Transcripts
1. Introduction: did you know you can create your own journal or sketchbook in 15 minutes or less? It is incredible. Hi, My name is Shelly Head Simon, author, coach, illustrator and artist. And recently I realized there were not the journals or sketchbooks with the paper that I really wanted to use. And so I decided to start researching and realized I could create my own and have the paper I wanted and really be able to do it affordably. And in not very much time in this class, I'm going to take you step by step through the process of how you can literally create your own journal or sketchbook in 15 minutes or less. That's all it takes now. The hardest part for me was figuring out the tools and equipment I researched, and I took a lot of classes. I watched a lot of YouTube video hopes, and it was very confusing to me. I didn't really understand exactly what I needed to get, and so I'm going to show you exactly what you need, and I'm gonna provide links toe where you can purchase the's in your class. Resource is by the end of this class, you'll have to journals, or even more. You could greatest many as you want that you've created on your own with the pamphlet stitch. This is a very simple stitch that you could do very easily, and it's something that you can then use your own paper. For instance, this particular sketchbook. I wanted to use the Kansan marker paper. When I'm doing lettering. I need a smooth paper that's not going to be hard on my markers. And it's not going to wear down the tips of my lettering markers like the Tom Bo dual brush markers or art lines stick markers. And so I created my own. They don't come in sizes like this. I can stick this in my purse. I can take it anywhere I want. And I have the lettering supplies I need right at hand, and it's very convenient, and it's just super fun. I didn't realize how much I was gonna love bookbinding. I was doing it more out of a necessity to create the journals and sketchbooks I needed, but I really ended up loving it. This is part one. In Part two. I'm gonna share with you how to use the Coptic stitch to create a watercolor sketch book that you can use with the watercolor paper you love. So in this class, it's gonna be simple, Easy, the pamphlets stitch. You can literally do in just a few strokes. Anyone can do it, and you can have journals that you can give aways. Guess you can sell, or you can use yourself click and roll and let's get started.
2. Supplies: in this video, I'm gonna talk to you about the tools that you will need Now, this was the most confusing part for me when I first got into bookbinding. But it's really pretty simple. You can get everything that you need your local craft store or on Amazon. So the first thing you'll need obviously, is some paper. Now, these are water color, little watercolor booklets I made from scraps. And then the outside is like card stock. This book here is made with the cancer marker paper and then have card stock on the outside . So it just depends on what paper you want. Tohave as your cover and the interior you really the sky's the limit. Whatever you want to create and you want to use do that. The reason I created the Kimpson marker paper pad is because I haven't found it to come in sketchbook pads. It just comes in the bigger pads, and then this is just easier for travel taking it places. And I could even make a smaller one if I wanted. Then you will need waxed thread. So this was waxed thread. I got a hobby lobby you could get and you can get it in many different colors. You can get all sorts of different types. It just needs to be some sort of wax threat. Now, I have heard of people using dental floss for this type of binding. The pamphlets such I wouldn't recommend it, but you could do that. Now you also need a needle. Now this needle isn't upholstery needle, and it's curved and the curved part of it just makes it easier, especially when you doom or advance stitches, which I'm also going to teach a class on how to create a watercolor sketch book using the Coptic but finding method. But for this particular class, any needle will do as long as the thread can get through the whole Now, this was the smallest one, and it was difficult to thread. But it was, you know, worked out OK, so I like this one. It's not a big investment, but you couldn't even just use the needles you have at home. Now you will need some sort of all. Now this I just got at Hobby Lobby. It's called so meat, but any kind of sewing all or it's just a W L. You'll just need that to punch the holes for your book. This is a bone folder, and basically it will just help you to fold the edges of your paper nice and neat. You can also use the edge of scissors. You can use a butter knife, a spoon, anything like that, so you technically don't have to have that. But it comes in real handy. A couple binder clips just to hold your paper while your you're punching the holes. A ruler is helpful, and you may want a utility knife. It is nice to just make sure your edges air nice and even afterwards, but it's not necessary. Just make sure you use it with some sort of cutting mat and that you're very careful when you're using up. So these are the basic tools that we're going to use. Now let's get into first. We're going to do the three whole pamphlet stitch, which is just for these smaller little sketch books, which are a lot of fun
