What did you do during Christmas holidays? I made a sketchbook out of the typical blue envelopes the Dutch tax authortity sends – the Belastingdienst. For Dutchies, ‘blue envelope’ is synonymous with news from the tax autority and therefore not a welcome sight in the mailbox. Ironically I do love my newbound sketchbook made of these!
Austin Kleon once called the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve a no-man’s land – and it is a very weird period of the year. I oftentimes find myself picking up old hobbies or playing games I’ve abandoned for years during these days. This year, I decided to do something with all the blue envelopes I’ve been accumulating during the years.
The Belastingdienst sends out letters at least four times a year, and I always kept the blue envelopes. I find it a nice neutral tone to draw on, and being basically scrap, there’s no pressure of having to create something that’s actually nice. But the frequency of the letters is higher than I’m using them for drawings, so there was quite a pile waiting for me to use.
So I decided to bind a good amount into a sketchbook, so I might use these papers more. I didn’t make any progress photo’s – on purpose actually. I wanted to enjoy creating it and not worry wheter I would share it or not. So you’ll have to do with the end result unfortunately!
I’ve used a Coptic stitch to bind the book, which might be a bit of a weird choice seeing that I wrapped the back and cover in red paper. Coptic is usually all about an open spine. I chose it because it’s one binding technique I’m famililar with, and sewing the covers onto the book block hopefully helps the book stay longer together. Fellow artists will know, sketchbooks usually go through a lot – my store-bought ones need tape too before they’re filled! Leaving the spine open, however, would mean sunlight would directly hit the inner pages when stored on the shelf, and I already know the blue colour is anything but lightproof. Adding a bit of spine seemed best, though I’m certain the red paper will also fade though.
The spine is not much more than a few strips of tape and a bit of cardboard underneath the red paper. I was worried if I made it too stiff, the book wouldn’t open flatly – another reason why I love coptic bindings. The drawback is that the spine folds when the book is opened, and it might tear after much use. Still that’s part of the fun of making things yourself, I think!
Apart from the envelopes, most other materials are recycled as well. The board used for the cover was the backing board of a block of paper, the red cover leftovers from Christmas wrappings. I’m a hoarder of scrap materials – now they come to good use!
The envelopes are all teary from opening them, but cutting them straight would make the book quite a bit smaller. So I made the cover slightly bigger to protect the pages.
Next time I might choose a proper hardcover technique, but I think this is a nice substitute.