Dear Everyone ~
Last week, when I began assembling the kits of materials for the Butterfly Bookful of Botanicals—my third four-Saturday Zoom collaboration with Cat Bennett—I had a colourful, delightful Satagomi surprise, in the depths of my paper cabinet. Satagomi are colourful lightweight sheets, and I had originally planned to include two of them in each kit, for students to wrap around two of the ten signatures in their Butterfly-stitch books. The wraps would have created a narrow stripe or two along the otherwise creamy spine.
When I realized that I had enough of five different colours of Satagomi to include a wrap of each in every kit, the spine possibilities took flight. I stitched up a new sample book pronto, showcasing the luxuriously stripe-y spine. I think it’s better than a beach towel! Each kit also includes five thread-colour options. You could stitch your book with a single colour, or with alternating colours. Your four needles will barely be able to contain themselves for sheer joy. The colour coordinating possibilities are almost limitless. An exaltation of mix-and-matchability will reign.
The kit’s essential accessories are presented in petite glassines: a quartet of nickel-plated Italian paper clips, sealed with a single black & gold washi leaf; and a foursome of No. 18 straight bookbinding needles, which we will use simultaneously to stitch our books.
In workshop #1, you will focus full-thread-ahead on making your book. I will also have pre-recorded the lesson, so that you can revisit the steps after the workshop. The recording is about 30 minutes (because it’s purely technical, sans questions or creative distractions), and will be available for two months. Quite a few students have commented that they enjoy watching the recording after the workshop, to appreciate the fine points of the various steps and gain confidence to make a particular binding style independently.
In workshops #2, #3 & #4, Cat will lead the group through a series of drawing, painting & colour-mixing exercises. Between sessions, you will gather spriggery and other springery to draw in the next week’s workshop, filling your book with a wide & whimsical range of illustrations.
Thanks to the wonders of Zoomology, it is not too late to sign up for Butterfly Bookful of Botanicals, whose first session will be Saturday, April 3. But don’t daffodilly-dally, or you won’t receive your kit in time. No previous art experience necessary—Cat is consistently inclusive and inspiring.
And if you live in the Continental U.S., it’s not too late to sign up for Introduction to Bookbinding on Saturday, March 27. And if you register for both Introduction to Bookbinding and Butterfly Bookful of Botanicals (BBB), you will receive a 15% discount on your BBB registration.
We hope you will join us to share in the creative camaraderie and shared love of paper, bookbinding, drawing, painting & nature.
Aflutter, Bari