I had a bunch of watercolor paper, large 22”x30” sheets, sitting around, so I decided to turn it into sketchbooks as a fun project. Check out the short video above for the process.
I was worried the basic office two-hole puncher (like the one you see I used, in the vid) would have trouble with the thick watercolor paper, which is 140 lb. paper, and wouldn’t be able to punch through the cover board. So I borrowed a hollow punch set from the local tool library to handle the cover board, but it couldn’t punch through at all! Granted, it was an old set, so maybe it had gotten dull. But then I decided to give the two-hole puncher a go and it was just fine with the cover board. The only drawback is that you have to just go with the dimensional specifications the tool is built with. But it is so much easier and faster to use than a hollow punch.
I previously posted to get your thoughts on whether you prefer a portrait or landscape oriented sketchbook (with the thinking that it could also inform what folks would like in a giveaway sketchbook), and the results were quite mixed:
Over at Instagram, the poll was solidly in the “portrait” camp, but not 100%. So instead of only making one type, I decided to just make both and let whoever wins the giveaway pick which orientation they want.
I Made Extra And Am Giving One Away!
I had a bunch of watercolor paper so I decided to make extra and give one of them away. I’m going through all that watercolor paper I have rather slowly, so it would be great if one of you could use it for your own creations rather than let the paper continue to languish in obscurity.
Below are the details on how you could receive a sketchbook:
This giveaway is not endorsed or sponsored by Substack or any other company.
This giveaway is only open to subscribers of this Substack, Zeno’s Arrow, so if you’re interested, make sure you’ve subscribed (it’s free!).
No purchase is necessary to participate.
You must live in the continental US to participate.
To enter, subscribe and add a comment to this post by July 19, 2024 11:59pm PDT about what you’d like to fill the pages of the sketchbook with.
I’ll randomly pick one winner from the comments that weekend (July 20-21) and notify the winner to: get shipping address (basic ground shipping—I’m poor) and the winner’s preference on whether they’d like a portrait or landscape oriented sketchbook.
Each individual subscriber who has commented will be weighted equally—multiple comments will not increase your odds.
Details of the sketchbook: 27 pages of cold pressed 140 lb. watercolor paper, heavy grey cover board front/back cover, flashcard rings for binding, approximately 7.5”x10”.
Would love to fill the pages with paintings of wildflowers that I stumble across this Summer 😊❤️