Hand-bound Mini Watercolor Sketchbooks

I am about 2/3rd the way through the mini coptic-bound sketchbook I made for my travel watercolor kit, and I've learned that I think I'd like a thinner book for this purpose.  The coptic binding is a bit loosey-goosey, and it just seems kind of thick to use.  Also, I kind of get tired of the cover before I get through it.  I have to wait longer before I get the pleasure of starting a new sketchbook!  So I decided to make some single-signature watercolor sketchbooks and see if I prefer that.  Here are a couple I made.  The insides are 8 pages (4 signature folios, folded in half) of Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper, a nice thin high-quality watercolor paper.  The cover for the one on the left is my experiment in decoupage.  I used Modge Podge to attach and seal torn scraps of wrapping and tissue paper onto a piece of 67lb cover paper.  The one on the right has a fabric cover I sewed together.  I used embroidery floss to bind the decoupaged-cover book and cotton crochet thread to bind the fabric-covered book.  For both I hand-sewed using a backstitch.  Here are the specifics:

First the paper.  Awhile ago I bought a 10-pack of Strathmore Aquarius II because I wanted to try a quality thin paper for journal-making and this looked like the ticket.  I was also able to read about this paper on Roz Stendahl's blog, and was convinced to try it.  I like it!  It's nice and bright, very tough, and doesn't buckle.  So for my little mini-books I cut/tear into 5x7" folios using this tear diagram:

Tear Diagram for mini-sketchbook

It's important to note that the dashed line indicates the fold line (so the book is 3.5" wide when folded), and the folds are with the grain of the paper.  I use an X-acto blade to cut every 5", then I tear the 1" excess off then at every 7" (I tear because I like a rough edge to my paper).  When I have my 5x7 folios, I fold them in half, using a blunt tool (I used a handy spoon rest since I was working on the kitchen counter) to crease the fold.

In constructing the book, I roughly follow this excellent tutorial.  However, since I am binding a book with watercolor paper I cannot use as many sheets of paper or the book wouldn't fold well.  For my books I use 4 folio sheets of Aquarius watercolor paper.  Also, her tutorial talks about rounding the corners, which I don't do, and using closely-spaced stitches (to simulate the binding on the Moleskine); my stitch holes are 7/8" apart.

Next is the hole-punching session.  I marked up a guide out of card stock paper to help me know where to punch the holes that will be used when I sew the book together.  Like I said, the holes for my books are 7/8" apart.  Use an awl and a phone book cradle to punch my holes.

Then it's time to get creative for your cover!  At first I used attractive but boring plain-color card stock paper, cut to a size of 5.25x7.5".  To prepare the covers I folded them in half (now 3.25x5.25") then I used my hold punch guide (centering the guide, which is the size the watercolor paper inserts and therefore smaller than the cover, onto the cover paper along the fold) to punch holes in the cover  for the binding.  But wouldn't it be more fun to have a pretty cover?  This is where I explored decoupage and sewn fabric covers.  I like the decoupaged one fine, but I really love the fabric one because I just love batik fabric!  

I should give a bit of the process I used to make the fabric covers:  I measured out a rectangle of 5.75x8" (1/4" seam allowance) onto two pieces of fabric.  Right sides together, sew the side, top, and side seams.  Trim corners and turn right side out and iron.  I also iron down 1/4" the circumference of the un-sewn bottom edge.  Mark with a marking pencil where the fold will be and top-stitch along this mark.  I also top-stitched 1/8" along each sewn edge.  I now have two "pockets" to insert a stiffening material.  I used a piece of my crappy Canson XL 140lb watercolor paper in each pocket as a cover-stiffening insert (this paper is not good for much else!).  To fit into the pockets I cut them to 3.25x4.5" in size.  After inserting the "cover stiffeners" I top-stitched 1/8" along the bottom to close.

Next I bind the books using a simple back stitch.  Here is a photo of one in process:

I used my biggest sewing needle, and I did run the crochet threat (or embroidery floss) through beeswax before sewing.

Done!  I think I'm going to really like these small thin books for keeping in my purse or in my travel sketch kit.  They are cute, handle easily, hold 8 pages (or 16, if you paint on both sides, which I do), and I should be through one book before I get bored with its cover!

Mini Sketch Kit Ready To Go

Next month we are embarking on a long road trip from Arizona to Washington D.C. and even beyond to New York City!  So naturally I want to take along a watercolor sketch kit to do some trip journal-keeping, and I need to keep it small so I can always have it with me when I walk around these cities.  So here is the kit I am going to try, all contained in the Eagle Creek XS Pack-It-Sac.

First is the watercolor sketchbook itself, which I recent made using coptic binding and Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper.  The size of the journal is 3 1/2 x 5", which opens nice and flat to a 5 x 7" 2-page spread.  This will be the first time I've worked with this paper, but I chose it because it is nice and thin.  I made the book using four signatures, and each signature has four folios (i.e. 8 pages) each.  So this little sketchbook has  32 pages, comparable to a pocket watercolor Moleskine.  The cover is made with leather scraps, with the holes reinforced by 140lb watercolor paper I glued to the leather.

The watercolor palette comprises 5 half-pans of paint glued using rubber cement to the inside of an Altoids Smalls tin.  The colors I have in the palette are based on the "artist's primaries" palette on handprint.com:  Daniel Smith New Gamboge, DaVinci Red Rose Deep, DaVinci French Ultramarine, Daniel Smith Phthalo Green YS, and Daniel Smith Burnt Sienna.  I used rubber cement to adhere a cut-to-fit piece of a yogurt container to the top of the tin for mixing.

