her anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 10,000. She gets an order of 10 scrapbooks on an average, every month, and an average of three to four from Bengaluru. “That is what is manageable too... we do not want to overcommit ourselves,” she says.
Shubhra always keep scrapbooks but her first big, personal project was on her honeymoon. “These books are very personal,” she says on her reasons to make them. “They give you space to write something next to pictures. I put in memories of the moment and when and how they were clicked... People lose all the hardbound memories storing pictures in phones digitally. But scrapbooks can help keep them.”
Start with Patience
Getting started on scrapbooking is not difficult, she says, but to continue it or build it as a part- or full-time profession requires a lot of investment and patience.
An engineer by profession, Shubhra attended a flowermaking workshop seven years ago. There, she explored the different applications of flowermaking. “I learned how it could be used in scrapbooking and making envelopes,” she says. “I was not sure how to market and sell my handmade products. I learned it all online then.”
The hobby has grown in popularity in India recently, she says. “I used to struggle back then,” says Shubhra who had to get her supplies from the US. “Now, they are easily available. There are many ready to buy articles too such as the stickers. You can buy these from a stationery shop now.”
Talk to the Client
When starting on an order, she gets a grasp of what the client wants — the purpose/occasion, the recipient and the relationship between the two and any specific mementos they want to store. “We also create special spaces to store some ticket stubs/ hotel room cards/ keys/ air tickets and such,” she says. “Also, how much do they really want to write in the scrapbook, preferable colour scheme or a theme such as vintage, romantic, masculine, feminine, shabby and so on.” A scrapbook can take about two days to even a week for completion, depending on the size and number of pages.
The maximum orders she gets are on the theme of love, she says. “The most lovable one was an order I received from an Indian family residing in US... They wanted a scrapbook for their dog Neelie, who they used to otreat as their second child. It went all the way to America.”
Long-lasting Memories
She says, “The quality of materials and adhesives used ensure longevity. I have a 5-year-old scrapbook without a scratch on a page or a photograph.” Learn how to make a basic scrapbook from the scratch from Shubra Jain at a scrapbooking workshop on February 26 at Bloom & Grow. You can contact her on her Facebook page shubhrajain03.