That I love sketchbooks and drawing in them should come as no surprise, given the collection I’ve amassed over the years. And given that collection, it’s also not surprising that I started craving something a little different to draw on.
The design of this sketchbook was heavily inspired in a medieval book of hours called the Codex Rotundus.
I was looking for a format that would inspire me to spend more time on each page, and consider different compositions, as I’ve been making the switch from watercolor and gouache, to acrylic painting, and want to have somewhere to practice on that is not a stand-alone piece of paper.
The beauty of sketchbooks, to me, is how they can tell an artist’s story from behind the scenes, and serve just as well for a five minute sketch, or five hour painting, without burdening you with expectations, or ulterior uses for that piece you’ve labored over. To me, a sketchbook is freedom.
This time, I wanted freedom from the oppression of corners! And so, this round-ish sketchbook was born.
MAKING A ROUND SKETCHBOOK
I’ll begin by disclaiming that this is only the third time I have ever hand-made a book of any kind – the first time was a sketchbook (predictably rectangular) for college, the second, a miniature version of the Observatorium, because even my impulsive self saw the logic behind practicing a little before spending a lot of resources in a larger project.
That is to say, there may be better ways of doing what I did, but I can share how I did mine, so that if you feel inspired, you can make one yourself!
Getting your supplies
For this project you’ll need:
- A beginner’s set of bookbinding supplies
- I don’t usually buy from Amazon, but it was the only place where I could find a full kit to get me started. Initially, I actually bought a smaller kit, but would heartily advise getting one with curved needles – curved needles save lives when it comes to coptic binding
- Paper
- Can be done in almost any paper, but in this case I bought a hefty roll of Fabriano Accademia 200gr drawing roll, because I knew I wanted to make a lot of sketchbooks, that had a smooth drawing surface, white paper, and could take on watercolor and gouache
- Thick Cardboard
- (optional) Fabric for the cover
- In this case I went with 100% black cotton fabric
- (optional) Golden Acrylic paint for the cover
The list above does not contain any affiliate links, and these links are only examples of the supplies I used and where they can be purchased. Sometimes there’s no choice but to order online (living in a small town, I can speak from experience), but try to support your local arts and crafts businesses, because they won’t survive without you!
If you do find the information on this page useful, or would like to support my work, you can find more on the Support section of this page.
Creating a cutting matrix
Every single page of this sketchbook had to be hand cut – to save on time, effort and avoid mistakes and disparities between the pages, I decided to create a cutting matrix, made from tough cardboard.
I wanted my sketchbook to have a diameter of 20 cm, and figured that I would need about 6 cm of straight line for the binding. After a bit of experimentation with some lightweight draft paper, I came decided to leave 1 cm between the two circles, so it was a matter of:
- Adding the full length of two 20 cm circles, plus the 1 cm margin
- Making that the length of my rectangle (41 cm) and 20 cm the height of it
- Mark the middle of the rectangle
- From the middle of the rectangle, mark 0,5 cm and mark the margins
- Find the center of the square that sits between the margin and the edge of the rectangle
- Draw the circle
Finding the angle required a bit more finesse, and a tool I hadn’t used (or wanted to see again) since my college days – an set square -, but I think you can make due without one.
- Find the middle point of the center of the rectangle, not the margin (height-wise)
- Mark 3 cm up, and 3 cm down from the middle (making the 6 cm that I felt was good enough for the binding, but you may choose differently)
- Then you can try to find the angle at which you can draw a line from the points you just made, to the edge of the circle, where this will create the smoothest transference from straight to round
- you can do this by using the set square to establish the angle and reproduce the same one up and down (mine was approximately at a 50º angle)
- or draw a soft line by hand, and one you’re satisfied
- go over it with a ruler, and find the point where your line connects to the edge of the circle
- measure how far that point is from the the bottom of the rectangle, and from the center of the rectangle, and mark the same point on the other side of the circle in a vertical line
- once you have that point, just draw the line between the point in the circle and the 3cm point on the center of the rectangle
With this sketchbook design, there’s no way out of geometry I’m afraid.
