My Book

I like Arches Hot Press paper, but all the company makes in sketchbooks is cold press. I've tried buying other books that claim to be hot press, but still have to much "tooth" for my pleasure.

I found 22 X 30" Arches Hot Press on sale for $2.98 a sheet. I bought all I could afford at the time (enough to make two twenty sheet books.) I took the sheets to my favorite hang-out (coffee-shop) and sat folding the paper. I used a burnisher to flatten the folds they gently tore the sheets leaving a semi-sort of deckle edge. Final size of sheets is 11 1/4 X 7 1/2 ". Bought a piece of acid free mat board and had the store cut it to 11 1/2 X 7 3/4 inches. I rubber cemented two of the boards together for the front and two for the back to make a stiff binding for sketching and painting plein aire. A local print shop does spiral binding but because of the deckle edge I only had them punch the holes for binding, they gave me the spiral and I wound it in myself to maintain the illusion of the deckle edge.

It has performed very well for me and I love having my Hot Press paper.

GrannyKass at Notebookism/ FLICKR
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