This is not a tutorial, but I show you my entire process (bloopers and all!) for making this custom Arches Travel Sketchbook.
I use 300 gsm Cold Pressed paper, as well as toned paper for sketches. I even upholstered my own cover! I used supplies I already owned, with no previous experience making books.
The reason I decided to do this is because I was getting very frustrated and uninspired to do watercolor plein air with my travel sketchbooks that don't have 100% cotton paper. Cellulose paper can be very frustrating to work with and most times it's just not worth it to me.
MATERIALS
Here's the breakdown of my materials that I already had:
1 yard of fabric (linen)
1 MDF board, 2.5 mm
2 Greyboards, 800 micron
1 Arches paper block, 18x24, cold pressed, 300 gsm (it was an old paper block I already owned and the glue was coming apart)
Strathmore toned tan paper, 18x24 spiral pad (another old paper pad I have had for years.
Ruler, cutting mat, Gorilla glue, weights and clamps
What I had to buy:
Metal craft rings (the only thing I had to purchase) which I got on Etsy.
You can find all of these online, some brands may differ. Try to find bulk paper and fabric to save tons of money. Don't buy paper blocks, buy loose sheets of paper as that is usually way cheaper.
In the UK, the best sources of paper are Jacksonsart.com ( https://www.jacksonsart.com/ ) and Ken Bromley ( https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/ )
CRITERIA
Going into this process I knew I wanted 2 things:
Heavy, 100% Cotton Paper (my favorite: Arches!)
Adjustable Binding that allows me to add/remove pages.
That second point is why I went with metal craft rings for the binding, because I can quickly open and close them to add or remove pages.
PROCESS
COSTS
After calculating everything (even the glue!) the grand total came to:
£13.41!
TIME
I spent about 5 hours total making this sketchbook, because of my mistakes. Now that I've done this once, and know the process, I could easily do it again in less than 2 hours total (minus waiting for glue to dry).
CONCLUSION
Having done this, I can understand why companies charge so much for 100% cotton sketchbooks. However, after watching this video I hope you realize how "easy" it is to do this yourself, and if you can't afford the fancy stuff, you can still own a really nice sketchbook.
If, however, you don't want to mess with DIY, I researched some good 100% sketchbooks that are available on the market (these are what I can find in the UK, you might have different options near you):
ETCHR. These are 100% Cotton, Fabriano Artistico sketchbooks. Beautifully made, they get rave reviews. Starts at £47.
The only Arches sketchbooks I've ever seen are handmade on Etsy and start at £50.
Strathmore makes a watercolor sketchbook with their own 100% cotton paper, however I have only seen a few reviews with it (all good!), and depending where you live the price varies drastically. In the UK prices start at £38. In the US the prices might be better?
Have you found some good 100% cotton sketchbooks?? Let me know!