This is a really cool idea that I might have to try myself!

Russell Stutler has been featured here before as a notebook addict. His website is a great resource for sketching inspiration, and he has done a deep dive testing popular pocket sketchbook brands, with Moleskine and Stillman and Birn among his favorites. But this binder idea is taking it to the next level! He cut up pages from his favorite Stillman and Birn sketchbook, hole-punched them and rounded the corners, and then put them in a pocket size leather binder along with a custom palette!

You might think this would make a big mess, but he came up with a clever way to protect the palette– a plastic sheet folds around it, front and back. You’d still have to make sure the palette is relatively dry, but it would keep the pans from smearing on the drawing page.

My only problem with having a palette in a notebook like this is that it becomes awkward to sketch on anything but the top page. One solution might be to attach the palette in such a way that it extends out beyond the notebook while in use, but then can fold back into the protective plastic:

You might need something that could fold out under the palette to keep it from flopping down while in use. Or maybe the binder could have an elastic closure strap that could be slipped around the user’s wrist to hold everything in place. I’ll have to play around with this idea! Stutler recommends a couple of nice slim pocket size binders that are popular in Japan (Pilot and DaVinci)– I might have to buy a couple to use as prototypes!