How to make an Instax mini album at home

Everything starts with the physical print. An Instax Mini print is 54 by 86 mm including the white frame, with the image area 46 by 62 mm. Instax Square is 72 by 86 mm, Instax Wide is 108 by 86 mm, and a classic Polaroid is 88 by 107 mm. Pockets and mounts have to be cut to those outer dimensions with a millimetre of slack, and any album page has to be taller than 86 mm plus a margin.

An A4 accordion panel in Foldpic is 74 by 210 mm, so a Mini print fits with room for a caption and two Minis fit stacked; a Letter panel is 2.75 by 8.5 inches, slightly narrower but still wide enough for a Mini. Square and Wide prints need the A3 or Tabloid accordion, whose panels are 105 by 297 mm.

Print the accordion strip single-sided on 200 to 250 gsm card through the rear tray of a photo inkjet, with a printed caption, date or title under each print position. Score and fold zig-zag as in the accordion guide. Then mount the prints: self-adhesive photo corners are the quickest and let you swap prints later; a dab of double-sided tape or a glue dot on the back is permanent. For pockets, cut a strip of card 56 mm wide and glue it along three edges so the print slides in from the top.

The accordion stands open on a shelf showing every print at once, which is the nicest way to display Instax, and closes flat between two card covers when you want to put it away. Foldpic's Instax templates include a placeholder rectangle at exactly the print size so the caption sits where it should.

The 8-page one-sheet zine can be made at a size where each panel holds an Instax print. On A4 the panels are 74 by 105 mm, which fits a Mini with a small margin if you mount it on the panel; on A3 the A6 panels take Square prints. Print the sheet with a title on the cover panel and a caption on each inside panel, fold and cut as usual, then stick one print to each page with photo corners. The result is a pocket album that needs no glue in its construction and fits in a jacket.

Use 120 to 160 gsm paper rather than card for this one, because the eight layers have to collapse at the spine; the prints themselves stiffen it.

If you want a proper booklet of your Instax collection, or a second copy for a friend, digitise the prints. A flatbed scanner at 600 dpi gives a 1270 by 2030 pixel file from a Mini, enough for a half-page slot at 300 dpi. A phone photo taken straight on in even daylight, on a plain background, is nearly as good. Keep the white Instax frame in the scan; it is part of the look, and Foldpic's film and polaroid styles add a matching frame to ordinary photos so the two mix well.

Then make a 16-page booklet with the polaroid stack or four-up grid layouts, and the album prints on any duplex-capable printer with no mounting at all.