10/14/2026
I picked up a sketchbook in a little art supply shop here in London yesterday, looked at the price sticker, and put it straight back on the shelf.
I did the same thing last week when I was in France.
I do not know what has happened, but sketchbooks (especially watercolor sketchbooks) seem to be getting more expensive by the day.
They are beautiful, I will give them that. Lovely covers, lovely paper. But the price is getting hard to justify for a book you will then feel too guilty to actually use!
It’s not JUST about saving money. Some days you may want to make something but just don’t feel like picking up a brush.
You know that feeling? There’s a creative itch but starting a painting feels like too much?
Making your own handmade sketchbooks is perfect for those days.
It is handwork. Folding, measuring, punching holes, drawing the thread through and pulling it snug. Your hands know what to do and your brain gets to go quiet. No blank page staring back at you. No color to mix. You are just making an object, and at the end there’s a real book in your hands that did not exist that morning aaaand, it wasn’t a big expense either!
That is a very particular kind of satisfying. Honestly it is my favourite thing to do when I am creatively tired but still want to be in the studio.
And the book is yours in a way nothing store bought ever is. You chose the paper. The good cotton stuff, if that is what you want. You chose the size, the page count, the colour of the thread. And because you made it, you are not precious with it. You fill it instead of guarding it.
My new class, Bookbinding Made Simple, takes you through more than five techniques start to finish, including Kettle Stitch, which is how you link multiple signatures into one proper book.
And if handmade books as gifts has ever crossed your mind, this is the month to learn it! Get ahead of the gift giving season and make some gifts this year.
Comment BOOKBINDING and I will send you the link.
