Cotton Rag Sketchbook | eco-friendly handmade art journal for curious creatives

This lay-flat handmade cotton rag sketchbook embraces the beauty of tactile natural materials and offers a pleasurable, practical space for your creative adventures. The 210gsm acid-free pages are 100% cotton rag handmade paper that’s medium surface, with a satisfying tooth and texture for dry or wet media.

It's an excellent choice whether you're a professional, student or beginner artist, and whatever medium you like to work in. 

"Paper thickness for me is perfect - I used ink, charcoal, pen and collage on my pages and no bleed to the other side."  - Samantha, Hampshire

100% Cotton Rag Sketchbook for wet, dry & mixed media

The high-quality cotton rag paper I selected for these sketchbooks takes all wet media equally well, including watercolour, gouache, acrylic, oil and ink. That’s because the pages are both internally and externally sized, so there's no paper buckling to impact how pleased you feel with your finished results.

The natural tooth and texture of the handmade cotton rag pages also provide a good grip for dry media including charcoal and pencil, as well as mixed media collage and even embroidery stitching on paper. That means you can let your creative curiosity take you wherever it likes - this sketchbook is the safe place for every kind of adventure!

Why choose cotton rag paper?

Cotton rag paper is long fibre and exceptionally strong, so it can handle a lot of use, repeated applications of wet media and dry erasing, too. Colours remain vibrant and true, and the pages retain their structural integrity after many weeks, months or years of use.

Features & Benefits

• La-flat binding. Wabi Sabi Sketchbooks lie flat on a table for easy use, but they also turn 360 degrees in a circle, so you can display pages in a studio or exhibition setting.
• Tactile beauty. They feature natural deckle edges and an exposed spine French Linkstitch binding, which cleverly incorporates an unbleached woven linen ribbon to keep your book securely closed.
• Durable and heardwearing. Although they are intentionally unadorned and coverless for that Wabi Sabi aesthetic, these handmade cotton rag sketchbooks will last your lifetime, thanks to their archival materials and binding style. They'll become an heirloom record of your creative adventures.

"It is the most exquisite work of art and yet it is still very practical, perfect for all sorts of art work. I just love it." - Melanie, Berkshire

An eco-friendly, ethical art journal

Wabi Sabi Sketchbooks are made only with sustainable materials: recycled cotton, pure linen and natural beeswax. The cotton rag paper is fair trade and handmade from offcuts from the fashion industry. This reduces landfill waste and contributes to environmental protection, so all in all, you can feel good about buying this handmade sketchbook!

Scroll up to the top of the page to purchase your sketchbook or click on the sizes below to add to your cart.

Sizes, approximately

• Small A6 ish: 15 x 10.5 cm / 6 x 4.25 inches, 64 pages if no customisations
• Medium A5 ish: 21 x 15 cm / 8.25 x 6 inches, 80 pages if no customisations
• Large A4 ish: 28 x 21 cm / 11.25 x 8.25  inches, 96 pages
• Chunky: same as Large, but with 128 pages

Delivery

• All sizes are in stock and ship within 3 working days from my studio in Dorset, UK. 
• Books with optional covers, pockets and/or fold-outs are made to order; please allow up to 2 weeks plus delivery from the UK.
• Free UK delivery. Standard and express international shipping also available, with door-to-door parcel tracking for your peace of mind. Any overpayments of international shipping charges will be reimbursed.

"They are exquisitely made, make beautiful gifts and are packed with love." - Leigh, Kent

Creative process

In creating the natural, minimalist design of these sketchbooks, I was inspired by the Japanese wabi sabi aesthetic of simplicity and incompleteness. I felt that leaving the binding style visible, where it is usually hidden, would echo this aesthetic and give an extra element of tactile pleasure to the sketchbooks.

Incorporating the ribbon was an idea I got from American poet Emily Dickinson, who left 'packets' of her work for posterity - bundles of poetry she kept tied up in string.

Customise your handmade cotton rag sketchbook

Tailor this sketchbook to your particular creative process with optional customisations (made to order, please allow 2 weeks plus delivery):

• Pockets for storing fragments, inspiration, found objects
• Fold-Out Pages for narratives, landscapes, colour mixing (fold-outs in the Small book open horizontally, and in the Medium they open vertically)
• Cover to leave plain, or title and decorate yourself.

"Little secret compartments you stumble across as you work... I've got feathers, thread samples, fabric and different papers tucked in mine."  - Samantha, Hampshire

Details if you add customisations

• Small with fold-outs or pockets has 4 horizontal fold-outs or pockets and 40 pages. 
• Small with fold-outs and pockets has 2 horizontal fold-outs, 2 pockets and 40 pages.
• Medium with fold-outs or pockets has 5 vertical fold-outs or pockets and 48 pages.
• Medium with fold-outs and pockets has 2 vertical fold-outs, 3 pockets and 48 pages.

Cotton rag sketchbooks inspiration & information

Press & Artists

• Country Homes & Interiors magazine included these cotton rag sketchbooks in a feature on my work
• Textile artist Samantha Boot uses ink, charcoal and mixed media in her Wabi Sabi Sketchbook. The dark images featured here are by kind permission and copyright © Samantha Boot, 2024.
• Botanical artist Anne McKenzie uses her Wabi Sabi Sketchbook as a colour mixing journal.
• Lara D is exploring eco-friendly oil and acrylic mediums in her cotton rag sketchbook.
  

You may also enjoy

• Embroidered Sketchbook Pages
• Intentions & Updates: Wabi Sabi Sketchbooks
• Sustainable Stationery: eco-friendly sketchbooks & notebooks
• Velvet Cotton Rag Sketchbooks

FAQs

Delivery & Returns
Materials & Process
Customer Reviews
Info & Care