Fat books are an increasingly popular mixed-media form. These little books, also known as chunky books, are four inches by four inches in size. Despite the tiny size of the pages, the assembled book is extremely bulky because the artists making the pages tend to embellish them with plenty of fibers, trims, charms and ephemera. The bound books often cannot close flat because of the thickness of the decorated pages. They look chunky, which is how they came to be called fat or chunky books.
While some artists make all of the pages in their chunky books themselves, this is more commonly an art form used in a mixed-media art swap. Each artist makes a certain number of pages, which are sent to the artist hosting the swap. That artist compiles the pages into books that contain a page from each artist, binds them and sends a book back to all the participants. Frequently, an extra page is sent in by each artist so that a spare fat book can be made as a fundraiser for the hosting artist's favorite charity.