Introducing.... My Sketchbook

Ready to be painted on..

New sketchbook meets my old sketchbook :)

Ah! My sketchbook is ready! Here is my new friend.. All hand bound – with some favorite cover papers. The whole binding journey was interesting! You would already know if you have ‘read’ about what I am up to these days and how I stumbled into an interesting bookbinding site.

Why did I decide to bind one? Hmm, because I was tired of looking around the house for one of the many sketchbooks I am using, because I didn’t have the right media at that time! I’ll pull out watercolor and then go looking for my watercolor sketchbook; or have just pen and wouldn’t want to waste a watercolor page with pen marks on it!

And because I was so totally in awe with the sketchbooks that other artists bind! They look so so yummy! I just had to try it!

I totally recommend anyone who’s been eager yet unsure of binding their own books, to just take the leap! It is not overwhelming – not at all if you do what I did. I combined steps from 2 different places and went ahead. And some reading of binding experiences by other artists through the last few months only helped me make some good choices.

Here’s what I did to get this book up:

What all did I use:

1.       Paper (or different papers) of your choice

I used

Drawing paper

Bristol paper

90lb watercolor

140lb watercolor

2.       Patterned/Colored Paper – For the cover of the book. I went by Dani’s suggestion (from Dani Draws) and bought some scrapbook paper. I used a construction paper strip for the spine.

3.       Heavy board –  from the back of a couple writing pads that were going to the trash anyway!

4.       Glue - Regular white glue

5.       Brush to apply the glue.

6.       Needle – Regular stitching needle

7.       Thread – I used thread from a new dental floss. Or you can use a strong regular thread with beeswax applied on it. I didn’t want to go through all that trouble with no idea what each thing was – but I read from one of the other artists that a dental floss works well since it is strong!

8.       Knife for cutting paper

9.       Cutting board – a must

10.   Ruler

11.   Awl / thumbtrack to make holes.

12.   Ribbon – optional; for a bookmark or so.

13.   Elastic band – optional; I didn’t use it – it can keep your pages together when you are drawing.

14.   Paper towels for wiping excess glue.

Method

I am just going to lead you to the sites I referred to:
Moleskine Reloaded
Dani Draws
Artist's Journal Workshop - You have some interesting links under the topic 'Bookbinding and Lettering Resources'

1.       Book Block – Either site

             1. Cutting paper – Moleskine Reloaded

             2. Creating Signatures – Either site

             3. Punching - Moleskine Reloaded

             4. Stitching - Moleskine Reloaded

             5. Trimming – Dani Draws

2.             Cover

             1. Cutting cover board

             2. Cutting Spine board

             3. Cover paper

             4. Spine paper

             5. End paper

             6. Gluing

3.             Putting them all together

Note: I followed the instructions given in Dani’s page for most part of the binding.  It is explained in a simpler fashion compared to some other sites that I had visited. She has some good pictures to support her steps too. So I cut my paper and created my signatures.  But I got confused when I came to the stitching steps. So I followed Moleskine Reloaded for the steps Punching and Stitching. There you have a lot of detail in explanation. Am I contradicting myself? Well, I needed some detailed explanation when it came to stitching the pages. But only for that.

I came back to Dani Draws for Trimming and the rest of the steps.

End papers

Ribbon bookmark

Sketchbook

Pages

Closing end papers

Good choices

1.       For the sake of simplicity, I just took papers of the size and bent them into half. I didn’t bother with making them into a 5X7 or so sized paper. This is only my first sketchbook after all!

2.       Kept it simple – bought nothing costly or fancy. Used paper that was there at home.

Bad choices

1.       Started with no cutting board but a soft board. In no time, my table was marked with a couple of scratches!

Hope it was all helpful :) and hope you enjoyed reading through it!