Sketchbook No. 36

This sketchbook is a collaboration.

Rick Graves cut, sanded — and sanded, and sanded — then finished the plywood covers with a rub-on poly and drilled the holes. Joni Graves sewed the signatures on leather cords using an upright sewing frame (which Rick also made), then hand-hammered wire into arched hardware to hold the tension. The pointed ends were sharpened, threaded through blue grommets in the cover, and hammered flat. On the inside, small circles mark where the wire ends rest — evidence of hands, not machines.

Leather cords want to stretch. The hardware keeps them honest.

The result opens completely flat — cord binding distributes stress across the entire spine rather than concentrating it at the hinge, the same principle used in medieval bookbinding. It's a remarkably durable structure for a book that's meant to go places.

At approximately 6.75 × 11.75", it's built for plein air work: landscape format, 120 pages of 90# drawing paper with deckled fore edges, secured with a blue elastic closure. The pearlescent white leather spine and blue grommets make a tidy package of it.

One of three — each with a different accent color. This one is blue.

• Size: ~6.75 × 11.75"
• Pages: 120 × 90# drawing paper, deckled fore edges
• Binding: Cord binding, upright sewing frame
• Hardware: Hand-hammered wire, blue grommets
• Covers: Finished plywood, pearlescent white leather spine
• Closure: Blue elastic
• An aBoBoBook collaboration — Joni & Rick Graves
• Handmade in Wisconsin