3. 3 Hole Pamphlet Stitch Journal: So what we're going to create first or these little three whole pamphlets, stitch, sketch books or journals and these are really quick to create very simple decree. I created these out of my scraps from my watercolor paper, and then these could be used for swatches. So if I'm working on a painting are working on a piece and I want to see what what colors will work well together. I can put that in here. I could do color mixing in here. They're just fun little little booklets to use. But what I'm going to do for this class is I'm actually going to create a three hole pamphlets touch with this toned gray Strathmore paper. Now it does come in this this type of booklet and you know it has the wiring. But I just thought this would be fun paper to create in the sketchbook size and just show you what's possible. So this type of paper I love to use with the Dr pH Martin's bleed proof white so I'll just use my brush. I'll take some of this bleed proof, right White with a little bit of water and then right on top of this. You can also use just a white You need balls, Cigna pen. And so this is just a really neat look to get when you do these pamphlets touch journals. They're going to be very simple. Very fast, very easy. You're gonna take about 8 to 10 pages to create what's called a signature. Now, when I show you the more advanced stitching that I used for my watercolor sketch books, you're gonna have several different signatures that you put together. Now, this particular book is just gonna have the one signature. So eight pages tends to be about the right fit just because as you fold things, you know, it just gets a little thick, But you could do 8 to 10 pages, depending on the thickness of your paper. It's gonna be less. If you're using watercolor paper, then you're gonna have some sort of cover. This is just card stock. And what I did is I just made sure that it always cut to fit the size of this paper so you can use the paper cutter you can. You scissors. You can use your utility knife and ah, cutting board. However you want to cut it Or if your papers just that size, that's fine as well. And then what you're gonna do is you're gonna take each piece of paper. You're gonna make sure you really line up the edges. Well, and then when you use the bone folder, you're just gonna put a dip in the center here, is gonna come out to the sides like that, and then I like toe, flip it over and do the other side as well, just to make sure it's nice and smooth. So you're basically going to do that with all of your pages? You can try doing them all at once. That is also an option. It just may not get thm folded as nicely as if you do them one by one. You're also going to do the same thing for your cover. Now you could use anything for your cover for these. I just prefer to use something a little bit thinner, but you can even use a thicker piece of paper. You can cover something else. That may be, you know he's a card word from a shoe box or, you know, whatever you want to use, you can use. I just find it easy to use what I have your card stock or you can get some paper at at the craft store. That just has a pattern that really inspires you. So then, once you have all of these folded, you're just going to tuck them inside each other. So you create one signature. It's what they call it is a signature. And it's just one stack of papers folded. Then once you have them all stocked, now you're going to put in the You can even put the cover for this one. You just do them all at once. You can do it separately if you want, but that's just what I would I prefer to do. Now. What you can do is in order to punch the holes for the thread you could, you know, measure out if you want. You can also just I wallet. It just depends. What you want to do is gonna make it a inch and 1/2 from the end, and I'm gonna come down here, make it about an inch 1/2 from the end. So again you connive all it. You can just measure it. However, works best for you and then you're gonna take your all and just go stand up here. You're just going to going to go back and forth and then I like to turn it over so I can kind of get a little bit better there. Otherwise, it tends to rip the paper a little bit so you can see there's a hole right there. And I'm really not using that much force. This is this little tool makes it very easy to just put the holes in there. And I've seen a lot of people do things differently, So find your own way that works best for you. Anxious goes all the way through here. There we go. All right, So I know I have my three holes, and so now I'm gonna start stitching. What you need to do is go ahead and make sure it's all lined up nice and go ahead and attach a couple binder clips. These could be even the really small binder clips, and that way, just make sure everything stays together. Also, if you don't have the sitting available and you still want to do this type of book for a smaller book like this, you could just take, like, a rubber band or a hairpiece like this is a rubber band that I used for my hair. You could just have that as the center and that will hold it for you. So that's une easy option. If you don't have the tools yet or you don't want to use that, you can also just use a regular rubber band and just attach it that way. I love the stitching, and then it just make sure it stays nice and tight in place. So what you're gonna do is your you're going to thread your needle, just leave a little tail there, and then you're going to start in the middle hole on the outside, you're gonna go ahead and thread it in. And so you just want to leave a little bit of a tail on the outside and then what you're gonna dio you wanna make sure you don't pull that out? Is your gonna go to the top hole inside out? So you're gonna go from the inside and then you're gonna go out and say, here's gonna pull this through, you see, just coming on the top there and just want to make sure you pull it tight. So the reason that was getting a little king to their because you just