Hand Bound Sketchbooks
For the past few years, I’ve decided to do away with the Moleskin, and have started making my own sketchbooks. I’ve found that the handmade books become even more personal. I enjoy having them with me, I like decorating them—not just the pages, but the books themselves.
The books gain even more character as I carry them around, write worthless meeting notes and todo lists, and fill blank pages with doodles or art ideas. I get attached personally, and have a hard time giving them up, but also look forward to making new books when the pages are filled.
Here’s a few examples of some of my favorites:
The Golden Ratio motif cover accompanied a presentation and workshop on harmony and proportion last year.
The Sri Yantra was one of my favorite books. I used a soft hand made paper cover. The book included pockets and a hidden binding.
Metatron’s cube – and the scripture reference from Enoch are materials soon to be converted into poster designs. This book was also one of my favorites due to the doodle potential, and combination with geometric and organic shapes.
As October nears, I always get the desire to draw skulls – I love the symbolism of both death and life that accompanies the skull. This was a bit awkward carrying this one around at work, as I’m sure most viewed it and thought that I was some loser 30-something still into death metal and skull drawings on his notebook (which is ok, because it is partially true).
“Cloaked Humanity” is the latest sketchbook, decorated with a custom techno typeface, and an anti-technology quote by Neil Postman.
In the future, and if others are interested, I’ll post more about how I make these books and what I’ve found works best for me.
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I love how much character each of these designs have. Would definitely be interested to know how you put them together. Did you design the techno typeface in that last one? Love how the ink blends with the texture of the paper.
A post on the making of a book would be interesting. It has to be cheaper than a moleskin and your notebooks always convey a sense of who you are.
Thanks for the post, John. I enjoyed your sketches and would likewise be interested in seeing your binding process.
Thank you for sharing. I would be interested in your book binding technique. I haven’t done any since high school and have forgotten the method I used.
Hi John, thanks for a very unique post. I would love to learn more about making these notebooks, since the closest I’ve come so far is this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/16/how-to-make-notebook – a pretty rough tutorial.