Learn how to make your own beautiful sketchbooks.  These book-binding techniques will allow you to choose your own paper and personalise your sketchbook.  Satisfying to make and lovely to work in, they’re the perfect display for small works of art.

In a day Hilary will guide you through the enjoyable process of making two different types of sketchbook, plus many ideas for how to make your own personalised sketchbooks of all sizes and papers.

Hilary’s tuition at SketchFest each year enables many artists to create their own sketchbooks.

She aims to give you the knowledge and confidence to use the papers, colours, formats and folds that will suit your own style of working for a beautiful artist’s book. Making your own sketchbooks is an art in itself, with the extra bonus of being personalised as well as saving money!

These spellbinding sketchbooks will be exciting to look at, but also so pleasing to work in.

Come to our warm Woodbridge studio to spend a day learning.

• Coptic Binding Make the oldest form of binding! This technique allows you to open the book and work flat across the page.  It has attractive stitching down the spine.  Hilary’s technique allows you to use your own sketches as a weatherproof wax cover.
• Case Binding – learn how to cover a hardbound sketchbook using book cloth – for hardback sketchbooks for watercolour and drawing.

Paper folding techniques for your bindings – here are some of the folding techniques which will transform your books into personal artists books.

• Octopus – Make a new design of sketchbook in just 50mins! Once you have the knack, you’ll be making these even faster! These small books will be the perfect display for small works of art.
• Concertina – Ideal for long panoramas and for sequences of sketches. If you’re working up layout sketches and thumbnails, then they’re great for being able to see and compare many sketches at the same time.  They are ideal for displaying open so that your whole sketching experience can be seen at once – perfect for exhibiting.

Materials included

• Cartridge Paper
• Grey board
• Book cloth
• Glues, folding and stitching equipment

If you would like to bring watercolour paper or any other paper of your choice, then please bring enough with you (consult with us about the amounts). It’s fun to mix papers in the same book.

Hilary suggests bringing any art paper pads (complete with their backing board) in case you want to re-purpose and recycle art materials you already have at home.

Please also bring large scale drawings or watercolours to re-cycle as your covers, we will show you how to waterproof them.