Mary Ann Moss/Dispatch from LA has been offering her paid online courses for free for a limited time since late last year. I've been a fan for I-can't-remember-how-long, but only took one course, Sketchbookery, in Jan 2022. I didn't go back for more because I didn't finish it, as this course was heavy on drawing/painting, and I wasn't happy with what I was doing. (Although... I wonder if drawing the Bard's face 500+ times for the remainder of that year was my achievement as a result.) Anyhoo, having enjoyed her videos for the first two classes recently, I eagerly signed up for the third on creating our own sketchbooks.
Seriously, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one so much, nor planning to make any sketchbooks. I was in it for the delightfully creative, encouraging, and entertaining videos, and I enjoy watching folks bind books or work in their sketchbooks. But, oh, my!
Before I get into the nitty gritty of my recent projects, I have to tell you: the course was first offered in 2012ish. It reflects the shabby chic, mixed-it-all-up style of the time. And the written instructions PDF are gone. So even though I watched and rewatched the vids to my greatest delight, I didn't remember the instructions as much as I thought I did. So I rewatched some more, took notes, and rewatched some more. I also began to understand some steps depended on what I wanted to do or how I wanted my sketchbook to look, if all I wanted to do was to make sketchbooks for myself.
The course introduces four projects, but I was interested in the first three. All reuse existing book/photo album, with or without spines, of which I have only a couple. I decided to improvise the practice books by making my own covers using cardboard at the back of sketchpads, which made the process much slower but more fun.
After the first round of vid watching, I cut paper for six books, two for each style I wanted to practice. All are size A5; the inside paper is 110g sketchpad paper. I also mistook the instructions, so I had three folios/sheets in each signature, and three signatures for each book. (Turned out I misheard the instructions.) I've also renamed the binding styles, so they're easier for me to remember. My language is jumbled as I'm still learning.
Seriously, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one so much, nor planning to make any sketchbooks. I was in it for the delightfully creative, encouraging, and entertaining videos, and I enjoy watching folks bind books or work in their sketchbooks. But, oh, my!
Before I get into the nitty gritty of my recent projects, I have to tell you: the course was first offered in 2012ish. It reflects the shabby chic, mixed-it-all-up style of the time. And the written instructions PDF are gone. So even though I watched and rewatched the vids to my greatest delight, I didn't remember the instructions as much as I thought I did. So I rewatched some more, took notes, and rewatched some more. I also began to understand some steps depended on what I wanted to do or how I wanted my sketchbook to look, if all I wanted to do was to make sketchbooks for myself.
The course introduces four projects, but I was interested in the first three. All reuse existing book/photo album, with or without spines, of which I have only a couple. I decided to improvise the practice books by making my own covers using cardboard at the back of sketchpads, which made the process much slower but more fun.
After the first round of vid watching, I cut paper for six books, two for each style I wanted to practice. All are size A5; the inside paper is 110g sketchpad paper. I also mistook the instructions, so I had three folios/sheets in each signature, and three signatures for each book. (Turned out I misheard the instructions.) I've also renamed the binding styles, so they're easier for me to remember. My language is jumbled as I'm still learning.
Practice Books, Style 1: Exposed Cloth Tape Binding
The binding can be seen at the top of the first pic above. The instructions said to glue the signatures to each other (before stitching) to make one book block, and the first and last pages of the book block to the covers; I forgot both. Because it's a tiny book with only three small signatures, I decided I could ignore the gluing of signatures, but I did glue the book block to the covers to stabilize the sketchbooks.
The binding can be seen at the top of the first pic above. The instructions said to glue the signatures to each other (before stitching) to make one book block, and the first and last pages of the book block to the covers; I forgot both. Because it's a tiny book with only three small signatures, I decided I could ignore the gluing of signatures, but I did glue the book block to the covers to stabilize the sketchbooks.
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Each book takes so long to make, not only because I lack the experience, not only because I have to watch the videos multiple times to take notes and make sure the notes aren't missing anything important, but it appears every choice of paper/tape/fabric feel so important to me it is taking forever to make these tiny sketchbooks. (Not to mention, I've uncovered oh-so-much leftover scrap fabric as well as ribbons.)
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MAM offered the class in this blog post; I hope it's not too late, but if interested, say so in the comment and make sure she can get in touch. Here's a little more about the course. I think she first offered it in 2012; the instructions PDFs are no longer available.