Making a New Watercolor Sketchbook

I'm pretty close to being out of pages in my current sketchbook so I've been doing a lot of thinking about how I wanted to make the next one.  I wanted one that was easier to use for doing landscapes and that would include drawing paper for doing value sketches.  I also wanted to be able to add and remove paper if I needed to.  And I wanted something that was easier to photograph--right now, I have to use rubberbands and masking tape to get the pages flat enough to take photos.

I looked online and checked out how other people were making their sketchbooks and found some good ideas to try. 

I started by dividing a 22 x 30 sheet of watercolor paper into eighths, which gave me pages that are 7 1/2" x 11".  Then I cut 9" x12" drawing paper in half to make pages that are 6" x 9".   The last step with the paper was to measure and punch two holes in each sheet.  Then I cut two peices of book board that were slightly bigger than the size of the watercolor paper and decided on some paper to cover the book board.

Everything all cut out and ready

After changing my mind 3 or 4 times, I finally decided what paper to use to cover the book board and started the process of gluing the paper onto the board.  

Gluing the decorative paper onto the front side of the book board.

Gluing the paper on the inside of the book board.

After the covers had a chance to dry, I decided to have some fun and I dropped and splattered paint all over the paper to make it prettier.

After the paint dried, I put clear Contac paper on the covers so that they would be waterproof.  (I want to be able to clip a piece of paper to the front cover with bulldog clips so that when I'm painting I can keep the paper from warping so much.  I hope it works!)  The I punched holes in the covers.  After much noisy hammering and slightly bruised fingers, I had all the makings of a watercolor sketchbook.  Here it is all finished.  I can't wait to start using it.  :)