Core Classes
Advanced Leather Binding Restoration‡
April 11 - 12 $295
•
New Cloth Binding Construction Workshop
May 16 – 17 $295
•
Introduction to Book Restoration
June 13 – 14 $265
July 25 – 26 $265
August 15 – 16 $265
•
Advanced Cloth Binding Restoration‡
September 19 - 20 $295
•
Introduction to Paper Repair
October 24 – 25 $295
Boxing Week ~ October 9 - 16
Victorian-Era Box Structures
October 9 (Wed) $195
Clamshell Box Making
October 10 - 11 $295
Preservation Enclosures for Rare Materials
October 16 (Wed) $225
Advanced Clamshell Box Making‡
Dates set based on course demand
Marbling Fortnight ~ September 5 - 18
Enhanced Paper Decoration
September 5 - 6 (Thurs - Fri) $285 + $45 materials
Beginning Paper Marbling
September 9 - 10 (Mon - Tue) $285 + $45 materials
Bookbinding for Book and Paper Artists
September 12 - 13 (Thurs - Fri) $285 + $45 materials
Pigment Grinding & Marbling Ink Preparation
September 16 (Mon) $185 + $30 materials
Historical Marbled Paper Patterns
September 17 - 18 (Tue - Wed) $285 + $50 materials
Note: Students reap the greatest benefit by taking both
the Pigment Grinding and the Historical Marbling courses.
SPECIAL TOPICS WORKSHOPS
Book Sewing Intensive‡
July 18 - 19 $295
Endband Sewing Intensive‡
August 2 (Fri) $195
Hand Papermaking
October 3 - 4 $295
To Our Students Past, Present, and Future
It seems I'm always pondering about bookbinding in one aspect or another. Over the years it has pleased me enormously to discover how many other people think about bookbinding--perhaps not as obsessively as I do--but at least some of the time. It would be lonely without kindred spirits.
When I started Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding in 1991, I little imagined that a life-long journey had begun. Starting first as only a bookbindery, Cat Tail Run quickly became a place where interested folk would come seeking instruction in the craft. Over time, what began as simple one-on-one instruction has grown into the entity we call The School for Bookbinding Arts, offering well over a dozen workshops each year with the bulk of those courses being held in our on-site instructional facility, Studio 2. Exciting news for us is that in 2019 we will be putting finishing touches on Studio 3. As an addition to Studio 2, Studio 3 will serve to greatly expand our workshop space and provide opportunities for us to bring a greater number and variety of workshops to our students.
The philosophy behind our workshops is one that I developed as a result of my own experiences during my bookbinding apprenticeship and internships. I came to believe that bookbinding could be effectively taught through short, focused courses within a carefully designed curriculum. In this way, people who were interested in the craft but who were unable to apprentice full-time could still gain competence and satisfaction in bookbinding by taking classes and then devoting regular periods of time to practicing what they learned. I have been gratified over the years to see my instincts in this were on target as I have watched our students learn and enjoy bookbinding, with quite a few working in the field of book repair and some going on to institutional conservation training.
The School for Bookbinding Arts is a place where those of us with a love of the book can continue the traditions of a craft that has been practiced continuously for hundreds of years and shows no sign of becoming obsolete. If you've never studied with us, please consider taking some of our workshops. I know your hands will enjoy the feel of the craft and your brain will be challenged as you come to understand something as commonplace as a book is at the same time one of mankind's most elegant, delightfully complex, and versatile inventions. Most of all, we will enjoy having you on our journey--we still don't know where it's going, but we can absolutely say there appears to be no end in sight.
Jill Deiss, Bookbinder
