Dear Everyone ~
I’m delighted to announce a new group workshop, Introduction to Bookbinding. My motivation for this has been long simmering and has now zoomed, so to speak, to a front burner. Over my years of teaching, I’ve noticed the steps in the bookbinding process that students tend to stumble over. Though some parts of the process are more intuitive than others, I truly believe that once you can wrap your brain around what you’re doing in the moment and what you’re going to do next, it all—almost magically—makes sense.
During the Bookful workshops I’ve been co-teaching with Cat Bennett, I’ve had a chance to observe several dozen students doing the same thing, but in their own slightly different ways, at the same time. I’ve noticed a bit of anxiety about falling behind the group. Even though I’ve pre-recorded all the bookbinding steps for Bookful, I want people to feel in the moment that they are in step and not lagging, so that they can enjoy themselves.
Some students have been hampered—great if you are on a picnic, but not on a Zoom—by being out of practice with a ruler, an X-acto, or even a gluestick. My hope is that Introduction to Bookbinding can replace any trepidation with confidence… and anticipation about making an entire book.
To me, materials are central to bookbinding. The same binding technique, when made with different materials… is a different book. So, Introduction to Bookbinding is also an introduction to different paper textures and weights and their temperaments. In the shop listing, you can read about the pair of single-signature stitched booklets you will make. As always, the workshop includes a complete kit of materials. (The process of assembling kits is near & dear to my paper-loving heart.) For this workshop, you have your choice of three different palettes: Primavera, Terrain and Nocturne.
This workshop can, in two delightful hours, bring you up to “cruising attitude.” By scheduling this workshop for March 27, I am hoping that students who might be hesitant about registering for Butterfly Bookful of Botanicals, which I am co-teaching with Cat Bennett in April, will feel emboldened. To encourage you, I will offer a 15% discount ($35.40 off!) on the registration for that series of four workshops to any “graduate” of Introduction to Bookbinding.
Introduction to Bookbinding
Basically, Bari