Once your drawing is done, take a sharp x-acto knife, and slowly go over the lines to create the matrix.
Cutting the covers
Since, by this point, you probably still have your cardboard measuring tools out on the table, you might as well get the hardcovers drawn and cut as well.
These follow more or less the same design as above, but you have the choice to add extra space for the margins, so your covers hang slightly over your pages.
This is completely optional, as the basis of inspiration for the sketchbook, the medieval codex, usually had the cover the same size as the pages inside, but since this will be a sketchbook that will travel with me, I chose to add 0,5 cm to the diameter of the circle, but keep the cover flush to the spine – this was, admittedly, more work than it needed to be.
Regardless of how you choose to do it, adding the margin can be just a matter of adding your chosen width around the measures you had before, following the same measures, but cutting along the middle to make two covers, or like I did, which takes a few more steps:
- Follow the same steps as you did for the matrix, but add a few more millimeters to the diameter
- Using your matrix, find the vertical and horizontal measures of the point where the line that comes from the spine meets the circle
- Mark that same point, but in your new diameter for the cover
- Draw a line between this and your length for the spine
Cutting the paper
Once your matrix has been set and cut, cutting the paper is a relatively easy step, though one that requires time and patience.
Just set your paper on a cutting surface, align the matrix, make sure it’s secure and flush against the paper, get a sharp scalpel or x-acto knife, and start to slowly cut along your matrix.
It’s deceptively simple, but having to cut in a circle comes with a lot of challenges, so here a few tips:
- Move around the page: it’s easier to follow the circular shape if you use your whole body to do it, so having a surface that you can more or less move around, or easily rotate the page, will make your cutting smoother
- Start softly: the more strength you add, the more likely you are to go over your matrix, or completely off the side of it, so you can start by going around the matrix with your blade, using only enough strength to mark or crease the paper, without going all the way through. Once this “path” has been carved, you’ll have an easier time cutting the excess paper for good
Follow the Grain
This next tip needs it’s own subsection, and as a beginner book binder, I’m only starting to learn some of this myself.
The grain of the paper the direction of fibers in a sheet or web of paper, generated during the paper making process, and this can make a piece of paper have long grain, when it’s along the longest side of the paper, or short grain, when it’s along the shortest.
From what I understand, for your book, following the grain will make folding the pages easier, and avoid some excess height along the spine.
Even though this is a round sketchbook, following the direction of the grain when cutting can only be helpful. In order to find out what is the direction of your grain, you can try to see if the maker left that information on the packaging, or try a couple of different tests.
The one I used, and seemed the simplest to me, was to make a cut a vertical cut a few centimeters below the vertical edge of the paper, and one a few centimeters along the horizontal one – you don’t completely cut this away from your paper, just leave these two “flaps” there, and take a sponge or wet cloth, and moisten the area with the cuts. Whichever way your “flap” curls, is the direction of your grain – long grain if it curled along the longest side of the paper, short grain if along the shortest.
When setting the matrix, make sure the alignment of the spine is following the long grain.
Excess paper
It would be irresponsible of me not to address the waste of paper that is created in this process – since most paper is molded into rectangles, whenever you make a book of any sort that does not follow that shape, you will cut away perfectly good paper.
I would ask you to please recycle this in any way you can, either by putting it out in a recycling bin to be taken to a facility, or consider that, since you already paid for it, you can always save it, and use it for other crafts – like making your own paper! Which is what I plan to do with my little scraps, and I’m super excited to give it a go.
Wrapping the covers
My choice for the cover of the Observatorium sketchbook was mainly one of convenience – I had some fabric lying around, and still haven’t been able to find what would be the right type of paper to use for a book cover, much less one with such an odd shape.
