BOOKMAKING workshops : explained
Clamshells for family bibles, coptic stitch & long stitch blank books for journals or sketching, accordion books for collecting and displaying photographs—there is an endless list of possibilities for personal gifts or personal pleasure.
MAKE A BOOK BY HAND, and you automatically make a gift of your self—and a long-treasured keepsake. A fun and focused workshop will give you essential insights, skills, structures, and leads for resources. Afterward, you can concoct your experimental formats, tweaking the results to suit your style.
Each of these bookmaking workshops grants you the opportunity to rent our workspace and have access to our collection of helpful tools and equipment for your book- and box-making projects. Click here for Rental details, Workshop Schedule or to request a date for your group.
AN IMPORTANT THOUGHT: Taking one workshop will not make you a bookmaker. Making five of them will get you a lot closer. Take a workshop and plan on making 5.
One day, one book
FROM NUTS AND BOLTS to bells and whistles, this workshop for a traditional hand-sewn, the case-bound book reveals it all to your inner designer-artist-crafter-book collector-explorer. Or you can just polish your technique if it's been a while.
For 2 to 8 people;
$120 each;
8 working hours plus lunch;
Start with a colorful whirl by hand painting traditional paste paper. Learn the secrets of professional folding, gathering, punching and the classic bookmaker's longstitch. Add a little bling. Wrap, tuck and roll your custom cover. Voila! You've made a book.
Coptic stitch 2 ways
PIQUE THE INTEREST of your beautiful-as-it-is-mysterious-and-practical side with this ancient book structure.
For 2 to 6 people;
$120 each;
6 working hours over 1 full day or 2 evenings;
Use a single needle and traditional sections for one book. Double your fun with double the needles and anything-goes single sheets for the second book. You'll really enjoy that your pretty stitches are totally exposed (ooh la la!), and that each book will easily lie open perfectly flat (oohs and ahs!).
Postcard clamshell box
THIS BOX MAY BE SMALL, but it has all the right stuff. If you can case in a hardcover book, you can make a hinged clamshell box.
For 4 to 8 people;
$70 each;
4 to 5 hours with snacks;
Once you've conquered the basics of box building, you'll discover lots of reasons to make handsome presentation boxes. This is also one of the best ways to conserve and protect books (like your family bible) and other keepsake items.
Paste paper painting party
IF YOU'VE NEVER PAINTED PASTE PAPER BEFORE, you will fall in love at first swipe. And if you've tried it and aren't happy with the results, it's time to give it another whirl.
For 4 to 8 people;
$70 each;
3 hours with snacks;
There's colorful-dimensional-geometric-organic-cosmic samples and lots of tools and techniques to inspire you. Once your creative juices are flowing, you'll be surprised at what you can do using simple, traditional bookbinder's wheat paste and modern acrylics.
No sew, no glue books
Forget the glue, needles and thread as you fold, tear, cut and weave up to 3 different books: concertina, corkscrew, and French door or dos-a-dos formats. Bring your own pastepaper to use or try Lead Graffiti potluck. Younger participants may require adult assistance with measuring and using a craft knife.
No prerequisite. Ages 9 to adult.Wear comfortable shoes and work clothes
Pamphlet-stitched books
If other bookmaking options seem too technical or fussy, the pamphlet stitch is the ideal way to dip your fingers in the bookmaking waters. It is an excellent workshop for younger bookmakers to do with a parent or friend to learn some hand skills and expand their creative impulses.
And if you've done complicated binding before, don't let this humble-sounding name fool you. Its pure simplicity of execution belies an incredibly versatile nature limited only by your imagination and the materials you use. Get inspired to add this technique and its variations to your repertoire.
Easy to learn, the classic 3-, 4-, and 5-hole pamphlet stitch is adaptable to many formats and materials. Try inserting one or more text blocks to fill soft- or hard cover books. You can also spin it into elaborate greeting and thank you cards, wedding invitations, keepsakes, ornaments, etc.
Some of the variations covered in this workshop include:
single-signature sewing with a cover having foredge turn-ins
2 signatures bound in 1 sewing with a spine-pleat cover
triple concertina-fold book
single-sheet sewing for a small album
reinforced spine with multiple signatures and shifting sewing stations
Bookmaking bonanza
BASIC BOOKMAKING BONANZA: This weeklong workshop is ideal for educators, librarians, printmakers, dabblers, etc. Whether you’re just getting started in bookmaking or want to polish or add to your skill set, you’ll enjoy the time, tools, space, and inspiration to do it. All tools and materials provided. While a bit tentative, this workshop week depends on who is interested in such a class because we would like to accommodate individual needs. Feel free to email us with questions or issues.
Monday : paste paper plus assemble your bookmaking toolbook,
Tuesday: field trip to Special Collections at the University of Delaware Library, and in the studio work on pamphlet stitch, flutter book, meander book
Wednesday : 1 day, 1 book using the classic long stitch in a flat-back, cased-in book
Thursday : Coptic stitch two ways, using single & double-needle techniques
Friday: clamshell box
Saturday / Sunday: work on a personal project. Could also include a Werkman printing workshop and a brief overview of letterpress printing.