Scrap Sketchbook

• Herman Miller makes notepads from reused blueprints, where the back of each page has attractively out-of-context diagrams of parking lots and gravel beds. Inspired by this, I had been gathering scraps from the studio for a couple years - and finally decided to bind them into sketchbooks.

  This is a great way to divert a wastestream (remember - recycling is really downcycling), as well as a compromise - don't throw away all those halfway decent doodles; preserve them for posterity, and mull over them for another few weeks as you doodle in your new sketchbook. A modern-day palimpsest.

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  The best part about this is that as you're drawing or writing, there's already visual material on the page - a kind of stream of consciousness booster, allowing you to make connections you might not have made by yourself. Sometimes a blank page can be intimidating...

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  Some pages aren't useable, unless you're willing to collage your ideas onto existing images.

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  For the most part I left facing pages blank. Normally I only use facing pages, since soft lead pencils will smudge, hard-point pens will leave an embossed image on the other side, and strong pens run through.

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  Here's a detail of the verso page - someone had already doodled over this printout, which looks great.

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  This one has guidelines for the appropriate height of a loading dock. Nice.

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  Since the pages are cut through, the images bleed, for an attractive, if unkempt edge. I had these velo bound, which is unobtrusive but not as neat as I'd like. Next time I'll probably bind them myself.

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  My pile was enough for six books - and make great gifts. Remember when it was more thoughtful because you made it? Bring those days back.

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