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 eleventh Bookful collaboration between Cat Bennett and Bari Zaki. Our inspirations for this series were three wonderful women artists: Vanessa Bell (1879–1961), sister of Virginia Woolf; Sonia Delaunay (1885–1979), who lived and worked in Paris; and Rose Wylie (b. 1934), who lives in Kent, England and achieved artistic recognition at the age of 80! They are all highly original makers of strong, imaginative work. In each of our 3 drawing weeks together, we will fill an accordion, taking inspiration from these artists in intentional ways to grow our own practice. Think colourful, bold, and beautiful!

What you’ll make: A drop-spine square-format accordion book measuring 5½" x 5½" x ½" with hard covers. You will glue Japanese bookcloth & papers to binders board, making a decorative cover that encloses & protects your accordion pages. The front cover and spine do not attach directly to your accordion panel-block; instead, the back cover features a vertical pocket to hold your book in place whilst using it and displaying it. The pocket also enables you to insert a fresh accordion panel-block each workshop week, as we explore our three artists. Your book will indeed lay flat when open, allowing your pages to spring up & out for display.

Workshop #1 (3-ish hours) – You will measure, score, and fold your 15 Stonehenge sheets (5" x 20") to create your five 4-panel accordions (each measuring 5" x 5" when closed and 5 in. x 8-plus ft. when open). You will then hinge your panels together using strips of lightweight drawing paper and a glue-stick. Finally, you will glue your Japanese bookcloth & Japanese papers (2 on the outside and 1 on the inside) to your binders board, completing your intensely charmola decorative cover.

Workshops #2, #3 & #4 (each is 3-ish hours) – Cat begins each workshop with a curated slideshow. She will then lead you in painting & drawing exercises using a variety of mediums including coloured pencils + watercolour, pen & ink, and collage. You’ll also explore painting with gouache, which is opaque, and wondrous for the layering of colours. It can be delightful as a wash or as flat colour. You can use acrylic paints as well, if you have them at hand. 

Workshop fee includes all materials (but not the tools) you’ll need to make one accordion book cover & three accordion inserts. 

15 sheets of Stonehenge (Bari’s favourite drawing paper) 5" x 20" 

3 pieces of binders board: 1 spine, 1 front cover, 1 back cover

2 pieces of Japanese bookcloth for your spine (4" x 7" and 4" x 5¼") 

3 pieces of Japanese decorative paper (2 are 5½" x 7"; 1 is 5½" sq.) 

2 pieces of Stonehenge for your vertical pocket (5¼ "sq.and 3½" x 5¼")

2 pieces of Japanese bookcloth for your pocket (4½" x 7" and 5" x 7")

15 strips of hinging paper (5" x ¾")

1 beautiful button

1 length of waxed-linen thread (complementary, natch) 

1 hinge & corner spacer

Tools needed: bonefolder as well as a teflon bonefolder (highly recommended), medium awl, 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: 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 cover, and, optionally, a small wastebasket 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 Japanese papers and a complementary linen bookcloth for each 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 $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).

Alternatively, you can purchase a supplementary kit of materials in order to make two additional covers (only). If that appeals, you can do that here

Cat and I look forward to sharing our love of bookbinding, drawing, and painting with you in this 4-session (12-ish hour-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