To round out the kit I have a Mini mister spray bottle, a large Niji waterbrush, a Platinum Carbon fountain pen filled with platinum carbon ink, a cuff to an old sock to wipe the waterbrush, a slide holder to help me frame my sketches, and a piece of Yupo paper cut to the size of my sketchbook to use as a color mixing palette.

My First Foray Into Coptic Binding

Like many who keep an artist's journal I find myself in search of the "perfect" journal.  Currently I am working in a 5x7" Pentalic Nature Sketch, which is fine in that it has lots of sheets in a book and the 130 lb. paper holds up okay enough to a watercolor wash.  However, I am finding I am not caring for the spiral binding as it gets in the way when I am working on the left-hand page.   Another disadvantage of spiral binding is that it's difficult to work across a 2-page spread.   A solution filtered into my consciousness when I was reading a Sketchbook Challenge blog profile of Kim Rae Nugent who said she prefers to bind her own journals using a coptic stitch.  She said, "I prefer the coptic stitch for it's beauty and the sketchbooks ability to lie open flat."  That sounded interesting...so I began my research into bookbinding and coptic stitch on the internet where there a wealth of information on this topic to learn from.

I found several written descriptions of binding using coptic stitch, the clearest one for me on torta gialla's blog.  She had great photos for making book covers that I essentially followed for my first journal.  But to really understand how to do the coptic stitch, I learned more easily and quickly watching YouTube videos.  The best video I found was posted by DaphLife.  Once you get past the cutsie introduction, she launches into a very clear demonstration of binding a book with the coptic stitch, from start to finish.  There's even catchy music to accompany the demonstration, and I found myself humming this tune as I sewed my own journal together.

So I started planning and gathering materials to make my first journal.  First the paper--something inexpensive just in case I flubbed this up.  Certainly not the Arches 140 lb cold press I have stashed in my closet.  Besides, Arches paper is not recommended by Roz Stendahl because it tends to crack when folded.  No, my choice for this project was Strathmore 400 140 lb cold press.  I actually quite like this paper, and I was able to get a 5-sheet pack at my local Michaels at a discount using a 40% off coupon.  Kate Johnson has said that this is one of the papers she uses in her home-bound journals.

Next I needed to decide on size and format.  Roz Stendahl wrote up an article for Strathmore on using their Aquarius II paper for bookbinding, and in this article she provides great information that helps with size and format decisions.  All paper has grain, and it is very important to know the direction of the grain of your paper because all folds in a book need to be along the direction of the grain.  She also provides a couple of "tear diagrams" for tearing up and folding a standard full sheet of watercolor paper where the grain direction is along the longest (30") side.  For my journal I decided the 5 1/2 x 7 1/2" portrait format would be a perfect size and format for me.  Opened up, I could work in a 7 1/2 x 11" 2-page spread if I so desire.  Fortunately, after testing a sheet of my Strathmore 400 paper, the grain direction was along the 30" side like the Aquarius II paper (some papers, like Fabriano, may have the grain direction along the 22" side, so you have to test your paper by starting to fold in each direction and noting the resistance).   I measured, marked, cut, and folded my paper to size.  I cut up two full sheets of paper, yielding 8 "folios" (a folio is one folded piece of paper cut to size) per sheet.  Given the thickness of 140 lb watercolor paper, I saw recommendations of using only 2 or 3 folios per signature.  For my first journal I thought I'd try 2 folios per signature, and 7 signatures in the book.  In the end, this gives me a 28-page book (4 pages/signature x 7 signatures).

What about a pretty cover?  Well that is where an artist's creativity can really shine.  You can use anything from painted aluminum foil, paste paper, fabric, decorative paper, collage, leather, to anything you can imagine.  Myself, I absolutely love batik fabric, so I went to my local Hancock Fabrics (with 40% off coupon in hand!) and purchased 1/4yd of a batik cotton fabric that caught my eye.  I cut the fabric to size as demonstrated by torta gialla and glued that to a stiff non-corrogated cardboard cut to the size of my folded paper.  Since I am frugal, I did not buy the recommended book-boards but cut out my stiff cardboard paper from a Quaker Oats cereal box.  For the inside cover paper I used decorative cardstock paper purchased at Michael's.  I used regular white glue to glue both the fabric and the inside cover paper to the cardboard.

The next step is punching holes, and this requires a punch guide.  For this I took a piece of cardstock paper, cut to match the height of my journal paper, and marked both where the cover punch holes should be, and where I would use an awl to punch the sewing holes in the watercolor paper.  A phone book makes a great cradle for punching the sewing holes with that awl.  I used an 1/8" hole punch for my covers.

So once the watercolor paper is cut and folded, and the covers are created, all the holes are punched, it's time to sew together the journal using the coptic stitch.  I used brown embroidery floss, passed through the beeswax a couple of times.  A curved needle does help in the sewing process, but a straight needle can be used too.  Again, that video from DaphLife was essential to helping me do the actual sewing.  I'd follow along, pausing the video when I needed to execute a particular sewing step.

Here is a pictures of all the tools I used in the creation of the journal, and some photos of my journal!

I am excited to finish using my Pentalic sketchbook and start using this journal!  I am so pleased with how this journal turned out, and how easy it is to actually construct, that I am going to make a smaller journal for my travel sketch kit.  For this, I decided I will try the Strathmore Aquarius II paper that Roz Stendahl is so fond of.  I've never even touched this paper, let alone painted on it, but it sounds great.  This paper is thinner (80 lbs in weight), which would really be an asset for making a smaller travel journal, but formulated to withstand watercolor washes with little or no buckling.  I ordered a 10-sheet pack from Cheap Joes and I am looking forward to receiving it and trying it out.  I've already made a punch guide and tear diagram for this next book, which will be 3 1/2 x 5" in size (5x7" opened 2-page spread).  I have some leather scraps and I think I will try making the covers with it!