How to Make Easy DIY Sketch Booklets! Budget Friendly Ideas Included
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- čas přidán 21. 03. 2024
- Today I will be giving you a tutorial on how I make little booklets for sketching in. Mine are made using watercolor paper, but any paper you like will be fine! I've also made a book from free materials so this is a great project for using up old cardboard and magazines, or scrapbook paper. I'm sure we all have a hoard of stuff like this in our homes and studios! These of course could be made into much thicker sketchbooks, but I thought I'd start off with something basic and easy, plus there aren't too many pages to fill up, so you can finish the whole booklet quickly. It even has pockets! 😄
Some of the materials I used are listed below...
(Amazon affiliate links are included. I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you - thank you!)
Bookbinding kit (there are lots of different ones so you might want to shop around).
This one comes with wax threads, awl, bone folders and large needles.
AU: amzn.to/42EeMl4
US: amzn.to/3SEdSjO
UK: amzn.to/48cqtR2
Art Institute Glitter Glue with Refill Bottle and Fine Needle Tip
AU: amzn.to/3OIlYqx
US: amzn.to/3P7nMK3
A cheaper option is to buy empty applicator bottles and fill with your own glue:
AU: amzn.to/3SZawt6 (note that these are still expensive on AU site - shop around folks!)
US: amzn.to/4bCvNA8
UK: amzn.to/3wk3kPt
I actually found that giant purple circle punch!
Uchida Marvey 3 Inch Circle Hole Punch
AU: amzn.to/3I3rO21
US: amzn.to/3OIQOiK
UK: amzn.to/3OM2Yr3
Fiskars One Inch Circle Punch (Also called Medium circle?)
AU: amzn.to/49gEX3N
US: amzn.to/49AjO47
UK: amzn.to/3SGdsJV
I used 12x12 scrapbooking paper, cardstock variety for the covers. Any cardstock will do, or cut up old cereal boxes!
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Becky x - Zábava
I used to make small drawing books for my grandchildren. They loved them ❤❤
I like the foodie notebook! Fun to watch
Thank you, that one worked out well; I kind of made that up as I went along, lol.
I like a messy desks! It elevates my creativity.
I must be super creative, judging by the state of my art desks right now! 😂 I routinely tidy them as I lose stuff lol.
Love your little booklets! Probably a good place to mess around with washi that we all buy to much of :)
I've use the same wax thread for leatherwork. If you're brave enough, you can melt the little ends of your knot and stick them down to the string. Don't use your finger, it can burn. Press it with something metal.
Ooh thanks for the tip! Me and fire are best kept apart, lol. But I can see that working well.
Like you I'm missing a third hand for tying gift wraps and the likes, so I got me a pair of "reverse tweezers". They aren't expesive but worth every Euro I paid - five, if I remember correctly.
I'll make some books with cereal boxes that I'll cover with wallpaper samples and I'll fill them with about four sheets of watercolour paper, using halved 24 x 32 cm sheets.
Usually I'm "arting" in smallish books about A5 (14.8 x 21 cm) but I'll also make some glue-books using my vast collection of "useless" 12" scrapbook paper 🙂
Thank you very much for the tutorial (= the reminder that I wanted to make those booklets for a while but lost the fight against my enemy "procrastination") 🥰
I'd not heard of reverse tweezers - I'm going to look into those! Procrastination is something I'm all too familiar with though, lol.
Great ideas, Becky. Love all the pockets. :)
Thank you - like with clothing, the more pockets the better! 😂
Having these books as travel sketchbooks sounds like great idea. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Saves lugging around larger, heavier books!
These are so stunning, I will have to try this out myself ☺☺
Thank you, I hope you get to make some! 😊
I was ordering the handmade paper from someone on instagram which would suit these also.
Use a surgeons stich. It keeps the string from loosening when you don't have a third hand. It'll be easier for you to CZcams a surgeons stitch than for me to explain it, but you simply put two twists in the first "knot". Do that and the string won't slip, loosen, etc.
Edit: it works without adding bulk. Thought I'd add that since this is a project in which one would want to avoid the bulk of a double knot.
Clearly I am behind in my knot-making skills - will investigate a surgeons stitch now!
There are a lot of great options for handling the knot in the comments. For me, it's a few extra holes. When I make my daily planner booklets, I punch four holes in the spine, but even just a third might make it easier to manage the thread tension.
I like your pockets - I put some in several of the sketchbooks I make, but I had little quarter to half inch tabs on the three sides to be glued, and fold them under. Gives me a little more wiggle room in the pocket.
Yes, it's always a learning experience and I like to try and make improvements each time I create a new booklet. I did consider adding the foldable tabs to the pockets, but that was getting complicated, so I opted for the easiest possible ones this time, haha! 😂
Thank you so much for the DIY booklet tutorial. I am going to have to try making me some now. 🥰
I hope you do! It's a fun project 😊
Looks like fun I am going to try it
These are so cute. I might just have to make one! I LOVE the food book. I think you should paint food on the pages. That would be so fun!
