This was the first exercise where I made our own mini sketchbooks and then created mind maps to help show the thought process and reasonings behind them to certain questions asked which I would later use when deciding what I wanted in my own final sketchbook.This was the first steps of deciding what I wanted to create for my sketchbook. The must haves, and ideas that I really liked and hoped I could iterate into the book. Integrating what is the most annoying things when using books to write and sketch for me.
This is where I found the idea for how to keep my book together.
After brainstorming I started sketching my ideas and some of the mechanisms I wanted to use and how I could use them, to help with visualizing my goals easier. I wanted to make sure that the book would lay flat, connect using a flexible material that can come undone and open to allow for more paper to be added, and be heavy and use a material to help not slide.
This shows my first experimentation with using a flexible connector to test and see how it would work with holding the two pages together as well as figuring out the distance of the hole from the edge of the paper and how it would affect the slack in the connector when all together versus opened up.
These three images show the first big step towards the final book where I decided to place the holes on the outside edges instead of the inside the middle like a traditional book. I found that having the holes closer to the edge makes for less of a difference in length needed for the connectors which would help to make it smoother. I also found that using elastic material would work well for the connectors. By having only two holes it allows less taken up room and a better continuation of the spread-out pages. The pages can then close from both sides and fold up like a traditional book.
I then tested the idea of using leather instead of my original idea of rubber around the edges to be able to grip surfaces better. The leather ended up looking much better than my original idea and it looked very sleek and worked well for the utility part of gripping. I started testing how to make the hard cover that I wanted that would also be heavy and how to cleanly wrap it with the leather.Here is one of the final iterations where instead of going with my initial plan of using sheet metal I went with recycled laminate, since it was easier to cut and less likely to warp and bend. I then experimented with dimensions of the leather so that all of the lines would meet neatly in the corners. I then added extra leather on the bottom so that I could have a pocket.
Here is the final iteration of what I covered with the leather so that it would all be black when the pages are closed for a sleeker look. as well as the pocket and which is lower and has a corner because of a lack of material and having to use a previously cut edge. This also shows the surprise element of the paper that is for measuring and cutting out new pages to add with holes to make sure it fits like the other pages.This shows the final materials I decided on for the connectors. I used black elastic and very thin necklace clasps that screw together so that they can come apart to add more paper and they won’t pull apart easy if it were to be a magnet. There is excessive slack here and protrusion of the connectors since the paper had not yet been added and I had not yet tightened them.
I then added an element to keep the book closed and the hard cover from sliding too much that also acts a holder for your pencil and weaves between the two layers to keep it tight. You can also see the tightened connectors in their final form.
Production
I feel that with making this sketchbook I have achieved a much better understanding using machine techniques as well as good practice in material studies and experimenting outside of my comfort zone. I believe that I was successful in meeting my requirements that I had set for myself that I wanted the book to have and that I was able to create reach the goals well and that the book ended up being very sleek and clean like I hoped for. Some of the lessons I learned are that I should always buy plenty of extra material so that I can test and experiment with, also that I should test more and jump into the testing process to gain more momentum when creating, I also learned some small things like the way material reacts and how much I can alter it until it breaks or doesn’t perform the way I want. I also learned that I should also constantly be checking settings before every cut to make sure that all settings are correct with the laser cutter. Some potential improvements could when making the leather cutout, to make it more of a net like when making a cube so that there are not just a bunch of pieces that are separated and glued which would make it look much less sloppy, also being able to cut the leather on the laser cutter would have helped a lot with making straight edges. The last thing that could use some improvement is the area around the spine of the book. I am not sure how to fix the problem where the spine occasionally tucks under the larger flaps of the book and upsets the way the book should lay. I’m not sure if there was a technique that I could have used to solve that problem, but I could not find a solution.
