Orange Numbers 15 and 16: sketchbook folios

Okay, my chronology is a little mixed up, because I actually made this first sketchbook cover last week sometime, but I wanted to wait to post it for a couple of reasons. The first one being that I didn't like it so much.





The little flap that holds the sketchbook is too thin and doesn't really account for the width of the book. Also, I decided I'd rather have the book on the right side rather than the left, and the pencil pocket is lumpy where it is, so I thought putting it on the "spine" of the cover might make the whole thing lay better...

So here is the second version:





I like this one much better, although I made it just a little too roomy. There's plenty of pocket space for tucking in notes and images for inspiration - so maybe I'll stuff it up soon.

I used to have a big corkboard full of images to look at when I painted (because artists should always have a visual base to draw from). Since I've scaled down my studio, I don't have one anymore, so I put some of my favorite images into a little book to tuck into the sketchbook case. I glued images to blue typing paper and then covered each whole page with contact paper, finally stitching all the pages together with a little yarn. You can see my Vuillard's showing here. I just love him.



I'm thinking of using the first one for a coupon organizer, except I never have any coupons... I might make some more like the second one to go on Etsy, we'll see.

The second reason I wanted to wait to post about these is because I have a whole new project in mind - but it will have to wait until I finish the orange project. 9 more to go!