Thank you, and yes that book will be for food-related paintings for sure! I think all four of them will have themes to match the covers.
Really great, loved them all. Have fun painting in them.
Thank you, I will! 😊
That was such a helpful video. Thanks Becky 🙂
I'm glad you enjoyed it! 😊
Now I'm regretting that huge magazine clear out I had last year 🤦♀ I don't have an awl or string either, and I don't think raffia I have will do. I don't even have any paper that isn't already in a sketchbook . There's no hope for me as a crafter/bookmaker 😂 I could look for a book making kit at some point but in the meantime, I bought a pack of 24 kraft paper booklets cheap from Amazon to practice my sketching in. The paper is thin but holds a pen/pencil nicely. They have plain brown card covers and I've toyed with the idea of painting themes onto the covers. I'm practicing drawing rocks in one and trees in another at the moment and over time the others will be used for other subjects. I could use some of your ideas from here to decorate the covers instead, complete with little pockets.
That sounds like a really great idea; decorating existing books - and yes pockets can be added into any sketchbook so that's always fun activity to do, just on its own!
Thank you for sharing this tutorial I reccently made a couple of accordian style booklets but havent added a cover to any of them because i dont have any scrap booking paper. Watching this gave me a great idea of using an old cover from a coloring book to make the little covers.
I have my bookbinding kit all packed up for my upcomming move in a couple weeks but will definitly make some of these little booklets
Any kind of paper or card will do! Old book covers are great and I often find things in charity shops which can be used as well. A colouring book cover would be perfect! I hope your move goes well. 😊
File folders and poster paper... or even those gift boxes that they sell in large packs during the holidays... all of those work reasonably well for lightweight covers.
The box my WFH office chair came in provided me with art materials for six months
Haha that's great! 😄
Hi Becky, These are awesome! I need to try my hand at making some. You make it look so easy, Becky.
Thank you! They're easy once I got the hang of it, haha. Time consuming but fun! 😊
Oh wow! These look amazing and so simple to make! I'm wondering what to use for a pokey tool that's around the house and I guess you could use some basic garden twine and stick it to the pokey tool instead of a big needle to thread it, I'll have to have a rummage around the house for stuff, I like the idea of free magazines too, our local Aldi always has some, great video! :D
Aldi magazines would be great! And yes, you could probably use the awl to push twine through paper - I'm a bit clumsy so I didn't want to stab myself by trying that, lol. 😂
You did a great job of explaining! and demonstrating :) I like your foodie book best. TY 💙 Have fun using them
🌸🌸🌸😉
I make my booklets using cardstock from products I buy. I don't use thread, to bind them, as I have a long-neck stapler meant for making booklets. And I like square booklets better than rectangle ones but I have both since some pictures need a rectangular shape. It is better to put the ends in the center of the booklet unless you plan to do a double-page painting there. I didn't use knots, back when I used thread., I just glued one end down, waited for it to dry, (I used a hair dryer to hasten the process) then pull the string taunt and glue down the other end of the thread. But if an artist plans to make many booklets, it is easier to invest in a long-neck stapler as they aren't that expensive. If using cotton, 300gm paper, they will need a stapler that will staple 20 sheets of printer paper. That will go through the cover and three sheets of watercolor paper.
Thank you for the suggestion; I'll have a look around online for a long necked stapler - I always like tools that make life easier!
Thank you so much for this video and for showing the glue up close 🥰 It's not available here, but I'm sure there's similar glue out there I can get. I definitely want to try making booklets like these too. I still have scrapbook paper from around 10 years ago lying around, which are desperately asking to finally get used 😂
Also, is it just me or does the inside of the cornflakes box look particularly pretty? Don't ask me why.. 😂Great idea, btw, to use those up instead of throwing them out.
I was thinking the same thing with the cornflakes box - the colour of cardboard inside would be so nice to draw and paint on as it is prettily toned! Another glue brand which is like Art Glitter is Bearly Arts Glue, and that also comes with a needle applicator. It's American too so I'm not sure if you can find it, but I've heard good things from others who use it.
Do you own a pair of reverse tweezers? They are useful for many things but especially to tie knots!
Until reading the comments, I had never heard of reverse tweezers, lol. But now looking in my crafting stash - I have some, yay!
First! 👋🏼
Great idea. Is there a stitch for sewing in extra leaves to the book? Would love to make m own books after seeing this. Thanks Becky😺
If you search for easy stitch bookbinding you should find quite a lot of videos showing different ones, and how to sew in multiple page signatures etc. It all gets a bit complicated but I do want to get better at it. 😊