Story
I have more than 20 sketchbooks filled with sketches and paintings now. From the very beginning I only used hand-bound sketchbooks, most of them were made by me, only one or two was made by my mother. In the early stages it was a necessity. I only made books, because I needed them.
In the past year I became more fascinated with bookbinding, and I started trying out new techniques and materials. I also dived deep into learning new binding methods and stitches.
My mother was the one who introduced me to bookbinding a couple of years ago.
She used staple binding, which now looking back at it isn’t the most secure binding method and it’s not even that easy. Using glue also made these books very stiff and hard to draw in.
Materials
At this point I am binding books for just the sake of it, not because I need a new sketchbook.
I have been fascinated with this material called foam board. It’s stiff yet soft, fragile and durable at the same time.
These are three experimental notebooks I made using foam board. They are A6 size, 10,5 by 16 centimeters.
The ones covered with patterned fabric I bound using not standard thread, but electric wires, taken from and old, broken phone charger.
The ones covered with patterned fabric I bound using not standard thread, but electric wires, taken from and old, broken phone charger.
The teal book exposes foam board more than the other ones, I am still not sure whether that was a good idea or not, but the cover structure is much better than the other two. I cut the foam into segments, giving the book a better fold, not such a stiff one like the other two.
I really enjoyed making these books, I hope you enjoy them, too.