wanted to lay flat. You want to make sure you pull it nice and tight. So now you're going to from the outside, you're going to go from the top hole to the bottom, told from the outside in, and you're gonna pull it through and you can hold onto the tail a little bit too. But make sure you pull it nice and tight, and then you're going to go from there from the bottom to them that all, then you're gonna pull it through. So it is just so simple. You just have a few simple stitches toe. Hold your book in place. Make sure it's nice and tight. And then, if you want, you can loop this around the the outer thing there toe to make it look nice. And then you're just going to tie it tied in a knot you can double, not it if you want. And then you basically just cut off the end of the thread, and that's a simple as it ISS and take off your binder clips and then you have yourself a book. Now you notice here there is some edges of the paper that are sticking out. You can leave it that way if you want, or you can take a ruler. This has a nice edge right here, and you can take your utility knife and you just want to go nice and easy. Just page by page. Just gonna put it there. And you're just gonna cut this off just to make it nice and smooth. Nice and easy. You can see him starting toe to get through the pages. I saw someone. What they did was they sanded the edges, just toe get that nice, crisp look. And now you have a journal little sketchbook that you can take with you. You know, stick this in your purse and then you have something you can let her on at any time for this type of paper. I'll probably use it mostly with my Univ all white pen. So I could take that. I can also do black on here, so that will work too. But these air really fun to have to take with you. Like I said, you can just stick it in your bags to get in your purse, and then you can let her any where you can also take the bone folder and kind of put out the crease again. You can also lay this under a stack of books. She can see it kind of sticks up a little bit, stick it under a stack of books and then that will help flatten it out as well. So there you go.
4. 5 Hole Pamphlet Stitch Journal: in this video, we're going to create a five stitch pamphlet, sketch, book or journal, and I'm going to show you how to do that. Now this is with the marker cans on paper, because I like to use that with my markers, like my dual tip Tom bows, my art line sticks and other markers that if the tips will fray if I used on regular papers , I wonder crea couple e sketchbooks that I could just grab and take with me on my travels or in my purse that could I could definitely use for that. So what I'm going to do for this video is I'm going to create another one of these with my Rhodia dot had paper. So this is the same thing. This is kind of bulky. It's a big, thick binder, and it's a little bit hard to take with me if I'm traveling or just wanting to take it with me on the go. So I wanted to go ahead and create this. I just got a piece of black card stock, and then I have eight pieces of the Rhodia dot paper to similar to the first video. The first step is to fold your paper. So you're going to just see which way you want to fold it. I don't know that it really matters with this paper. Either way, make sure you line it up nice and straight. Here, take the bone folder. You can flip over the paper. This is pretty thin papers. So it folds pretty well. You're just going to do that for all of your pieces of paper, usually about 8 to 10 pieces of paper for this type of journal or sketchbook. You're also going to do the same thing for the cover. And I'm just using a simple piece of card stock. You can get pretty fancy with the covers, but I just want to keep it simple. And then again, you're going to take the paper and you're going to put it inside of each other so that you're creating one main signature. Now the reason you're going to use the five hole pamphlet stitch instead of the three whole pamphlet stitch is just the length of the paper. This is longer on the side, and so it's going to take a little bit more toe buying that. And so that's why you're gonna want to use the five holes versus the three holes. If it's a smaller size, then you can definitely get away with of three holes. It's makes it nice and simple. Quick, easy. And you just go from there. Like I mentioned in the last video here's gonna have Have your ruler and going to now put your marks in there. You can also just eyeball it. To be honest, I probably eyeball it more often than not, but for this class, I'll just go ahead and make the holes, and then you're just gonna have two holes on each side and so you can put those wherever you want. I'm just gonna put at 1.5 in 2.5 inches from the end. Online just seems to be a kind of a good spot. There's no exact place to put thes, and so then what you're gonna do is your and take your all and you're going to punch your holes So it's nice to just go ahead and put thes binder clips on here just to keep the paper from slipping to keep it in the spot that you have it. It's usually nice to start with this center, but you can start with whichever one you want. I have found this card stock doesn't fold the best. See, we find another piece of paper is better. It also tears just a little bit sometimes with these holes. But, um, you know what? It works. So So you could never definitely test out different things for the covers. Okay, It's looks just a little bit off. I'm gonna make this just a little bit higher. I think I actually do better when I I wallet for some days. I don't know. I like to just have my paper lifted just off the edge a little bit, so I can kind of feel when it goes through the edges