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 third collaboration between Cat Bennett and Bari Zaki. In this Bookful we celebrated early spring: more light & warmth, the pods that survived winter, and the optimism of spring flowers beginning to bud & bloom. The binding style you will make is called the Butterfly-stitch, appropriately springy. It’s a Japanese binding style developed in the 11th century, originally called Yamato Toji or four-needle sewing (you’ll see why). The stitch is rhythmic, and I think you will be delighted by its simplicity.

What you’ll make: A Butterfly-stitch book that measures 9" x 6½" x 1". You’ll fold ten signatures using Cat’s favourite drawing paper; you’ll “wrap” two of your signatures with interleaves of Italian Grafiche Tassotti papers, colour-coordinated for the palette you choose.

Workshop #1 (4-ish hours) – You begin by folding 40 sheets of drawing paper into ten 8-page (that’s a total of 160 serendipitous sides) signatures. Then you will measure, score, and fold your two pieces of luscious Saint-Armand papers to make your covers. Before you mark up your spine for sewing, you will decide which two signatures to wrap with your two interleavings of Italian Grafiche Tassotti papers. Next you will mark up your book spine for creating your sewing stations, then you will be ready to sew your book with the Butterfly-stitch. This binding style requires four needles to create the delicate, barely visible stitches on the spine.

Workshops #2, #3 & #4 (each is 3-ish hours) – In the next three sessions, Cat will guide you in drawing & painting exercises, and you’ll fill your book with illustrations of all things botanical—flowers, herbs, and perhaps even a few weeds! You will gather your flora between sessions, and you’ll make observational drawings using various techniques, from working in line to working more fully in paint. You’ll use markers, coloured pencils, crayons, and watercolour to draw in fresh, exploratory ways. In the process, you’ll discover the meditative benefits and inspirations that arise from a drawing practice.

Class fee includes the kit of materials (but not the tools) you will use to make one Butterfly-stitch book:

40 pages of Cat’s favourite drawing paper (9" x 12")

2 sheets of Saint-Armand 100% cotton paper (9" x 14")

6 sheets of Italian Grafiche Tassotti paper (9" x 12")

5 different colours of waxed-linen thread, on a piece of binders board

4 No. 18 straight bookbinding needles, straight from England

Tools needed: Bonefolder, shipping clerk’s knife, lightweight awl, medium awl, X-acto 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.

The two palettes as shown here (left to right) are Spring Flingery and Tuscan Fun. Please order from the dropdown menu below. 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 butterfly-stitch book (unless you want to).

Cat and I look forward to sharing our love of paper, bookbinding, drawing, painting & nature 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