How the sketchbooks are made

Each sketchbook starts as a stack of cotton rag paper, folded into sections by hand. Cotton rag takes a wash of water without buckling, which matters if you like to paint outside on a bench.

The sections get sewn together, the spine gets glued, and then everything sits under weight overnight. That waiting is most of the work. The next morning the linen covers go on and the edges get trimmed.

They end up in the farm shop a few at a time, because that is the pace they can be made at. If the shelf is empty when you visit, ask — there is usually another batch under a board somewhere, drying.