Hand Making Sketchbooks

Handmaking your own sketchbooks is so satisfying! I like to be able to choose my favorite kind of art paper plus I find binding my books on the short side makes them so much easier to use in either portrait or landscape position.

Don't feel like you have to take a million notes while watching, because lucky for you I created a super duper detailed blog post about three years ago sharing each step right here:

Part 1: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/artist-blog/the-best-handmade-sketchbooks-part-one-repost

Part 2: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/artist-blog/the-best-handmade-sketchbooks-part-two

Also, if you would like more info on getting your own handmade-with-love toned (or white) paper sketchbook pop over here to be kept in the loop for my next sketchbook release: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/handmade-sketchbooks

5.31.2019

Exclusive Sketchbook Release Happening Now!

Alrighty folks, I know some of you have been waiting a month or more for my handmade sketchbooks so I am so happy to announce that I will be taking pre-orders all week. Yay! 
Once all the orders are in, I'll purchase the supplies and start making the sketchbooks the following week.  

Plus you get to pick out your own cloth cover for hardback binding! 

I hand make each one-of-a-kind hardback sketchbook from beginning to end using archival textured art papers and a variety of cloth for the covers. The long layout of these books make them ideal for both right- and left-handed artists to draw in either a portrait or landscape position, and the hardback covers are sturdy enough to press on.

Available with either a variety of toned paper (just like the ones I use!) or with all natural white paper. These are high quality art papers that will last a lifetime either in the book or framed on the wall.

Both papers are textured, but the toned paper has a slightly higher tooth. The toned paper is ideal for chalk pastel and charcoal pencils, while the white can be used for pastels, charcoals, and graphite pencils.

The Specs:

• 40 pages total

• Internal binds sheathed in tracing paper to protect drawings from touching each other

• Cloth hardback bound exterior with machine sewn bound interior pages

• Pages measure approximately 6x9 inches; book measuring 7.5x10.5 inches

• Bound on the short side for ease of drawing for both righties and lefties

• Paper is acid-free and archival

• Toned Paper: 98 lb. weight Canson Mi Tientes Pastel Paper in a variety of warm and cool greys, light and dark blues, lilac, rust red, and green earth; high toothed and textured

• White Paper: 123 lb. weight Canson Dessin Drawing Paper in a natural white tone; low tooth and medium textured

• Choose your own exclusive cloth cover after you place your order

One Sketchbook for $38 or Two for $68

Happy Sketching!

4.30.2019

Life Drawing Demo :: Female on Purple Paper

For the first time ever I’d like to demonstrate how I create my life drawings using pastel and white chalk pencils in my fabulous homemade sketchbooks.

This entire process is incredibly meditative to me, from crafting the books myself to selecting which color to use with which pose, to finally picking the very best deep tone pastel to use with each paper. I am literally in dreamland when I get to draw from life.

Want to know more about getting a handmade sketchbook?

Stay in the loop and see sketchbooks in detail here

Gallery of available figure drawings

My Drawing Supplies:

*any purchases through these links helps support my channel- thank you!

Carbothello Raw Umber Pastel Pencil:

https://bit.ly/2pYbffp

White Chalk Pencil:

https://bit.ly/2BXnLmn

Mono Zero Eraser:

https://bit.ly/2DfU93e

Eraser Refill:

https://bit.ly/2SC64C0

Kneaded Eraser:

https://bit.ly/2WOwYWA

Canson 19x25' Muted Tone Paper Packs:

https://bit.ly/2SSAAJ1

Nude Sketchbook Flip Through:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljpP18HrWPc

See me test out a bunch of these different pastel pencils:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t98oRwjTvu8&t=343s

Check out this video about my favorite erasers:

https://youtu.be/yqcdDrq8Vcg

2.22.2019

The Best Handmade Sketchbooks [Part One]

[Hey friends! I'm actually spending some time this week making my next set of sketchbooks so I figured I'd reshare the 'How To' I created last year so you can follow along with me. Check out my Instagram @caleighbirdart to see my newest books] 

Part One consists of binding a booklet that will be ready to be fitted into the cover, which will then be created in Part Two. 

