I love notebooks, who doesn’t? But I am very picky about what I want from a notebook and tend to be disappointed when I buy them, some have too few pages, are too small, too big and don’t meet all my needs.

So I made myself a notebook, it needed to meet a few critical needs:

Flexible,

Fits in a back pocket,

Lots of pages,

Sturdy,

Fountain pen friendly,

Lay flat when open,

Fun to make,

& Cool.

I know, I don’t ask for much. So here it is my perfect (not really) field notes book replica.

Step 1: Materials

This notebook is made from 2 sheets of A4 printer paper.

Also needed is a colored chart paper for the cover.

A stapler, some of you may also like to use threads and sewing.

A scissor.

Wow! No glues?

Step 2: Make the Sheets

Take the 2 A4 printer papers and mark at half line. Tear at the crease. Make another fold and tear it again. Some of you may like to use the scissor. Make 8 A6 sheets out of the 2 A4 papers.

Step 3: Make the Folds

Stack all the sheets and make a fold at half mark. Take the colored chart paper and fold it too. Cover the papers with the chart paper and fold tightly to keep everything in place.

Step 4: Binding

You can use a larger staple. Mine was small so I opened it up to be accessible to the fold. While stapling in place use something soft like an eraser or many layers of cloth to put the staple. Make sure your fingers are not in the way of the stapler pin. You can see that the staple ends are not folded. Fold them manually with hand. Just press them with your nails.

Step 5: Trimming and Beautification

Open the notebook flat and trim the chart paper as you like. I left a 1/8 inch gap so that the pages are safe. Finally round the corners. I have used the scissor. You can also use a corner cutter.

Step 6: Finally

Your field notes book is ready. Final size comes to around A7. Contains 32 faces of pages. Take it with you where you go. Keeps your data safe for a longer time. Still works if get soiled. Better than everything, you can make many of them.

Best used for:

Lab notes

Travel journal

Personal assistant

Flash cards

Keeping budgets

Phone book (old concept)