Artists Making Books

This program begins Sunday, July 13, and ends Friday, July 18. The fees listed at right include lodging and all meals (except “Commuter”, which includes a Commuter Meal Plan).  An additional sliding scale Course Fee is required.  For more information on our pricing, see our Pricing page.

Students will learn the basics of hand bookbinding by building two styles of blank journals/sketchbooks.
The workshop introduces craft instruction with historical context. Students will produce one or two blank books to use as journals or sketchbooks. They will learn book binding vocabulary, tools, techniques. Students will master basic hand bookbinding skills while gaining knowledge of book and printing history, and bookbinding materials and equipment.
Students produce blank books in the the Longstitch, an exposed sewing style. This book was popular in medieval Europe forward, especially with a stronger need for blank ledger books, which was part of their popularity. The sewing is visible on the spine of the book. The Longstitch binding makes for versatile and hardy sketchbooks or journals or notebooks. The book opens flat or folds back on itself without damaging the spine, which has a decorative thread pattern on it, thus the term “exposed sewing”. We will learn another sewing method for the instructor’s “Uncased Binding” blank book (traditional case binding with paper case).
We will also prepare and finish two or more artist books with visual content developed from surface design techniques the artist shares in the workshop, such as paste paper, gesso tabletop monotypes, “kozo carbon paper,” collage, frontage, egg tempera, gold leafing,  and other techniques.

Course Objectives:

The workshop introduces craft instruction with historical context. Students will produce one or two blank books to use as journals or sketchbooks. They will learn book binding vocabulary, tools, techniques. Students will master basic hand bookbinding skills while gaining knowledge of book and printing history, and bookbinding materials and equipment.
Students learn paper decoration techniques – paste paper, gesso monotypes, other surface design/drawing techniques to add visual content.
Student produce two books sewn in the traditional multi-section style, making paper cover versions of the case binding, one with stiff paper covers sewn in the front and back, the other with a glued-on cover.
The workshop teaches basic vocabulary and hand skills for bookbinding. Both will be blank books to use ask sketchbooks, journals or notebooks.
Student will also develop two artist book with visual content – using two different book formats/styles.