Field Notes Archival Envelopes

Hi, my name is Thomas and this tutorial is going to be about making archival envelopes for the wonderful little things that are Field Notes.

I wanted a nice way to store my Field Notes for extended periods of time. An envelope seemed like a good way to achieve that, but I couldn't find any that had the right size and looked nice. So I decided to make one myself, and at that time I stumbled upon this video from Ray Blake. It was exactly what I was looking for so I based my design on it.

I tried to imitate Field Notes Brand's style but these are obviously not official products.

I took inspiration in things like the information on the inside covers and the Blue Book. The envelopes come in three size, Memo Book (standard), Signature/Dime Novel and End Papers. Notebooks form other brands would probably fit these too.

Small disclaimer: On the pictures the End Papers size envelope (the blue one) has dark blue printing because I was trying to make it look like the Blue Book. But the downloadable templates are all black to accommodate most paper colors.

It's a very easy project and you probably already have everything you need to make it, just make sure you read the entire tutorial before starting.

Here we go!

Here are the different plans you are going to need to make the envelopes.

The Memo size fits on one A4 page, but the Signature and End Papers sizes require two A4 pages (So two files to print).

Go ahead and download the zip file, you'll find all the templates inside.

You are going to need some paper, what a surprise right?

I recommend using some nice and thick paper because ordinary printer paper is not going to give you a great result (I suppose that anything above 120g will be fine).

Edit: As stated in the comments, perfer the use of acid-free paper to prevent damage to your Field Notes. Obviously this is not an archiving tutorial but you should also be careful about sunlight and humidity when storing your archives.

For this tutorial I will be using 170g Kraft paper bought on Amazon and two different colors of Clairefontaine 160g paper. If you don't have access to thick paper you can try to use thin cardboard like a cereal box.

For this step you are going to need a print... Ok ok I know it wasn't even funny the first time.

So before rushing to your printer you need to be careful about scaling. Most printers are going to scale down whatever you're trying to print, but the plans for the envelopes need to be printed at a 100% of their original size, otherwise the notebooks won't fit!

On the last picture you can see an example of how to achieve that with Preview (Mac OS).

If you plan on making different sizes I recommend to start with the Memo since it's a little easier to make (Don't worry none of them are hard to put together).

Achieving straight and clean folds can be challenging, especially on thick paper. To make that easier we are going to score the paper where we are going to fold it.

To do that you are going to need something with a round tip that won't damage the paper. I have a nice little tool for that but you can just use an empty ball pen or something similar. If the tool you are using is likely to leave visible mark, score the back of the page.

Make sure to use a ruler to score the paper in a straight line (like in the picture) and just go over every line where there will be a fold. It will mark the paper and when you try to fold it it will naturally follow the line.

(If you don't see where the folds are, just look at the pictures in the next steps)

Grab your favorite cutting tool and a ruler and please, don't cut yourself.

This step is pretty straight forward, pick what you're comfortable with and take your time to cut carefully.

Pro tip: when cutting with a ruler, always try to position it above the part you intend to keep. That way if your blade goes out of track you won't cut into the important part.

On all templates, you only need to cut the outlines, nothing more. Look at the pictures to make sure you are cutting the right parts (It's pretty straight forward).

Last step!

Now we need to glue everything together. You can use any paper glue for that, I prefer liquid PVA glue (You know that white stuff you tried to eat in kindergarden) but stick glue is fine.

If you go with liquid glue just make sure that you only apply a very thin amount. Otherwise it will look messy and take ages to dry.

The parts that need to be glued have stripes on them.

For the Memo size you first need to glue the two big flaps together to form the back, then the little flap on the bottom. You can then put your Field Notes inside and glue the top flap to close the envelope.

For the two other sizes it's pretty much the same thing. First glue the back to the front, then the bottom flap and finally the top one after filling up the envelope.

I hope everything went well, if you have difficulties I'm here to help.

Don't hesitate to try out other colors and if you want to reuse/modify the design, please go ahead and share a picture!

That's all for me (this already took a while ahah), if you liked this tutorial please let me know!

I might make other small accessories like this in the future, I have a few ideas. If you have some suggestions please leave a comment.

A good day to you and to all my fellow FieldNuts!