Instructors: Cat Bennett & Bari Zaki

This Bookful workshop, and its eleven Bookful brethren, was originally presented to a Zoom audience of students from far & wide. We’ve decided to make our full-length live recordings of each of these workshops available for purchase this summer. (The themes of the twelve workshops will never be repeated or reprised, as Cat Bennett & Bari Zaki will keep thinking of new subjects.)

Every recording (12-ish hours-ful) comes with the same kit of sumptuous materials as the original workshop, barring the occasional palette refreshment or replacement. Also included is my sincere invitation to contact me if you have questions or anxious moments whilst watching and making. Enticement: a 15% discount ($44.25!) on your second Bookful purchase, likewise on your third, and so on & so fourth.

This four-session workshop was the eighth collaboration between Cat Bennett and Bari Zaki. Our inspiration for this one was “inside / outside”, as Cat elaborated, “whether it be a still life of fruits and vegetables on our kitchen table, a pot of tea and a book, or plants we notice on a walk.”

What you’ll make: A traditional accordion book that measures 8" x 8" x ½" when closed. When completely open it will span 5½ feet! Accordioning your panels slightly and angling your covers ensures that your book will stand and stay upright, for a length of 3–4 feet. You will learn to recess a 2 x 2 window in your front cover, to which you can affix a card with a title or a mini-collage.

Workshop #1 (3-ish hours) – You will measure, score, and fold your five Stonehenge sheets (8" x 40") to create our five 5-page accordion panels. You will then hinge the panels together using strips of paper and a glue-stick. Next you will create a 2" x 2" recess on your front cover. Then you will glue your Japanese fabric “floating spine” to visually connect your front & back covers. You will cover your two pieces of binders board with Cambridge Imprint papers. Finally, you will glue your frontmost & backmost panels to the inside of your covers.

Workshops #2, #3 & #4 (each is 3-ish hours) – Painted paper collage is a beautiful way to learn to simplify and make bold & beautiful works of art. In the next three sessions, Cat will lead you in exploring free-form colour mixing and preparing a selection of painted papers, from muted & subtle to bright & bold. Once they’ve dried, you will cut these papers into shapes for creating images, with attention to contrast and composition. Collage allows you to work quickly and freely to make snapshots of your everyday life. You’ll also make small abstract works to accompany any words you might want to add to your book as annotations. 

Workshop fee includes all the materials (but not the tools) you’ll need to make one elegant traditional accordion book.

5 sheets of Stonehenge (8" x 40")

2 matching pieces of Cambridge Imprint papers (8" x 10")

2 complementary pieces of Japanese bookcloth for the “floating spine” joining your Cambridge front and back covers

10 hinging strips (6 extras for good measure)

1 Cambridge Imprint envelope almost overflowing with Cambridge Imprint scraps

25 sheets of sulphite drawing paper on which to paint

Tools needed: bonefolder, triangle ruler, metal ruler, Xacto knife. You will receive a 20% discount on all tools ordered for the workshop (via refund after your workshop purchase). You can purchase these tools individually here. For this Bookful, I will also offer a 20% discount on any watercolour purchases.

Ancillary tools needed: PVA glue, glue-brush, scrap paper for glueing on, cutting mat.

As enthusiasts know, Cambridge Imprint papers are paragons of colour & pattern. I will select one Cambridge pattern and a complementary Japanese bookcloth for each kit. If you fancy a particular pattern, please e me and I will do my best to accommodate.

If you’d like to purchase an additional set of materials, you certainly can. However, you cannot accomplish this in the dropdown menu (because one set of materials is included with the workshop fee). It’s $145 per additional set, with no shipping fee if you order at the same time as your workshop purchase. To order, please e me and I will be in touch extremely promptly. And I will be sure that you don’t receive duplicate sets for making your accordion book (unless you want to).

Cat and I look forward to sharing our love of paper, bookbinding, collage, painting, and colour mixing with you in this 4-session (12-ish hours-ful) live-recorded workshop!

About Cat: In her former life, she was a commercial illustrator for 25 years. All three of her wonderful books are available in our shop & online: The Confident Creative, Making Art a Practice, and The Drawing Club of Improbable Dreams. 

“I believe that drawing and painting create happiness. I love teaching because I get to see people discover their own creative genius!” – Cat Bennett