when I have all of my holes punched with the all. So now I'm going to go ahead and get my thread. I haven't been able to find any recommendation for how long to make this, so I just kind of make it 33 times the length around there, and that seems to work, OK, but it's always better to have more than to not have enough. So you're just gonna thread the needle. This needle is a little bit small. So So you could see I just kind of, um, smashed the end of the thread and it went through a little bit easier there. You can also use a bigger needle. But then if the bigger needle, then it's gonna be bigger in diameter, and it's gonna be harder to go through the holes. So I used to I just like to use the smaller one because of that. All right, so what we're gonna do is a very similar stuff. Just what we already did with the three hole. What? We're just gonna have it with the five, and we're gonna start on the outside the middle hole. We're gonna bring it in, and you're just going to leave a little tail, and we're gonna go to the next hole up, you know. Pull it through. Make sure gets nice and tight with that. Your tail doesn't come through. Hold that. Now. We're going to go on the top hole. We're going to go from the outside in, can pull it tight. Make sure the tail is not coming out. Now. We're going to just go to the next hole down from the inside out. Then, from here, we're going to skip the middle one and go to the second from the bottom. And this just gives us a nice big stitch on the outside. Now, because of the color of of threat I have, you're not going to really be able to see the thread too much. But on other on other books, then you know you can see the threat, and it just makes it look nice. So now we're going to go down to the bottom hole from the inside out. But again, just make sure you're pulling it nice and tight. We're going to go to the whole right above that one. And what you get used to this stitch is just gonna be really easy to do. Okay? It's a very simple pattern, very quick and easy thing to do. Then we're going to finish this by going into the middle again and going from the inside out, and each time you just want to make sure you're pulling it nice and tight, and then you can loop this around this one in the outside just to kind of keep everything nice and tight and then you will tire. Not I typically like to tie to just just because but you can just do one and then cut off the edge. Then you have your five whole pamphlets touch. How awesome is that? Now you have your little book here, and this one here looks pretty. Looks okay. There's not too much sticking out, you know, Like I said before, you can take your two utility knife and come down or you can cut it. But this one seems to be okay. It's not too bad sticking out. And I'm I'm OK with this. This is, you know, something I'll be just using for practice and something I can take with me on travel. You know, that's as simple as that now, I couldn't boss the outside if I wanted. I could use gold paint like Dr Ph Martin's or the Fintech Gold paints and write something on the outside of this. I could use the white, but I just have a nice sketchbook that I could take with me. And it is so easy. It doesn't take long at all. It literally just took me 13 minutes to create this. So in less than 15 minutes. You can have a sketchbook with the exact paper you want to use and something that you can then take with you. You can create something smaller, like we did the first session, and you know something that will easily fit in your purse. You create something a little bit bigger. Whatever you want. You now have these journals to use and to give away or to give as a gift or even to sell to someone else.
5. Next Steps: There you have it. We have now created to journals in just a short amount of time. In about 30 minutes, you can have two journals. 15 minutes. You know, for a journal. It really doesn't take that long. And now you have something That is the exact paper you want for your lettering or for your sketches. You can have this. You can take it. You even give it a za gift to a friend. You can sell these, and you have a skill. Now that you can use for years to come for your class project, I want you to take a picture of the journals you created in this class. I'd love it even if you would decorate the covers. But even if you just want to take a picture of the journal you created and just posted in the class project area, I would love to see what you created. If you enjoy this class, I would really appreciate you simply taking a moment to post your review here on skill share. There should be a pop up at the top of your screen That says, Would you recommend this class to other students? Simply click Yes, and post a sentence or two about what you learned, what you appreciated or what you've gained from this class. And it would mean the world to me. It also helps to reach more people with his training. And so I appreciate you taking a moment to do that. Thank you for joining me in this class bookbinding part one part two will be all about creating a watercolor sketch book with the Coptic Stitch. So I hope to see you in that class again. Miney Micheli hits and I hope you enjoyed this class. You now have a skill you can use for years to come. I know I say that often, but it's so true, you're learning skills that you can use to create your own journals, to give journals as gifts or to even sell them. I know people who sell these types of journals on at sea. So I hope you enjoy this class and I have to see you in my other skill share classes. And on Instagram you can find me at color my world beautiful and I will see you next time
Shelley Hitz, Watercolor and Lettering Artist