Materials:

• scissors
• cloth
• sharpie
• foam board
• glue (book binding/Mod Podge/craft)
• paint brush (used for glueing) 

• Xacto knife/ cutting station
• ruler
• sewing machine OR needle and thread
• large art paper (5-10 sheets)**
• tracing paper (1 large sheet)
• thick rag paper (1 large sheet)

**On choosing paper: I say, go for whatever makes you happy. I am using multiple different colors of rich toned, high toothed charcoal paper since I never draw on white these days. But you should go to your locally owned art store and find whatever tickles your fancy - and of course feel free to mix it up! In order to prevent too much waste, try to get large sheets that are pretty close in size. 

Here we go...

1 - Arranging the paper: Firstly, make sure that all of your big papers are the same size, including the tracing paper but NOT the thick rag paper. Once they are uniform in size, make sure that each paper is facing the same direction (some art paper has a 'front' or good side that has more or less tooth, depending on what you like), and the tracing paper is on top of the front side.

2- Cutting the paper: Cut your stack of paper carefully into four equal lengths using the Xacto knife and ruler. (You will most likely need to cut it in groups of three papers at a time in order to get a clean cut all the way down)

3- Cutting the Rag Paper: Once you have your page strips, use one to measure against the rag paper and cut out a strip that is 1/2 inch wider and at least two inches longer (you will trim it later to fit the book cover). The rag paper will be the element that is attached to the booklet and then glued to the book cover and holds the entire sketchbook together. 

4- Binding Prep: Fold and crease your booklets in half (excluding the rag paper) but keep each booklet as its own entity. Fold and crease the rag paper on its own as well. 

Now you are going to actually bind your booklets together and to the rag paper. I am a seamstress so I use my sewing machine for this, but I have included instructions on how to do it by hand. 

5- The Tricky Part: So now you are going to actually sew all of your pages together using the rag paper to hold them together; doing so one booklet at a time. Start out with the 'good' side of your paper facing out with the tracing paper outside of it. Then line the booklet up with the rag paper, the tricky part being that you want to actually line the spine of your booklet to a space about 1/4 inch away from the center, so that as you sew each individual booklet in, they are equal distance from the center.  

[Side Note: I feel like I should let you in on a lil secret... I am super NOT a perfectionist. I am all about just holding things together to see how they fit, or using a ruler to rip rather than cut paper... I am the queen of, 'I'll just eyeball it.' I've been sewing my own clothes for years, and I usually just hold stuff up to me and guestimate or upcycle or whatever. I personally love the warm feel of handmade, yet high quality, perfectly imperfect goods... so measure at your own leisure. (Ha! Off the cuff but I think it's my new mantra!)]

5b- Ok so you've just seen how you want to line up your segments for sewing, but if you don't have a machine, a needle and thread will be absolutely fine. Line up your booklet pieces with the rag paper one at a time like explained above,  and use this simple binding technique to affix them together. 

5b(cont'd)- Thread your needle and push it through the papers on the outside of the crease (the mountain side), then loop it through and push it back through the inner crease (the valley side). Knot the thread to itself and cut it. Repeat 4-6 times depending on binding size. 

The outside of the bound booklet

The inside of the bound booklet

Ta-Daa! You now have the inner leaflet of your fabulous hand-made-with-love sketchbook! 

Don't forget to tune in next week for Part Two, which will be creating and securing the cover. I personally think that today's tutorial is the more challenging one, so if you got through that, the rest will be a breeze! Go ahead and start looking for some unique fabric to adorn the cover, and check out last week's Inspo post to see some funky retro examples. 

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Do you know any good tips or techniques for bookbinding? Have you ever tried binding various papers together? Feel free to leave me a comment! 

Love to DIY?  Follow this Pinterest board for more high quality crafty art inspo

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originally posted: October 25, 2016

Hawai'ian Surfboard Art :: Update

Last week for my birthday I was surprised with a gift of three of the mini surfboards with my featured designs from my first art licensing deal! So remarkable to see my artwork in this new format! 

They are actually made by hand, if you can believe it (they're so smooth!). The process entails shaping the boards by hand, then printing my images on rice paper and affixing it to the boards while dipping them in a fiberglass type sealant. Last, but not least, a small sculpted fin is attached with adhesive and viola! The most realistic miniboard you could imagine! 

Hope there are more opportunities like this in the future! Have you ever had a chance to design something that would be  licensed and reproduced? Let me know in the comments:)

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originally posted: January 21, 2017