Fabric however, as someone that has made some clothing and loves to embroider, I know well, and knew it would be flexible enough to wrap around this weird surface.
This is how I made it work:
- Using the cover cut-out as a reference, I laid it on the fabric and drew a margin of 4 cm around it – it may seem like a lot, but it made my life very much easier when wrapping it
- Using PVA glue, I set one side of the cover over the fabric, and smoothed it
- After flipping it, I cut a diagonal line along the edges of the spine, and folded them in
Then came the tricky part – I knew that I would have to make triangular cuts along the circular outer edge, in order to fold them in and not have too much excess fabric creating unwanted volume, and at first, tried to do this before gluing the cover, but couldn’t get the spacing right, and tried after gluing:
- Start folding the fabric in along the edge, keeping the fabric flush against the cardboard
- At some point, the fabric will “try to” keep going straight
- This is when, while keeping the fabric you already have folded pinned down, you fold the fabric that’s ahead, in towards the centre of the circular cover
- This created a little triangle of fabric that “shoots” upward
- Grab a hold of this triangle, as close to its base as possible, and with a good fabric scissor, cut along the base
- Do this all around the circle, and fold the edges in as you go
Binding
There was not a lot of doubt when it came to the sort of binding I wanted for this sketchbook – I needed it to lay perfectly flat when I painted on it, so coptic binding was the obvious choice.
I won’t detail every step of the process here, since that should be a blog post in itself, but will share with you the resources I used to make the Observatorium sketchbook happen:
How to Coptic Bind a Book (with Pictures)
How I Coptic Binding | DIY Bookbinding | Easy Step by Step
I will, however, share a few tips from this experience:
- Get a curved needle: attempting this binding with a straight needle was painful. It was extremely hard to get the needle in, out and around the binding, especially while trying to keep the stitching as tight as possible.
- Excess wax: this may be just a matter of preference, or maybe due to the type of linen wax thread that I bought, but from my first experience making the mini Observatorium, I found that it came with too much wax, and didn’t enjoy the feel or result of it. So this time, I took a piece of old cloth and with the help of my very own nails, scraped off some of the excess wax – I’m curious to know if any more experienced book binders are outraged reading this… It still had plenty by the end, I swear!
- Thick paper and thin arms make a good combo: I had heard that it’s possible to rip the paper when you are sewing it, if you pull too hard on the thread, so in my first sketchbook, the binding ended up being too loose. I’m happy to say that it seems you can be a bit more of a brute if you’re using watercolour paper, because I pulled a lot on this binding, and the paper held wonderfully! Or maybe I need to hit the gym more often…
Since I used 200 gram paper, which is relatively thick, I chose to only make signatures with three sheets of paper. Once these were organized, I used some books as an improvised book press, and marked the places where I would make the punctures for the binding to go through.
I wasn’t sure of how big or small or make them, or how many – even after reading around online, it seems like there isn’t exactly a standard, or if there is, I couldn’t find it (if you do know, please e-mail me! I’d love to understand this process better), so ended up following my gut and making three punctures from the the top, 1,5 cm away from each other, and with a 0,5 cm margin from the top, and the same from the bottom, leaving some space with no punctures in the middle.
I’m happy to say, even though I had no idea of what I was doing or why, it turned out really well, and the book is flexible, without being too flexible, and just, to me, just looks visually appealing as well.
Decorating the cover
When I had the idea to create this sketchbook, it’s circular shape reminded me of a lens, like a telescope, and it seemed fitting, that something that is made to be full of representations of the world, to be looked at and seen through, would have a cover that reflected all those inspirations and possibilities – and so the Observatorium was born.
I got a white pencil, some golden acrylic paint, and covered the black fabric in constellations.
In hindsight, and for future projects, I am unlikely to use paint on fabric again this way, since the lines were not as sharp as I would’ve liked, but overall, I’m happy with how this turned out, and can’t wait to start painting on it.
Making of video
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