Self-adhesive photo album

Press Release:

Groundbreaking ‘new glue’ technology is set to offer portrait and wedding photographers major time-saving and extra money-making opportunities with their album presentations. Following positive photographer feedback market-leading album maker Spicer Hallfield is rolling out a new ‘UK exclusive’ self-adhesive product range across the country.

The advanced  ‘Post-It Note – style’ adhesive technology used in the new  Madison and Manhattan albums enables photographers to reposition prints on pages as many times as they wish, with no damage to photographs, or the page – and no loss of adhesion.

Said John Wyatt, Spicer Hallfield MD: “This innovative technology is a major breakthrough in the portrait social market. We are liberating photographers from all the time-consuming challenges of the past.  An album that might have previously taken a couple of hours to load with images can now be completed in just a few minutes with this unique repositionable option. And this leaves photographers more time to do what they do best – the capture of creative imagery.”

He added: “There may well be other forms of self-adhesive albums in the marketplace but none of them have the repositioning capability of this unique range. This amazing ‘new glue and mesh’ technology is easy to use, it’s completely forgiving and with its unlimited page design flexibility it offers the photographer total control of his/her album presentation.”

Spicer Hallfield plans to roll out a comprehensive self-adhesive range over coming weeks, including albums, mini books, pocket books and CD folios.

Sarah Wilkinson, marketing manager said: “We can now also provide 8 x 8 and 12 x 12 self-adhesive album versions with different paginations - and soon we will be presenting innovative additional cover options too. There is a definite ‘digital art book look’ to this range and we see it competing with some low-end digital art book products from other companies.   Technologically aware photographers who want the latest presentation options can embrace these products and make very attractive margins indeed. A 20 page 10 x 10 Madison album will cost just £78 and will enable a photographer to load with images and retail for between £300-£400. Application is really easy but we will soon be providing free online tutorials from our Eye brand website. ”

Essex-based Steve Chapman is one of the first wedding photographers to embrace the new album technology. He said:  “This is a terrific breakthrough. I’ve been shooting weddings for well over thirty years and this new self-adhesive range from Spicer Hallfield will definitely mark a sea change for us. I used to spend hours loading an album, but now when a customer agrees to choose this new album range, I can upload their images in minutes. It’s a real time-saver – and time is money.”

New-glue: how does it work?
The adhesive comprises acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive microspheres – larger than those typically found in conventional adhesive. Whereas emulsion adhesive particles form a continuous film when dried these new microspheres form a discontinuous film which gives the properties of low peel, repositionability and stable tack, over time.

Most people are familiar with the problem of removing adhesive tape which has been applied to a surface for some period of time. This is a function of the continuous film formed by the emulsion particles ‘growing’ in tack over time.

The new microspheres only contact at the tops of the spheres – where the sticking occurs. Their physical structure means that the area of contact is reduced, providing controlled tack and removability over time. The adhesive stays tacky and can be repeatedly reapplied or repositioned.