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 tenth Bookful collaboration between Cat Bennett and Bari Zaki. Rather than making a book in which to draw, paint, and collage, you will make an elegant box to hold summery stationery (and writing implements, natch)  that you will create under the tutelage of Cat. We will showcase luscious fruits & vegetables, and flora & foliage of the summer season. We will also hand-fold envelopes, and embellish them inside as well as out. Your correspondents will be enveloped in epistolary ecstasy!

What you’ll make: A drop-spine box with a single three-sided tray measuring 7¼" x 8" x 2", covered with Cambridge Imprint papers & linen bookcloths with a flax linen ribbon tab. The main compartment will hold your notecards, postcards, and hand-folded envelopes, and a slim cross-section will accommodate a binders dozen of pencils we will cover in assorted (yes, 13 different patterns!) Cambridge Imprint papers.

Workshop #1 (3-ish hours) – Making your box & stationery: You will construct your single three-sided tray (the body of the box) and cover it with Cambridge Imprint paper. You will learn the nuances of slicing and trimming on an exact angle to prepare the paper for wrapping around the visible edges, corners & seams to create seemingly “seamless edges”. Next, you will make your cover (with its hinged spine) using linen bookcloth & Cambridge Imprint paper. Then you’ll attach the tray, ribbon tab, and interior top lid panel to the cover. Whilst the box is pressing, you will fold and cut the Stonehenge paper with your bonefolder & shipping clerk’s knife to create deckle-edged notecards & postcards to embellish. You will also learn how to hand-fold envelopes without a template, and these will perfectly hold either a notecard or a postcard. They will all rest comfortably in your main compartment.

Workshops #2, #3 & #4 (each is 3-ish hours) – Drawing and painting and collaging, o my!: In the next three sessions, Cat will lead you in painting & drawing exercises using a variety of mediums including coloured pencils + watercolour, pen drawings, and collage. You’ll also explore gouache painting, which is opaque, allowing the layering of colours. It can be used as a wash or as flat colour. You can use acrylic paints as well if you have them at hand. You’ll also draw & paint on your hand-folded envelopes, inside and out.

Workshop fee includes all materials (but not the tools) you’ll need to make one drop-spine box; the papers to make your notecards, postcards & hand-folded envelopes, plus a binders dozen of pencils and the papers to cover them.

9 precut pieces of binders board to construct your box

6 pieces of Cambridge Imprint paper & linen bookcloth trimmed to size for covering your box

6 sheets of Stonehenge paper for your notecards and postcards (11" x 15")

24 sheets of Cat’s favourite drawing paper for your hand-folded envelopes (10" x 14")

13 pencils (2B) 

13 assorted Cambridge Imprint papers to cover your pencils

1 length of flax linen ribbon (1 yard)

1 corner & hinge spacer

Tools needed: bonefolder, teflon bonefolder (highly recommended), shipping clerk’s knife, triangle ruler, metal ruler, Xacto knife, glue brush, and PVA glue. 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.

Ancillary tools needed: a couple of inches of masking tape, (painters tape or washi tape is also ok), glue-stick, cutting mat, a small cup for your glue, scrap paper for glueing on, a small cloth to keep your fingers glue-free, a heavy weight (or book) for pressing your box, and, optionally, a small wastepaper basket for your gluey scrap papers.

Nota bene: If you have the necessary tools but are in need of the glue & glue brush, you’ll find them in a separate shop listing here.

I will select the Cambridge patterns and a complementary linen bookcloth for your kit. If you fancy a particular pattern or palette, 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 $195 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 duplicates for making your box (unless you want to).

The thrill of refill: You can make more cards and envelopes for your box by purchasing our Boxful of Summer replenishment set here. It includes 6 sheets of Stonehenge (11" x 15") + 24 sheets of Cat’s favourite drawing paper (10" x 14"). You’ll be set for Indian summer or autumn.

Cat and I look forward to sharing our love of summer, farmers markets, drawing, painting, collaging & corresponding 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