As I told you a few weeks ago, I signed up for Art House “Sketchbook Project 2011” and today, look at what the postman put in my mailbox:
I love the stamp on the enveloppe 😀
YES, the paper of the sketchbook is like cigarette paper: really really thin. It’s good for pencils, but markers will bleed through and it won’t hold paint/collages.
So I will have to take the pages out (and i’ll make another sketchbook for myself with it, no waste) and put some heavier paper in there. The thing is, I am not a binder. I want to, I am learning, but it’s still unfamiliar for me. It’s a simple binding, as you can see (click to enlarge… it was hard to picture, sorry if it’s still kind of blurry).
I take any help you can give to me about the re-binding (and I know it will help a lot of others who also want to do so without knowing exactly how).
Oh, and the theme I decided to work on is “FIGURING YOU OUT“. It may lead to something intersting 😀
I want also to add: don’t be afraid to join. I was. I still am. It’s huge for me, like now I can tell my Gremlins “see, I am an artist”, people will see it, I won’t keep it all for myself. You can too, and you’ll feel great when you’ll send it back for the tour and then the permanent exhibition.
It’s one of the project I do in my “being BIG & FEARLESS path”.
EDIT: question for those who participate => do you know if it’s allowed to rebind the sketchbook differently than with stiches ? for example thanks to something like the Bind-it-all ? (thanks to Kyra for bringing this up)
You don’t necessarily have to rebind the journal. You can make it a bit easier on yourself by just shoring up the pages already in there. I love Moleskines, but they don’t do well with paints and markers, as you said, so I always have to fiddle with mine before I work in them.
Some of the things I do: gesso the pages (make sure you do front and back side of any page you do this on). If you do this on a lot of them, you may have to cut out a few pages to make space in the book as they do get a lot thicker with the gesso on.
I also often glue on a heavier piece of cardstock or watercolor paper onto the page and work on that (or work on it out of the book and then glue it in). As for collage, I have done that in Moleskines, too. I use Tacky Glue, slightly watered to make it easier to spread, and I put wax paper behind the sheet I’m working on. I let the book dry open and keep wax paper between the sheets for a while until I’m sure it’s completely dry, and it works great. Once it’s collaged like that, you can work on the page easily. And the Tacky Glue dries to a beautiful finish that takes markers, including thinner microns and such, beautifully.
Hope this helps! I think this is an awesome project–so cool that you’re doing this!
Hi Kim.
You do help me a lot ! i didn’t think of working “outside” the sketchbook and then glueing it down inside: very good idea.
I think I’ll print your comment and keep it close to the journal while I work on it 🙂
Wow! Kim really helped out a lot! I was going to suggest to take out the stitching and re-stitch heavier paper that had been folded in half to put back into the book. Of course, you would have to use an awl or needle to poke holes in the same spots as the cover.
I forgot about the possibility of working outside of the sketchbook as well! I most likely will end up doing this myself. 🙂 Thank you Kim for your answers and thank you Nolwenn for thinking of posting a question on your blog!
-JaDoodles
Hi Jaime !
I have an awl and needle and thread for bookbinding. I have to try on something else maybe, before.
OR I don’t re-bind it, I just re-inforce the pages ?
I’m glad my own questions can help somebody else 🙂
Hi there!
Stopping by from iHanna. I just learned about the Sketchbook Project and am looking forward to receiving mine. I’m enjoying reading where others are at in this project. Have fun!
Hi Kimberly !
Thanks for stopping by.
I also like to see where everyone is in this project, even if I don’t want to “see” too much now, not to be influenced nor despaired by what I do 😉
What is the theme you chose ?
Hope you’ll come back 🙂
I did my first spread … very nerve wracking … and I come here and realize “Duh, you can always paste over a page!”
I do use gesso for my pages and in the past have had to glue 2 pages together to make one strong page. You can also cut a page out leaving a small tab and then glue/tape/page a heavier page into the book. I think the books can get fatter, just have to stay with the cover dimensions.
Can’t wait to see what you do. My first page is up on my blog.
And I love the theme you selected fits with what is happening for you!
xo Lis
Hi!! I came by way of Karin Bartimole’s facebook page, I did a sketchbook for this project last year. I hated the paper, so I took all the pages out, recovered the paper with pages from an old book, altered those and then rebound the book with a completely different binding, so I can say from experience anything goes, as long as it folds back down to about the same size again… if you are interested there are some pictures here http://dryadart.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/all-done/ and here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88788&id=738450241&l=b6767a73bc
Hi Nolwenn,
I got my Sketchbook 2011 book in the mail about a week ago and need to rebind mine and was told clearly that Bind-it-All’s were a no no. I’m thinking about trying to alter pages and then put them in the old fashioned way- the awl and some heavy linen thread. I’d love to hear if you were able to finish this part of the process and what you did-can’t wait to get into this project!
[…] time ! If you are wondering "what the hell is she talking about", you can read my first blogpost right here. And for the video I made while creating the sketchbook cover, it's just […]