Creating Your Own Sketchbook

Tuesday, February 28th, 9:30 – 12:30 ONLINE via Zoom

$35 Members, $50 Non-Members

Enhance your sketching practice with a personalized sketchbook of your own construction.  This class will teach you how to create a bound sketchbook for everyday use, sewn with the French Link Stitch technique.  

Each participant will leave with a small sketchbook of their own, either 4.5″ square or a 3 x 5ish” rectangle. Starting small is a great introduction to book making, since it’s straightforward, can be finished quickly, and uses the same skills needed to make larger books in the future.  

A detailed materials list will be sent to students upon registration so they can gather the necessary supplies for book making.  

 

Katy Westcotte, Katrinkles, Portsmouth Arts Guild

 

After graduating from RISD with a degree in Jewelry and Metalsmithing, Katy worked for a goldsmith in NYC before moving back to Rhode Island to design costume jewelry. A workshop in laser cutting led her to button making, the intersection of jewelry and fiber arts.

In 2012, Katy launched Katrinkles, a small Providence-based business making whimsical buttons and tools for crafters.  The idea started as a side hustle,  then found an audience on Etsy and local fiber festivals.  In the beginning, she operated solo, but crafters responded. She bought her first laser machine in 2014 and hired her first two employees in 2017.  Now there are 12 who do cutting, finishing and shipping.

In addition to Katrinkles, knitting, spinning, sewing and crocheting, Katy loves visits to the beach in all seasons, exploring local breweries and taking long walks with her rescue pup, Max.

You can find Katy on Instagram @katrinkles_knitting_jewelry, on Facebook as Katrinkles and through her website.

“I’ve had a regular sketchbook practice since kindergarten.  I learned to make my own books in a workshop at RISD.  In my adult life, I make and fill about one new watercolor journal per month. 

I meet up with the Rhode Island Urban Sketchers and the Net Loft Watercolor Journaling group each week when I can.  I love plein air urban landscapes, doodling patterns in ink and watercolor, and journaling at least a little something each day, in addition to travel journaling. ”