Binding the Whole Ream Cardboard Covered Sketchbook

I wanted a large format sketchbook, so I gathered my materials, got organized and went to work.

Cardboard for the cover. Acrylic paints, one ream (500 sheets of paper), one book spine made of wood (see step 5), a specialty glue called padding adhesive, needle and thread, polyurethane varnish.

Various paper and cardboard working tools: cutters, rulers, scissors, craft knife, clamps, weights, stencil brush, etc.

I made the cover out of one piece of cardboard and it is just large enough to cover the ream of paper, including the spine area.

I clamped the ream of paper to immobilize the sheets,and made sure the paper lined up exactly. Then padding adhesive is liberally applied to edge and allowed to dry.

Pine is used, but you could use hardwood, certainly. After cutting to the size needed, about 8in x 1/4in x 1 and 1/8th inch, holes are drilled in the edges, all the way through. this will be attached to the book with thread and needle.

To make the book, I needed to drill holes in the paper, along the edge that will become the spine of the book. To do this, I used a 1/16th in. drill in my drill press. This insured accurate, straight holes.

This takes a lot of thread so plan on re threading the needle several times. I am sure there is an art to book binding and threading,which I don't know, so just did the best I could. This will insure that the pages won't separate, and the book itself will not separate from the spine.

To get a leather look, I used acrylic paint, picking the colors of burnt sienna, asphaltum, parchment, and black. The water based paint may cause the book to curl a little, so I put a weight on top of the book and let it dry that way. It came out pretty straight.

I chose to line my book with black cardstock, but of course any color will do. To avoid any shrinkage or "crinkling" of paper, I used spray adhesive.

Since this will be a sketchbook, I used "Sketchbook 2009" I picked a font on the computer, printed it out in outline, and cut the stencil with a craft knife. A shadow is stenciled on with black paint, and then the final color, gold, is applied. I do this in several steps to avoid running the paint under the stencil. Stitches are painted by first making black dots by dipping a flat ended pin in black paint then making as many dots as possible. When this has dried, add a black shadow for each stich with a liner brush or black fine tip marker. Paint a diluted burnt sienna on with the liner brush, making each stitch. Highlight each stitch with a small amount of off white, or in this case, parchment.

Here, a hot melt glue is used. Using generous amounts of melted glue along the spine, work fast, apply glue, then hold the pages/spine unit against the cover as tightly as possible. The hot melt glue dries very rapidly, so in a minute or so you can release the pressure.

This book will serve as a convenient sketch book for a very long time. Handy, and easily accessible.