Learn How to make a Sketchbook using shopping bags! If you are an artist and love to draw but you also want to reduce and reuse, it can feel difficult because of the amount of paper you use. But you can reduce your impact by reusing your old shopping bags or scrap paper to make a beautiful sketchbook. This is great for people who want to reuse other things, or maybe who just want to make things their own, either way it will be fun! Continue reading to learn how to make a sketchbook using shopping bags! (amazon affiliate links below)
- Supplies
- Step 1: Create a Template
- Step 2: Cut to size
- Step 3: Punch holes
- Step 4: Thread and tie off your sketchbook
- Final Product
Supplies
The supplies you will need are:
- paper shopping bags (or some other scrap paper)
- thread
- bone folder
- a push pin or awl
- a book to make a template,
- a thick board or cutting mat to cut on (or a surface you don’t mind getting messy)
- scissors or an xacto knife
- a needle
- binder clips
Step 1: Create a Template
In order to make your sketchbook you will first need shopping bags (or any other scrap paper) as well as a book/sketchbook of some kind to create a template. In the above picture I used this Bible; yes it looks like a sketchbook, but it is not. I really love the square shape of it, which is why I opted to use this Bible to model my sketchbook off of. You can use any shape of book you would like. It doesn’t even have to be a sketchbook, as in the case of my model. Next you will need some paper to make the template. I used copy paper for mine, and taped two pieces together. Once you have your paper, lay the book down and open it, and then trace around. After tracing your model book, cut the paper along the guideline you traced and whoila! You have your template.
Step 2: Cut to size
Once you have your template ready, you need to prepare your bags. First open all of the bags up, then cut out the seams to create flat sheets of paper, and lay your template over top. You can trace around the template first, or just begin cutting right away, it’s your choice. Cut as many pages as you would like or have available. I cut eleven sheets (which will each create two double-sided pages) and felt that was a good size.
Once you have them all cut, fold the paper in half and use the bone folder to apply firm pressure all along your crease. Look at the pages now and see if there are any places you need to trim or cut so that everything is to your liking.
Step 3: Punch holes
Get your pushpin or awl and carefully puncture holes along in the crease of your paper. I used a simple white piece of paper to measure out the spacing that I wanted for each hole. You can do 3 holes, 5 holes, 10, however many you feel will hold together your pages. In the end, I opted to do four. If you have a lot of pages or the height of your template is tall you would want to put more holes, and if your sketchbook is going to end up fairly small, something more like three or four should be plenty. My paper is not that tall and I felt like it was enough.
Step 4: Thread and tie off your sketchbook
Once all the holes are where you want them to be grab your needle, thread it with a suitable thread, and then start to work! I used some waxed thread and a simple Saddle stitch to bind my sketchbook together, but the size of needle and thickness of thread you will want to use mostly depends on the size of book you have decided to put together. Sewing the spine together was honestly easier than I had thought it would be. A good tip is to make sure to use binder clips to hold the paper together. This will make it easier to keep the pages lined up when poking the needle through all those holes! Once you are finished you just have to tie it off, and you have your sketchbook! Before threading it all, I added some decorative paper on the outermost layer for the cover.
Final Product
After putting it all together, I decided to add some washi tape to the binding. It looks nice and reinforces the binding just that little bit more. I love how it turned out and definitely will do it again and again. I was able to do all of this without any kind of specialty book binding kit, however they do have very convenient all-in-one sets on Amazon that you can check out! And that is how to make a sketchbook using shopping bags. I hope this blog inspires you to make your own! Check out these other posts! How to Create a Journal Aesthetic or How to illustrate using posca markers and 5 Proven Sketchbook Ideas for Beginners: Where to start.