How To Make A Basic Sketch Book

A sketch book is great thing to always have on hand. You see something and you can make a quick sketch, or you can accumulate ideas and have them readily at hand. I like having a sketch book available that is made from good watercolor paper. It's very easy to make a simple sketch book and it will cost a fraction of the price of one you would buy at the art supply store.

Begin with a large piece of watercolor paper. Mine is 30"x22".

Fold it in half as you see below. You can see the crease in the middle of the paper. Leave your folded.

 Now fold back either side to meet at the center.

 This will form an "m" shape or turn it over and it will be a "w" shape.

Unfold your paper and fold it in half horizontally.

Fold the paper again so that it forms an "m" shape as you see below.

 Now your paper will have a series of folded squares as you see below. 

In order to fold the paper and form a sketch book, we will need to cut it. Cut the two outside vertical lines just up to the last square as you see below.

 Turn your paper,

 and cut the center line up to the last square as you see below.

Now the folding begins. The paper will automatically fold in the direction it should go because we have already creased it.

Start at the top and start folding to the bottom of the paper.

 When you reach the bottom, turn

and start folding up the center.

 Continue folding until you reach the top, turn and then fold down the outside edge to the bottom.

 Now your paper will look like this.

Because we made the turns, there will be three places where we will need to glue the paper together.

 Use sobo glue, Elmer's will work as well, and glue the turn pages.

Now you will have a nice accordion sketch book. The book is great because both sides can be used.

As you can see, the book is not very large. There are so many uses. Your child may be doing a fall leaf project at school. The pages are a great size for leaves and the paper will allow them to paint and decorate the pages as they choose.

The books make a great little journal/sketch book. They are as I said in the beginning, great for your own quick little sketches for ideas that you would like to remember. Or use the book to keep a fashion journal. Limitless possibilities, the cost is just next to nothing and they are very lightweight to carry. Now if you would like, you can also make a little fabric pouch to carry your sketch book in.
Enjoy!