Concertina Sketchbook Display

Much of what goes on sale in the Artful Kids store goes through a ‘testing’ process when it arrives. This is partly for practical reasons, and partly because we often can’t resist trying the products out. This was certainly the case with one of the latest arrivals, the Concertina Sketchbook. I’d heard of these before, but not often seen them, and was therefore quite keen to try one out. It occurred to me that this would be the perfect place to store and display some of the numerous samples of painted paper we’d produced in the last few years using different techniques, which were currently hidden away in a drawer. They are however quite beautiful and look especially good when displayed together.

So I started with a pile of papers trimmed or torn roughly (I love the decorative quality of torn edges) to size, and then spent a happy hour sticking into them all into place with double sided tape.

The beauty of the concertina sketchbook, is that while keeping everything together like a normal sketchbook, it is also perfect for displaying the work it contains. You can use them as an art journal, for displaying pieces of children’s artwork, for photographs, postcards, sketches, or like I did, as a kind of inspirational scrap book on a particular theme.

This one comes with sturdy paper and an astonishing 70 surfaces to get creative with, if both sides are used. It also comes with a slipcase for protection and storage, though I did find that if you glue things onto the pages, it makes the sketchbook rather too fat to go inside the slipcase easily. I didn’t mind this too much because I think it looks especially decorative with a ribbon round instead.